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is a market town in the
Thames Valley ,
Oxfordshire in southern
England and is one of several places which claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town. It is the District Town of the
Vale Of White Horse District.
The site has been occupied from the early to middle
Iron Age , and the remains of a late Iron Age defensive enclosure, or
Oppidum , underly the town centre. The oppidum was in use throughout the Roman occupation.
William The Conqueror in
1084 celebrated Easter at Abingdon, and left his son, afterwards
Henry I , to be educated at the abbey.
The abbot seems to have held a market from very early times, and charters for the holding of markets and fairs were granted by various sovereigns from
Edward I to George II. In the 13th and 14th centuries Abingdon was a flourishing agricultural centre with an extensive trade in
Wool , and a famous weaving and clothing manufacture.
The present Christ's Hospital originally belonged to the
Guild Of The Holy Cross , on the dissolution of which
Edward VI founded the hospital under its present name.
After the abbey's dissolution in
1538 the town sank into decay, and in
1555 , on a representation of its pitiable condition,
Mary I granted a charter establishing a mayor, two bailiffs, twelve chief burgesses, and sixteen secondary burgesses, the mayor to be clerk of the market, coroner and a Justice of the Peace.
The council was empowered to elect one burgess to parliament, and this right continued until the
Redistribution Of Seats Act of
1885 . A town clerk and other officers were also appointed, and the town boundaries described in great detail. Later charters from
Elizabeth I ,
James I ,
James II ,
George II and
George III made no considerable change. James II changed the style of the corporation to that of a mayor, twelve aldermen and twelve burgesses.
In 1810 the
Wilts And Berks Canal opened, linking Abingdon with Semington on the
Kennet And Avon Canal . Abingdon became a key link between major industrial centres such as
Bristol ,
London ,
Birmingham and the
Black Country . In 1856 the Abingdon Railway opened, linking the town with the
Great Western Railway at
Radley . The
Wilts And Berks Canal was abandoned in 1906, but a voluntary trust is now working to restore and reopen it. Abingdon station was closed to passengers in 1963. The line remained open for freight until 1984, including
MG cars until the factory closed in 1980. The nearest railway stations are currently
Radley and
Culham .
Abingdon was the county town of
Berkshire but and the magnificant county hall and court house, now the museum, was designed by
Christopher Wren . However Abingdon's failure to engage fully with the railway revolution, accepting only a branch line sidelined the town in favour of
Reading . The corporation was reformed under the
Municipal Reform Act 1835 , and was abolished under the
Local Government Act 1972 . In 1974 under local government reorganisation Abingdon became part of Oxfordshire, and the
Vale Of White Horse District Council, with Abingdon becoming a
Civil Parish with a town council.
In recent times Abingdon is best known as the location of manufacture of
MG cars (1929-1980). The Pavlova leather works, now closed down, used to be a major employer. Major scientific employers nearby include the
UKAEA at Culham (including the
Joint European Torus (JET) fusion research project),
Harwell Laboratory , the
CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the new
Diamond Light Source Synchrotron , which is the largest UK-funded scientific facility to be built for over 30 years. Many inhabitants work in
Oxford , or commute by rail to
London from nearby
Didcot . The
Army now occupies Dalton Barracks, which prior to 1993 was the
Royal Air Force station
RAF Abingdon .
Abingdon was home to the
Morland Brewery , whose most famous ale was
Old Speckled Hen , named after an
MG car.
Greene King bought Morland for £182M in 1999, and operations were moved to
Bury St Edmunds . The site of the brewery has now been redeveloped into apartment buildings.
Abingdon is six miles south of
Oxford in the flat valley of the
Thames , on the west (right) bank, where the small river
Ock flows in from the
Vale Of White Horse .
Abingdon is located at (51.6667, -1.2833)
1 .
Of a Benedictine abbey there remains a beautiful
Perpendicular gateway (common local knowledge, however, is that it was actually rebuilt out of the rubble, and a little cursory examination of the patternation of the stonework will divulge this!), and ruins of buildings called the prior's house, mainly
Early English , and the guest house, with other fragments.
The picturesque narrow-arched bridge over the Thames near St Helen's Church dates originally from
1416 . St Helen's Church itself dates from around 1100 and is the second widest church in England, having 5 aisles and being 10ft(3m) wider than it is long.
The most distinguished landmark in Abingdon is probably the building which now houses the Abingdon Museum, but which was formerly the county hall of on
St Paul's Cathedral .
A longstanding tradition of the town has local dignitaries throwing buns from the roof of the Abingdon Museum for crowds assembled in the market square on specific days of celebration (such as royal marriages/coronations/jubilee), although many residents are unaware of this, due t the rarity of occurrences.
Abingdon has a very old and still active
Morris Dancing tradition, passed on by word of mouth since before the folk dance and song revivals of the 1800s.
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The Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon is the site of first productions of many stage adaptations of
Terry Pratchett 's ''
Discworld '' novels, by
Stephen Briggs . Abingdon is one of several real-world locales to provide Pratchett with inspiration for
Ankh-Morpork , a major city on the
Discworld .
Abingdon is twinned with:
Argentan ,
France ,
Lucca ,
Italy and
Schongau ,
Germany . It also has connections (through the
Vale Of White Horse District) with
St Niklaas in
Belgium and
Colmar , France.
- Abingdon and Witney College : provides further education.
- Abingdon School : private, boys, 11–18.
- The Consortium: state, mixed, a partnership of schools including Fitzharrys School , Larkmead School , John Mason School . The Consortium also includes Abingdon and Witney College.
- European School, Culham : semi-private multilingual school.
- Our Lady's Convent : private, girls.
- St Helen and St Katharine : private, girls, 11–18.
