A lovely Bank Holiday Monday here in Abingdon. Our waterways are secure, or are they?.

People may sometimes wonder whether noticeboards at Abingdon Lock are put there for amusement or safety.

In this case it was amusing but important safety information. The Captain of Le Boat from Benson hit a shoal (sediment bank), and needed help to reverse to get back into the navigation channel.

After last weekend’s  WWII re-enactment event a new board has appeared at Abingdon Lock, about the Upper Thames Patrol – Defending the River against the Threat of Invasion.

The biggest danger to our waterways is the lack of funding to the environment agency. They do not have enough resources to keep our waterways safe for casual boaters.

March 8th

Abingdon has decided at a meeting last week that the borough records shall contain a complete Roll of Honour for the town. The town has therefore been divided up for a Committee to procure the names and ranks of all Abingdon men who have served as sailors and soldiers during the war. Suggestions are being elicited for a public memorial.

The Abingdon Bowling Club held another pleasant whist drive in the Roysse Room, Abingdon, on Thursday evening, when there were nearly 150 present. Refreshments were served at the interval. Messrs C. Johnson and W. Flay ably took the duties of M.C.’s.

At the Abingdon Cottage Hospital annual meeting on Thursday, a satisfactory report and statement of accounts were passed, and the whole of the hon. officers were re-elected, with Mr H. Clarke as president.

A funeral pall has been presented by an anonymous donor to the parish of St. Helen’s. A short time ago a substantial wheeled-bier was presented.

The adjourned licensing meeting was held at the Borough Police Court on Tuesday, and sanction was given to Messrs Belcher and Habgood, brewers and wine and spirit merchants, of Abingdon, proprietors of the Queen’s Hotel, Market Place, to add to the hotel the adjoining premises formerly Hughes’s stationery and printing business, providing no intoxicants were sold on the new premises, and that the door leading into Queen Street be fastened up.

March 15th 1919

The Rev Charles H. Gill, pastor of the Congregational Church, Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, has been invited and has accepted the pastorate of the Abingdon Congregational Church, in the place of the Rev A. T. Rose, who has resigned.

A prize was recently offered by Mr Strauss, of Kingston House, to the owner of the heaviest pig at nine months at the time of slaughter, competitors to be residents in Abingdon. The prize has been awarded to Mr G. E. King, The Vineyard, Abingdon. Messrs A. Cornish and W. Cordell were the judges.

The annual meeting of the Abingdon Gas Company was held on Wednesday afternoon last week, Mr Pryce presiding. The accounts showed that £3231 was available for dividends, the allotting being 12/6 per share on Original and A shares, and 8/9 on the B shares. There had been an increase of consumption of gas attributable to the supply of gas to the Oxford and Wantage motor buses, the quantity consumed by private houses being considerably decreased. Messrs Couldrey and Stanisland were re-elected auditors.

A workman at the Sutton Courtenay Power Station on Thursday last found the body of elderly man floating in the stream close to the works, which, it appeared, had been in the water several days. It was subsequently found to be the body of William Roberts, aged 70 years, formerly of East Hendred. The body was dressed in workhouse clothes, but the hat and coat were missing. Mr Challenor, coroner, held inquest on Friday, and a verdict of ‘found drowned’ was returned.

Alfred Day and Edmund Koley, Oxford Road, Abingdon, were fined 10s each for delivering coal without weight tickets. Day did not appear, and Koley pleaded guilty.

March 22nd 1919

The Military Medal has been awarded to L.-Cpl. F. G Puffit. Royal Berks, Abingdon, for gallantry and devotion in the field last November.

The Abingdon Red Cross Hospital has now been closed, and the equipment lent being returned to the owners. The remainder is to be disposed of by sale.

The Abingdon Branch of the Berks Voluntary Organisation held its final meeting at the residence of the Mayor (Mr H. T. Clarke) on Wednesday evening. A statement was presented, which showed that the collections amounted to £428 5s 7d. At the close of the meeting Mrs H. Clarke was presented with an antique table with silver plate inscription ‘To Mrs H. T. Clarke, in recognition of her help in Abingdon for the Berkshire Voluntarv Organisation and Red Cross War Comforts Fund during the Great War, 1914-18. From her Red Cross Workers ‘

The National War Savings’ Cinematograph visited Abingdon Corn Exchange last week. Sir George Dashwood, Warren House, Abingdon, presided.

