Abingdon, looking towards Abbey Lock1890 (ref. 26989) | Upstream, this more rural
view was taken by Frith's
photographer from opposite
Abbey Meadows (now
a park), looking east to
Abingdon Lock on the far
right and the Thames weir
between it and the central
trees. The weir probably has
Anglo-Saxon origins, and
was built for the abbey at the
same time as its millstream
was dug. The first lock was
a highly hazardous flash
lock in the centre of the
weir installed by Sir George
Stonehouse in 1649.
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Abingdon, Abbey 1924 (ref. 76208) | After the Dissolution of 1538
nearly all the monastic buildings,
including the great church, were
demolished, some quickly, others
more slowly, until little trace
remained of the vast Benedictine
abbey whose origins went back
to the late seventh century.
Apart from the gatehouse, the
Checker and the Long Gallery
(we see their north side here),
and an attached range, probably
a granary or bakehouse, nothing
survives above ground. The
13th-century Checker, where the
Abbey's tenants paid their rents
and dues, is on the right, and the
Long Gallery of about 1500 is on
the left.
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Abingdon, Tea Rooms c1960 (ref. A15100) | Stevens's Boatyard
withdrew to the west
parts of Nag's Head
Island beyond the
bridges, and the
Abingdon Bridge
Restaurant and Tea
Rooms took over their
buildings to serve river-
borne trade as well as
those coming by road.
At the far right is part
of the former carpet
factory; by 1960 it was
occupied by Andersay
Engineering Company
making metal stools and
ironing boards.
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Abingdon, Abbey Gate 1893 (ref. 31695) | This view is from inside the abbey
gateway, looking towards the Market
Place and the Town Hall. This side of the
gateway, rebuilt around 1450, is plainer
than the market place facade. The left-
hand or south pedestrian arch was
inserted in 1865, and the building on the
left was part of the police station, built
in 1865 and demolished in 1964 for the
present (very 1960s) Abbey Hall. To the
right is the 14th-century chancel of
St Nicholas's Church.
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Abingdon, the Town from the River 1890 (ref. 26981) | We are upstream of the bridges. Nag's Head Island is in the centre with its hotel fronting the bridge, and Stevens's
Boatyard are the white buildings to the left. On the right the tall chimney belongs to the old hemp and twine works.
It had been bought by G W Shepherd of Ladygrove House in 1879, and by 1890 was also producing coconut and rush
matting. New buildings with Dutch gables were added, and it became Abingdon Carpet Factory soon after 1900. Now
demolished, its site is occupied by the modern Upper Reaches Hotel.
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Abingdon, St Nicholas's Church 1890 (ref. 26997) | Of the great Benedictine Abbey of St Mary in
Abingdon little survives above ground. Once
the sixth wealthiest of England's medieval
monasteries, it was dissolved by Henry VIII in
1538, and much of its stonework was carried
by river to London. This view shows the
gatehouse which led from the market place
into the abbey precincts, with the church of
St Nicholas on the left.
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Abingdon, the Boat House 1890 (ref. 26987) | Stevens's Boatyard
on the east end of
Nag's Head Island also
incorporated the landing
stage for the Crown and
Thistle Hotel in Bridge
Street, some hundred
yards away from the
river. Note the elegant
steam launch tied up at
the landing stage with
its striped awning to
protect passengers. The
house between the trees
is Cosener's House, built
on the site where the
cosener or kitcheners
lived – he was the
medieval official who ran
the Abingdon Abbey's
kitchens. | Add your own Memory
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Abingdon, Arches Bridge c1965 (ref. A15103) | Abingdon's stone bridge was built by the Fraternity of the Holy Cross, a guild of town merchants and prominent citizens
founded before 1416 and incorporated by royal charter in 1441. The fraternity built the bridge in 1416-17, and also the
almshouses seen in view 76204 in Chapter 3. In effect the fraternity acted as a proto-town council in a town with no formal
borough status. In Maidenhead, the Guild of St Andrew and St Mary Magdalene, founded in 1451, was similarly a Thames
bridge builder. Both towns obtained borough status in the 1550s.
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Abingdon, Bridge Restaurant and Tea Gardens c1950 (ref. A15034) | Stevens's Boatyard
on the east end of
Nag's Head Island also
incorporated the landing
stage for the Crown and
Thistle Hotel in Bridge
Street, some hundred
yards away from the
river. Note the elegant
steam launch tied up at
the landing stage with
its striped awning to
protect passengers. The
house between the trees
is Cosener's House, built
on the site where the
cosener or kitcheners
lived – he was the
medieval official who ran
the Abingdon Abbey's
kitchens.
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Abingdon, the Old Bridge c1955 (ref. A15079) | We are looking from the Nag's Head Island side towards Bridge
Street and the town. The stone houses on the left were built in the
forecourt of the old gaol (out of view to the left); it had closed in
1868 after the assize courts finally went to Reading, and Abingdon's
long battle to be the county town was finally over.
