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d ir e c t o r y

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B E R K S H IR E .

A B IN G D O N .

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A B I N G D O N
is a m unicipal borough, a m ark et and
union town and the head of a p etty sessional division
and county court d istrict, on the r ig h t bank of the
river Tham es at its confluence w ith th e Ock, and is 56
m iles from London by road, 103^ by the river and 59
bv the G reat W estern railw ay, w ith w hich it is con­
nected by a single line about a m ile and a half in e x ­
tent, join in g the m ain O xford line at R adley station ;
it is' 25 m iles north-w est from Reading, 6 south from
Oxford, 10 north-w est from W allin gford, 14 east from
Faringdon and 21 north from N ew bu ry, in the N orthern
division of the county, hundred of H orm er, rural
deanery of A bingdon, archdeaconry of Berks and diocese
of Oxford.
The nam e is derived in legendary h istory from Aben,
a noble h erm it, who is said to have b u ilt on th is site a
dwelling house and a chapel in honour of the Holy
V ir g in ; according to other w riters th e town was
originally called “ Seovechesham ” or “ S eush am ,” and
some iden tify it w ith “ Cloveshoe,” a place fam ous in
the annals of E n g lish C h urch Councils, b ut it no doubt
owes both its nam e and h istorical im portance to its
abbey, form erly one of the w ealth iest m itred abbeys in
England. Seovechesham was at a v ery early period a
royal residence, b ut was subsequently deserted by the
Saxon k ings, u n til Offa, king of the M ercians and W est
Saxons, w hile accidentally v isitin g the spot, was so
charm ed w ith the b eauty of the Isle of A ndersey, a
district ly in g south-w est of th e town, and between the
m onastery and S t. H elen's church, th a t he prevailed
on the m onks to exchange it for the m anor of Goosey,
and b u ilt for him self on th e island a royal residence,
which was there m aintained u n til K enw ulf, his suc­
cessor, resold A ndersey to A bbot U th em u s for the
m anor of S utton and £120 in s ilv e r : at th is place his
son E g frid died in 793; the site, called in Lelan d’s
tim e “ T h e C astle of the R h e,” is now indicated by a
large tra ct of land encircled by th e T h am es and a trib u ­
tary inlet. W illiam the Conqueror, in 1084, k ep t his
E aster at A bingdon, being splendidly en tertain ed by
his pow erful adherent, R obert D’O yley, to whose charge
he entrusted his younger son, afterw ards H enry I. while
receiving his education at this abbey. D u rin g th e civil
war Abingdon was garrisoned for th e k in g , who, on 17th
April, 1644, arrived here w ith th e queen and attended
by Prince R upert and the Duke of Y o rk , and after h old­
ing a council of w ar, return ed to O x fo rd ; on the follow ­
ing day, M ay 25th, th e R oyalist gen eral deserted the
town, and the E arl of E ssex, arrivin g w ith his troops,
plundered it, and placed there a P arliam en tary garrison,
under th e com m and of G eneral B row n e; on th e 31st
of May, a new P arliam en tary force under G eneral
Waller, w hich had been quartered at W antage, entered
the town and dem olished the b eautifu l cross which then
stood in the m ark et p la c e ; various attem p ts -were m ade
by the k in g ’s p arty during the years 1644-6 to recover
the town, b ut in the m ain w ith little success, although
in 1646 Prince R u p ert gained possession of th e abbey
buildings, and it eventually passed into the hands of
the Parliam ent.
Abingdon was m uch increased, both in population
and w ealth, by the b u ild in g of B urford or Boroughford
bridge, a stru ctu re of seven arches, near th e town, and
by another bridge at C ulham ford, about half a m ile
east of it, th e erection of w hich has been attrib u ted by
some to H enry V . who, however, only gran ted his licence
and p ro tectio n : of these works, begun in 1416, John
Houchon and John B anbury w ere zealous p ro m o te rs;
and am ong the chief of those who con tributed to the
building and preservation of th e b ridges and in ter­
m ediate road were S ir P eter B esils, of B esilsle ig h ;
Geoffrey Barbour, a m erchant, and W illiam Hales and
Maud his w ife, who, in 1453, added three arches to
Burford bridge.
The town is connected b y C ulham ford bridge w ith the
parish of C ulham , in O xford sh ire; and a h ig h and
broad causeway, constructed in the 15th cen tury by the
munificence of G eoffrey B arbour, un ites
the
two
bridges.
The town consists of a spacious m ark et place at the
east end, from w hich several streets diverge to the
north, south and w e s t; th e ch ief of these, H igh street,
was form erly m uch contracted at its w estern ex trem ity,
but has been widened since 1890; trib u ta ry streets run
to the rig h t and le ft, and it then expands into a sm aller
square, from which the wide thoroughfare, called Ock
street, extends to the w estern lim it of th e borough.
In the year 1555, in the reign of Queen M ary, Sir