A sale of work in aid of the Blind and Hand Weaving Industry took place on Thursday afternoon at the residence of  Lady Shirley, of Abingdon. The articles for sale consisted of baskets, mats, brushes, etc, made by the blind.

March 29th 1919

A meeting of an original character was held in Abingdon on Monday afternoon, when General J. T. Wigan, M.P.. conferred with a small committee of representative farmers in his constituency on the agricultural situation. General Wigan referred to the efforts made by the Agricultural Committee in the House to get the Government to announce a definite agricultural policy. Members of the committee pointed out that in the absence of such an announcement farmers had not sufficient confidence to invest in the land the capital that was required to clean the land of the foul state into which it had fallen during the war, and to bring it back to the condition of cultivation that existed in pre-war days. Certain facts were brought to the notice of General Wigan for him to deal with in Westminster.

Thanks to extracts from the Faringdon Advertiser and Vale of the White Horse Gazette – All Rights Reserved. britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Also a 1916 Postcard of Cottage Hospital – Country Series 1489. The 1924 Guide of Abingdon for the Queens Hotel advert. The Abingdon Gas Company carriage is a modern model railway carriage.

The Guildhall reopened today after a major refurbishment. There were guided tours, or you could look round on your own and read the information sheets left in each room. A lot of people were taking the opportunity to visit, and it all looked fresh and interesting.

Coffee was being served in the Roysse Room. Quite a few people said they remembered coming to a wedding there. The  yellow ceiling with ornate white stucco, and white walls make this a bright room.

To show that it was once a schoolroom there was Greek on the balcony, and a birch rod in a case at the far end, donated by Old Abingdonian scholars.

The new lift between the entrance and Magistrates Court worked well, but did need somebody to help open and close the lift gates and so does not seem to allow for full independence.

The Magistrates Court looked fresh and tidy, and smelled of furniture polish. There was the sound of creaking floorboards from the room above. A table was in the centre so this, like two of the other rooms, was being shown as a meeting room. There was some talk of it being an exhibition space, also of audio visual equipment. I expect it will be multi-purpose.

Upstairs, beyond any wheelchair access, the Bear Room had a shine on the table reflecting the grand window onto Bridge Street. There were paintings round the walls donated by Arthur Preston, the local historian and Alderman who was involved when the Guildhall was refurbished a century ago. He had documented things such as a hidden spiral staircase that came as such a surprise this time round, and appeared in the Herald.

The council chamber, in two shades of green, had tables with cloths and floral decorations. The grand paintings were of Kings, and a Queen, and famous men with Abingdon connections. There was also a painting of Saint Sebastian being martyred.

The Abbey Room, over the Abbey Gateway, had also been decorated with paintings, including one of John Creemer Clarke.

The connecting room and toilets were very modern looking in comparison.

Somebody said to me ‘All the rooms looked good. Something Abingdon can be proud of.’ Another person said ‘The room hire rates are reasonable‘. Another person said ‘A signal day for Abingdon‘. I would add that the information and tours were well organised.

I only heard one complaint and that is that the Tourist Information is not in the Guildhall yet. There is no clear direction for tourists in Abingdon to go to the museum where it is housed.

I am away from Abingdon for a couple of days but have found something of Abingdon interest in the form of an old leaflet, dated 1990, from a charity shop in Cumbria. It is a 20p Visitors Guide to St Edmund’s Chapel, Dover.

The small chapel, build in 1252-3, somehow survived the centuries before being restored between 1966 and 1968. In 1544 St Edmund’s Chapel and other nearby properties were surrendered to King Henry VIII and it stopped being used as a chapel. Other buildings were built about it and it got forgotten, until its significance was rediscovered in 1883. During WWII two shops that hid it from view were destroyed during a bombardment but the chapel building survived. It even survived the 1960s redevelopment of the area thanks to the efforts of a local priest.

The chapel website has a lot of detail about the chapel dedicated to St Edmund of Abingdon, far more than the leaflet.

There was also a chapel dedicated to St Edmund of Abingdon, near St Edmund’s Lane in Abingdon, but all record of that has vanished.