Author Archives: Back Streeter

What’s On in Abingdon – Early October 2026

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Here are some of the events and activities coming up in Abingdon over the next couple of weeks that I have noticed.

Saturday 3 October – Oxford Gospel Choir Concert – St Helen’s Church, 7.30pm

The Oxford Gospel Choir will be performing at St Helen’s Church in aid of Family of Hope, a school in Uganda for children with special educational needs. Tickets: £10, available at the door.

Saturday 3 October – Sewing Repair Cafe

Also taking place on Saturday 3 October is a sewing repair workshop at Unit 25, Bury Street. A chance to bring along those clothes and textiles and learn some repair skills rather than sending them to landfill.

Sunday 4 – Tuesday 6 October – Abingdon Michaelmas Fair

The Michaelmas Fair returns to Abingdon from Sunday 4 to Tuesday 6 October, bringing the usual fairground activity to the town centre and along Ock Street.

There will also be fair-related traffic restrictions from Sunday 4 to Wednesday 7 October, so motorists may want to allow extra time for journeys through the town.

The Fair Blessing Service will take place in the Market Place at 4pm on Sunday 4 October. (Sorry this was at 3:30pm)

Sunday 4 October – Animal Blessing Service – St Michael’s Church, 2pm

St Michael’s will hold an animal blessing service at 2pm on Sunday 4 October, celebrating St Francis’ Day and Animal Welfare Sunday. Well-behaved animals are welcome, provided they are on leads or in appropriate carriers. If your animal wouldn’t be comfortable attending, you can still have them blessed by bringing along a photograph.

Wednesday 7 October – Abingdon Town Council Meeting – Guildhall, 7pm

Town council meetings are normally held in the Old Magistrates’ Court and are open to the public. I sometimes go along to see what’s being discussed and, where appropriate, write about them for the blog.

Saturday 10 October – 50 years of Abingdon Library at The Charter

Abingdon Library has been in its current building at The Charter for 50 years. On Saturday 10 October the library will be marking the anniversary by sharing some photographs from its history. The library opened at The Charter on 11 October 1976.

Saturday 17 October – 10 Circuits of Abingdon Airfield

Robin is taking on a cycling challenge on Saturday 17 October – ten circuits of the old RAF Abingdon airfield at Dalton Barracks.

The challenge is in support of the Newman Holiday Trust, which has helped Robin’s family over the past few years, including providing a six-day residential holiday at Bloxham this year. Robin wants to give something back to the charity. While he still has a specially adapted bike on loan from Charlotte’s Tandems, he will attempt the ten circuits with Andrew and Helena.

You can find out more and support Robin’s fundraising on his JustGiving page https://justgiving.com/page/robinday2026

More on the new 1926 Church Hall

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In the feature on Abingdon in September 1926, I reported that the new church hall opened that month, but commenters wondered where it was. Elizabeth sent me a picture that she took – used in Abingdon Past and Present. It answers the question. The picture was taken in 1988, the year before the hall was demolished to make way for the Abbey Close extension from the Vineyard.

As you can see from this roughly drawn map, the church hall, the cattle market and, beyond that, the railway all stood in the way of the Abbey Close extension.

In the Oxford Journal, I found pictures of the hall under construction. This picture from December 1925 is when the foundation stone was blessed by the Archdeacon of Berkshire. The inscription on the stone is not easy to decipher and this is guesswork. It may say, ‘This hall was dedicated … Glory of God …  ????? … Ven Richard Wickham Legg ?? … Archdeacon of Berks.. Anno MCMXXV.’

When I first wrote about the Church Hall back in 2014, Dick Barnes said: “The Church Hall was sited in the Parish of Abingdon St Nicolas, although the legally separate parish of Abingdon St Helen was largely responsible for building and administering it. The dedication tablet over the entrance stated that it was for the benefit of ‘The Parish’.” 

Acknowledgments: Abingdon Past and Present by Elizabeth Drury and Judy Thomas; the Oxford Journal, accessed through Oxford Library.

Abbey Millstream Through the Year: September 2026

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The last day of September began with a tidy up. Early in the morning a van working for the Vale of White Horse District Council was out tidying the area at the start of the day.

A couple of days ago there was the sound of a sawing and undergrowth being cleared near the phone mast. Today the reason became clear. This morning engineers were installing new equipment on the mast using a lift.

The information board about the Mill Stream tells the story of the Abbey fulling mill. A photograph by Taunt in 1890 is labelled as ‘the probable old fulling mill’. The same building now forms part of the Cosener’s House conference centre. A fulling mill would have used fuller’s earth to clean wool, removing grease so the wool could soak up dye better.

There are still plenty of ducks about, and a few moorhen. Leaves begin to fall and float on the water

More ducks gather at what seems to be a good feeding spot at the weir.

Michaelmas daisies, Meadowsweet and Mallows add some late colour. They still grow at the margin above the weir. But there are not many flowers along the Millstream.

Apart from Ivy flowers. If they can be called flowers. The bees gather round them. They must provide nectar for the winter.

What connects Abingdon with Evesham and West Bromwich?

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Anyone travelling north on Stratton Way this week will have seen the warning sign: ‘Major Works on A4183 Severe Delays Expected Use Alt Route.‘ Between the town centre and the Lodge Hill junction, there were three separate sets of roadworks today.

From the Peachcroft roundabout up towards the A34 junction, two sets of temporary traffic lights are in place. One set is connected to the new housing development, the other to work on the A34 slip road. They are hopefully being coordinated so that traffic released from one doesn’t gridlock the other.

Closer to town, and more temporary, Abbott Road was being resurfaced today. Crews were working on the junction with the A4183, using manual stop/go boards while lorries moved and tarmac was laid.

It made for a slow journey along the A4183. The number A4183 isn’t very memorable. Oxford Road is easier. The A4183 used to be the A34 until 1973, when the dual carriageway opened and the old route through Abingdon got a new number. Sitting in the 4 zone between the A4 and A5, A4183 was used. This is where West Bromwich and Evesham come in. The A4182 is in West Bromwich and A4184 is in Evesham. So Abingdon’s Oxford Road sits between them in the sequence.

By the way, Evesham’s Regal Cinema is a sister venue to Abingdon’s Abbey Cinema, operated by the same team. So perhaps they are at home with the A4183.