A B IN G D O N

John Mason, a n ative of Abingdon, and chancellor of
the U n iversity of Oxford, obtained for th e town a
c h arter of incorporation, under w hich it was governed
by a m ayor, two bailiffs and nine alderm en. The
corporate body, actin g also as th e Urban Sanitary
A u th ority, now consists of a m ayor, four alderm en and
tw elve councillors. Th e borough boundary was ex­
tended in 1890. A bingdon retu rn ed one m em ber to a
sin gle p arliam en t in 1337, and continued to return one
m em ber from the date of its incorporation u n til the
passing of th e “ R ed istribution of S eats A ct, 1885 ” (48
& 49 V iet. c. 23), by w h ich it was disfranchised as a
borough, and the representation m erg ed in th a t of the
c o u n ty ; am ong its rep resen tatives m ay especially be
m entioned S ir S im on H arcourt kt. of Stanton H arcourt,
Oxon, recorder of A bingdon, 1688, and M .P. for the
borough in 1702 and 1708, Lord C h an cellor 1710, and
created 1st Baron H arcourt, 3 S ep t. 1 7 1 1 ; also Sir
F rederick T h esiger M .P. for A bin gdon , 1844-52, Lord
C hancellor in 1858, and created 1st Baron C h elm sford,
27th Feb. in th a t year.
T h e D rainage works and farm , erected and laid out
in 1877, are situ ated som e distance south of the to w n ;
the drainage schem e was carried out in 1877-78, under
the direction of M r. B ailey Denton, at a cost of nearly
£30,000; w ater works have since been com pleted at
a fu rth er ou tlay of £9,000 ; th e sewage farm is in the
occupation of th e Corporation.
T h e w ater sup ply is obtained from th e coral rag and
calcareous g r it of th e oolitic form ation overlyin g the
O xford c la y ; the borough w aterw orks, at W ootton, 3
m iles d istan t, have an un derground reservoir, from
which, by the aid of a syphon h alf a m ile in len g th ,
water is obtained at a depth of ten feet below the o u t­
let of th e reservoir and supplied to th e consum ers by
m eter; the reservoir has a cap a city of 125,000 gallons,
and is im m ed iately over th e bore hole from w hich the
water rises from th e fissures and hollows of the rocky
strata below. N um erous h ydran ts are fixed at various
points of th e town in such a m an ner as to be able to
reach w ith hose an y p art w ith o u t th e aid of a fire
engine. On th e north side of O ck street, near T o m ­
kins’s alm shouses, is a w ell w ithin a b rick recess, in ­
closed b y p ilasters supportin g a p edim ent, and erected
by R ich ard E le y in 1719; the O ld C on duit house, w here
the sprin g rose from w hich it was supplied, stands in
A lbert Park.
T o the excellent system of drain age and the supply
of w ater furn ish ed b y g ra vita tio n from B oar’s H ill m ay
be a ttrib u ted th e v ery low death rate in Abingdon, viz.
from 12 to 14 per 1,000.
Th e tow n is lig h te d w ith gas by a com pany form ed
in 1834, w hose w orks are situated in the V in eyard , and
w ith ele c tric ity by a com pany form ed in 1913, the
g en eratin g station b ein g on W ootton road.
Abingdon, a t an early period of its h istory, possessed
a Benedictine abbey of g re a t w ea lth and h ig h d is ­
tinction, whose m itre d abbot was sum m oned w ith the
barons to parliam ent. C issa, fath er of K in g Ina, whose
rule extended over W iltsh ire and a la rg e p art of B e rk ­
shire, is said to have founded it (A .D . 675), on a site
described in th e abbey chronicle as a “ table land s u r­
m oun tin g a risin g ground of d elig h tfu l aspect, in a
retired spot, inclosed w ith in tw o m ost pleasant
stream s.” A bo ut A .D . 866-71, the Danes overran the
country, and com in g to A bingdon, destroyed the
m onastery, leavin g only the bare w a lls ; b u t on th eir
exterm in ation b y A lfred, it w as reb u ilt, and subse­
quently, between A .D . 946-55, re-con structed under
K in g E dred. On th e a rriv a l in E n glan d of W illiam the
C onqueror (A .D . 1066), A bbot A ldred took th e oath of
allegiance to h im , b u t was displaced, and the abbacy
bestowed upon E th elh elm , a N o rm an ; at th e general
dissolution of the m on asteries th e abbey was su r­
rendered to the k in g by th e abbot, Thom as Row land
B.D. som etim es w ritte n and called “ Row land Pen ticost,” and 25 m onks, under the com m on seal of the
convent, on the 29th M ay, 1537, th e value of the yearly
revenue being return ed as £1,876 10s. 9d. th e abbot
h im self being allowed to retain the m anor of C um nor,
; w ith an annual pension of £200; the ex istin g rem ains
com prise th e P erpen dicular gate-house, a vaulted
stru ctu re, ad jacen t to the church of S t. N icholas, w ith
central and side arches, and room s above occupied by
the C orporation, and some other b uildin gs situated
eastward of it, on the backw ater of th e Tham es, readily
accessible, and p rin cip ally con sisting of a long twostoreyed b uildin g, p artly stone and p a rtly tim b er BERKS.

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