At the start of Heritage Open Day the community choir, from Abingdon Music Centre, led community singing – through the rain

The Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers led the dancing that followed and skies cleared for what became a bright sunny afternoon.

The town crier announced what was happening, and found a possible town crier for the future.

Throughout the day we found a little about what it was like to be poor in ‘Hard Times’.

Re-enactors from The Ragged Victorians approached people in Abingdon as if it was 1851.

AS well as milling around, there were a number of incidents that happened during the day that needed the intervention of the Police.

But thankfully not from the modern day police.

Victorians built a lot of the Abingdon churches. On Heritage Open Day a large number of Abingdon’s historic properties were open for people to look round, including some of those churches. Churches were also open for Ride and Stride. The Bishop of Dorchester took part, visiting many Abingdon churches, in an orange T-Shirt.

Abingdon Bowling Club put on a special tournament at 2:30, which visitors from Abingdon’s twin town Schongau, in Germany, went to watch (apology I got my details wrong in saying 11:00 earlier)

Lots of people dressed up on the day, local people at the bowling, and

the visiting Ragged Victorians.

Abingdon Rotary Club sold Victorian beverages on the Market Place, and Paul from Simon’s News sold sweets that would have been recognisable to Victorians. On Sunday Christ’s Hospital Hall (alms houses), and Old Abbey Buildings are open. There are also walks:
11:00 Abingdon 1556 Boundary Walk (2 hours and 4 miles)
11:00 Wilts and Berks Canal Walk (1.5 hours and 3 miles)
14:00 Lost Abbey Walk (1 hour and 1 mile)
14:00 St Helen and the Almshouses (1 hour and 1 mile)

At the Old Abbey Buildings, this evening, local historians and dignitaries gathered to celebrate the first 100 Entries of Abingdon People and Buildings on the town history portal.

The Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames, Helen Pighills, cut the cake, and Manfred Brod told us how the project had been initiated,  researched and edited by members of Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society.

Many people helped in the project. Pictured are Michael Harrison, who takes a lot of the photographs, and Ruth Weinberg who cooked the ABP 100 cake.

Ruth will also be doing a talk for Heritage Open Days at St Nicolas Church ‘Victorian Abingdon in pictures‘  on Thursday 10th September at 12:30.

If you can’t make that then there is another talk  ‘Albert Park – The Development of a Victorian Suburb‘ by Jackie Smith on  Friday 11th September at 19:30. Both are free as are all Heritage Open Days events.

All articles are peer reviewed before they are published on the web – to ensure they are well researched, and read well. The first 100 articles contain Historic Buildings from Abbey Gateway to 48 West St Helen Street, and Abingdon People from The Ackling Family to William Thomas Garrett Woodforde.

Find out more at abingdon.gov.uk/partners/history.

We are away on our summer holiday. As this is our thirtieth wedding anniversary we have travelled further than usual.

There have been reminders of Abingdon, 3,359 miles away.

Old Speckled Hen beer has reached Kingston, a Canadian city located on Lake Ontario. British loyalists retreated here from the independent United States of America during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). They helped defend Canada from USA attempts to expand the States northwards in the war that followed in 1812.

However Canadians have not taken to “Old Speckled Hen” as well as might be expected and three years on, from the inauguration of this pub, the beer, that originated in Abingdon is no longer available on draft, only in cans.

We will be back home in a few days, where A and J are holding the fort. Then a very busy week as Heritage Day is on 12th Sept, something I help organise, and there are events before and after. See abingdonheritage.co.uk. By the way if anybody has pictures of Victorian ancestors, who lived in Abingdon, please get them copied in the library where we are starting a collection.

For the last few weeks there has been scaffolding up in the front of Abingdon Baptist Church.

The blue and white front, of this Grade II listed building, has been repainted with a classical stone colour. A glass main door will be added.

The church (as in the members and not the building) are still fund raising for further improvements to the building.