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Abingdon, Bridge and River Steamer c1955 (ref. A15501) | The Fraternity of the Holy Cross built the two bridges, the
causeway across Nag's Head Island, and then the long causeway
that runs south for over a thousand yards across the flood plain to
Culham, where they built a five-arched stone bridge between 1416
and 1422. Culham Bridge crossed the cut dug for Abbot Orderic in
1052 and known as the Swift Ditch. It is difficult nowadays to see
that quiet stream as the main navigation channel, rather than the
Thames itself, but so indeed it was for centuries. This view shows
Burford Bridge.
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Abingdon, the Grammar School 1893 (ref. 31698) | One of the earliest buildings in the Albert Park estate was the Grammar School, fronting the Cresent east of the park. From 1563 until 1870 the Grammar School, or Roysses School, had occupied buildings east of St Johns Hospital and the abbey gateway. It was a small school with fewer than 70 pupils. Its expansion followed rapidly on its new site, occupying the buildings seen in this view designed by Edwin Dolby in High Victorian style and opened in 1870. The school is now a private one, Abington School, and much expanded. | Add your own Memory
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Abingdon, Stert Street 1893 (ref. 31693) | Skirting the modern
shopping centre, our
tour reaches Stert
Street, which runs south
towards the Market
Place; in the 1890s, it
was one of Abingdon's
main shopping streets.
On the right, W H
Hooke's bookshop (now
a jeweller's) is the start
of the market place
encroachment. We are
looking towards
St Nicholas's Church.
Until 1883, only its tower
was visible; then two
pubs which jutted into
the street, one on each
side, were demolished for
road improvement. Little
survives on the left today
apart from the two gables
of No 3, a 15th-century
house, partly hidden by
the horse-less cart.
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Abingdon, Park Road 1925 (ref. 77608) | One of the earliest
buildings in the
Albert Park estate
was the Grammar
School, fronting the
Crescent east of the
park. From 1563 until
1870 the Grammar
School, or Roysse's
School, had occupied
buildings east of St
John's Hospital and
the abbey gateway.
It was a small school
with fewer than 70
pupils. Its expansion
followed rapidly on its
new site, occupying
the buildings seen in
this view designed by
Edwin Dolby in High
Victorian style and
opened in 1870. The
school is now a private
one, Abingdon School,
and much expanded.
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Abingdon, the Crown and Thistle Hotel c1955 (ref. a15054) | The Crown and Thistle
Hotel, first mentioned
in 1605, was a coaching
inn, and one of the town's
best known ones. It is
still popular, and has the
truncated remains of its
inn courtyard within – we
see it here from the yard
end of the carriageway
through the building.
The further part of the
yard in this view now has
a roof supported on posts
to give shelter to tables
and chairs.
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Abingdon, Albert Park, the Albert Memorial 1925 (ref. 77606) | Until the mid 19th century, Abingdon grew little beyond its Tudor limits, but in the 1860s an estate of villas around a public park was set out to the north of Ock Street. The park itself was presented by Christ's Hospital charity, who ran the almshouses. Little was developed until the later 1870s, but Albert Park heralded a new era of civic pride and prosperity. Albert Park lay at the estate's north end, with the largest villas along its north side to the right of this view, which was taken looking west towards the Albert Memorial. | Add your own Memory
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Abingdon, St Helen's School 1925 (ref. 77610) | Moving north-west from Albert
Park to the Faringdon Road,
the town tour finishes at the
School of St Helen and St
Katherine, as it is now named.
Designed by Frank Pearson
in 1904 in a rather different
style from the High Victorian
Grammar School of thirty
years earlier (view 31698), it
is in a free Queen Anne style.
The chapel to the right, also by
Pearson, was added in 1922.
The school opened in January
1906 and was run by the
Sisters of the Community of
St Mary in Wantage.
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Abingdon, Wesleyan Church and Schools 1893 (ref. 31699) | Conduit Road runs north from Ock Street on the east side of the Albert Park estate, and the earliest
buildings on it are this church group. St Michael's, built in the 1860s by George Gilbert Scott on
Park Road, presumably provoked the Methodists into a grand Gothic church, rather than a modest
chapel. J Woodman obliged in 1875, producing a design complete with a tall broach spire. The
Trinity Methodist Church was complemented by the church hall, dated 1873. Beyond is Trinity
House, the minister's house, probably also by Woodman.
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Abingdon, Albert Park, the Albert Memorial 1890 (ref. 27000) | At the north end of the park the
focus is a statue of Albert, Queen
Victoria's Prince Consort, who had
died in 1861 and in whose honour
the estate had been named. The
statue of Prince Albert stands on
an elaborate column on a pedestal
and is over 48 feet high. The date
1864 is carved at the back. The
sculptor was Gibbs of Oxford.
Below the column are plaques,
each bearing the face of Queen
Victoria in profile, the image
familiar from coins and postage
stamps. The railings and formal
beds have gone.
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Abingdon, Bridge Street c1955 (ref. A15073) | This view was taken looking
north along Bridge Street
towards the Market Place
– indeed, in the left centre
of the view we can see the
cupola and stair tower of
the Town Hall. On the left is
Harris & Matthews, a corn
merchant's, and successor to
the Woodbridges, also a corn
merchant's and saddler's, who
built it in 1880; now (2004)
it is the tourist information
centre and a music school. On
the right half way up the hill is
the Crown and Thistle Hotel.
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