Abingdon County Hall was taped off this afternoon as a worker abseiled about the outside.
A van, parked nearby, was the property of Chiltern Lifts Company. And so this could have been part of a survey to see about installing a lift, something the town council have started to investigate. Town council officers met recently with Historic England Planning and architects to consider three options for the lift. (But that is a complete guess. Somebody out there may know better. Perhaps it was the Mayor’s Charity Abseil.)
UPDATE: Actually, my guess was wrong. The lift engineers were looking at the current lift and will be back once they have consulted with the manufacturers. It could be out of action for a while. The abseil was English Heritage workers repairing the balustrade and cupola. They also cleaned the windows.