Abingdon, Oxfordshire - St. Helen's Church - art postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  St. Helen's Church, Abingdon, Oxfordshire - art postcard
• Publisher:  Ron Cosford
• Postally used:  no - written message but not posted
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Abingdon /'æb??d?n/, also known as Abingdon on Thames or Abingdon-on-Thames, is a market town and civil parish in England. Historically it was the county town of Berkshire. Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town,^[2] with people having lived there for at least 6,000 years.

Abingdon is 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south of Oxford and 5 miles (8 km) north of Didcot in the flat valley of the Thames on its west (right) bank, where the small river Ock flows in from the Vale of White Horse. It is on the A415 between Witney and Dorchester, adjacent to the A34 trunk road, linking it with the M4 and M40 motorways. The B4017 and A4183 also link the town, both being part of the old A34 and often heavily congested.

Local bus services to Oxford and the surrounding areas are run by Stagecoach Oxfordshire, Thames Travel, the Oxford Bus Company and smaller independent companies.

Abingdon is the largest town in southern England with no rail service^{[citation needed]} (except Gosport, which is part of greater Portsmouth, and Canvey Island). However the small, primarily stopping-service, stations at Culham and Radley are both just over 2 miles (3.2 km) away. Abingdon's eastern ring-road and newest suburbs are under a mile from Radley station. The Radley to Abingdon branch line closed to passengers in 1963. The nearest major stations with taxi ranks are Oxford (8 miles/13 km) and Didcot Parkway (7 miles/11 km). All are managed by First Great Western. Frequent express buses operate between Oxford station and Abingdon.

The site has been occupied from the early to middle Iron Age and the remains of a late Iron Age defensive enclosure (or oppidum) lies below the town centre. The oppidum was in use throughout the Roman occupation.

Abingdon Abbey was founded in Saxon times, possibly around 676,^[3] but its early history is confused by numerous legends, invented to raise its status and explain the place name. The name seems to mean 'Hill of a man named Æbba, or a woman named Æbbe',^[4] possibly the saint to whom St Ebbe's Church in Oxford was dedicated (Æbbe of Coldingham or a different Æbbe of Oxford). However Abingdon stands in a valley and not on a hill. It is thought that the name was first given to a place on Boars Hill above Chilswell, and the name was transferred to its present site when the Abbey was relocated.^[5]

In 1084, William the Conqueror celebrated Easter at the Abbey and then left his son, the future Henry I, to be educated there.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, Abingdon was a flourishing agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool and a famous weaving and clothing manufacturing industry. 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 1337 there was a famous riot in protest at the Abbot's control of this market in which several of the monks were killed.

After the abbey's dissolution in 1538, the town sank into decay and, in 1556,^[3] upon receiving 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 present Christ's Hospital originally belonged to the Guild of the Holy Cross, on the dissolution of which Edward VI founded the almshouses instead, under its present name.

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 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 1790, Abingdon Lock was built, replacing navigation to the town via the Swift Ditch. 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 re-open it. Abingdon railway station was closed to passengers in September 1963. The line remained open for freight until 1984, including serving the MG car factory, which opened in 1929 and closed in October 1980 as part of a British Leyland rationalisation plan.^[6]

The nearest railway station is Radley, two miles (3 km) away. Abingdon was served by a branch line but the line and Abingdon railway station were closed in 1963. Much of the original Abingdon branch line is now a cyclepath, whilst the land on which the station stood has been extensively redeveloped, and is now the site of a large Waitrose store and surrounded by a large number of new flats and houses.

Abingdon became the county town of Berkshire sometime after receiving its Royal Charter in 1556.^[7] Assize courts were held in Abingdon from 1570, but in the 17th century it was vying with Reading for County Town status. The county hall and court house were built between 1678 and 1682, to assert this status. The building, now the Abingdon County Hall Museum, was supposedly designed by Christopher Kempster, who worked with Sir Christopher Wren.^[8] However, Abingdon's failure to engage fully with the railway revolution, accepting only a branch line, sidelined the town in favour of Reading which became the County Town in 1869.^[9] 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 the non-metropolitan shire county of Oxfordshire and the seat of the new Vale of White Horse District Council, with Abingdon becoming a civil parish with a town council.

Since the 1980s, Abingdon has played host to a number of information communication companies, with many based in the town's respective business and science parks. With this, and the result of Abingdon's proximity to academic and scientific institutions in Oxford, the town has seen an influx of young professionals taking residence in the town's many residential areas such as Peachcroft.

Local councillors voted in November 2011 to rename the town back to its original name of ""Abingdon-on-Thames"", though this would need approval from the Vale of White Horse council.^[10] This approval was granted on 23 February 2012.^[11]

type=printed

city/ region=abingdon

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)