Abingdon memories
Here are memories of Abingdon and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Abingdon or a Abingdon photo.
Mr Hemmings Traditional Abingdon Morris Invite Whitethorn Morris to Their Day of Dance
I remember this well - a glorious early Summer's day and lovely spots to play music, dance and drink beer with Mr Hemmings Traditional Abingdon Morris.
We started - I think - at a pub called "The Ox" and progressed through the day with dance spots in the Market Square and The Almshouses. Beer and a picnic surrounded by musical and dancing friends made this a lovely outing. I was there as the bandleader for Whitethorn Morris playing a 48 button Hohner piano accordian. The lovely women of Whitethorn Morris wore their well known kit of scarlet and blue dresses, blue mob caps and shiny black clogs.
This view marks one spot where we danced - the only difference being EXACTLY one hundred years! Who knows - maybe in the year 2090 someone may recall our happy dancing in Abingdon in 1990?
Cheers Steanes Langfords Simons And More
My mother's ancestors all seemed to live in Abingdon and the surrounding villages of Launton, Kiddlington, Bicester, Charlbury etc. and I am collecting photographic records of these families and their activities for a family tree. Photos are a good way of recording events. There are many text genealogical websites, but few, if any where one can get photos of one's ancestors activities. Where people can give and recieve photos for research. Villages I've visted when in England seemed to have changed little over time.
Memories of Oxfordshire
When my family moved to Sutton Courtenay in the 1960s this was the only shop left in the old part of the village. It was a fabulous place with big glass jars of sweets behind the counter, I used to visit here as soon as I received my pocket money! It was run by the Mussells, I think (pronounced 'Muzz-ells'). My sister got a job there on Saturdays. Unfortunately it eventually closed in the early 1980s.
The Village of Fond Childhood Memories (1955 )
I would have been three years old back then, living, as we did, at 77 High Street with my grandparents (the Dentons). Harry (my grandfather) used to keep bees and was regularly praised for his beautiful floral front garden. I, my brother (Desmond) and our parents later moved to Frilsham Street. The village is still my most favourite place in the entire world as it encapsulates all my cherished childhood memories. I left the village for work, aged 17, in 1969 but still seem to know it like the back of my hand decades later.
George Orwell
George Orwell (real name Eric Blair), who was the author of '1984' and 'Animal Farm', is buried in All Saints' churchyard.
Fortescue And Church Families
I don't have a memory as such, but I have been researching my family history and have traced my mother's family back to this place. My mother was born in 1916 and lived in Oxford. However, her grandfather came from Marcham and I've now traced the family back (so far) to the 1600's. They were Fortescues and Churches, all from Marcham. In the main the males were farm labourers and my mother's grandfather moved to Oxford to become head gardener at one of the colleges.
There is a record of the family being joined by marriage 200 years ago and, also, my mother's parents were a Fortescue and a Church.
If anybody has any memories of these families, or descend from them, I'd love to hear from you! anniewoodford@hotmail.com
4 The Gap And 7 Parkside
NO 4 THE GAP My memory of Marcham started in 1946-7. My grandmother, Lydia Lawrence, used to live at no 4 The Gap. She was born in Long Wittemham, then she married my grandfather in 1906 (Victor Davis, he was killed in the First World War). They went to live in Sutton Courtenay, by then they had two children, Victor Davis (my father) and Eileen Davis (my aunt), in 1920 she meet and married a Marcham man called John Lawrence, who used to live at Pack Horse Lane, Marcham, so they all moved to no 4 The Gap in 1921. There were four bungalows up The Gap, nos 2, 4, 6,... Read more
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