People demonstrated Iron Age crafts in the grounds of the Abbey Buildings. A Blacksmith used bellows to heat the coals in which a sickle was stuck to make it red hot so that he could bang it into shape.

A lady had produced dyes by grinding rocks gathered near the coast, which she then used to paint shields for warriors.

There were also various armed iron age warriors and a Roman soldier, iron age food, iron age games and more.

Another highlight was the exhibition in the Roysse Room. It was only just lunchtime when I went in and they had already welcomed over 300 visitors.

Dawn talking Newspapers had a demo of a recording. They are usually based at the Health and Well Being Centre. They connect people who have visual impairments with the local news by recording and distributing it on flash drives. (Heritage theme 2024: Routes-Networks-Connections).

The exhibition comprised large old maps which people always enjoy and old photos of roads in Abingdon and how they have changed; a history of footpaths; some waterways; and some aeroplane pictures from RAF Abingdon.  The bomb like object is a fuel tank which an aircraft dropped. After WWII there were lots of these ‘Drop Tanks’ in the fields around Abingdon.

Outside the weather was bright and sunny. Artists were drawing and painting around the town and by the river for a quick impromptu exhibition in St Nicolas Church.

There was a exhibition about waterways in the Long Alley Almshouses hall, and a chance to admire the touched-up windows.

The Abingdon Branch Railway model was popular, and lots of MG Cars could be seen in the siding.

Inside the MG Car Club there was an exhibition of MG and MGCC memorabilia.

This is a limited edition brick (No 244 of 500) from the MG Car Plant building in Abingdon-on-Thames.

These pictures make up just a small sample of what was an excellent Heritage Saturday. Well done to all the organisers and volunteers. The Heritage weekend continues on Sunday, when there will be, among other things, MG Cars on the Market Place from 10 am to 2 pm.

Marion Evans, the Residents’ Governor, invites you to view the newly restored stained glass window in the Hall on Saturday 14th September during Abingdon’s Heritage Weekend.

Long Alley almshouses date from the 15th century and are Grade 1 listed. They form part of the beautiful churchyard group around St Helen’s Church.

The window dates back to 1605, though the glass is more recent. The shields depicted are from historic benefactors to the charity. The first window is for King Edward VI who founded & incorporated the Hospital of Christ in Abingdon 1553. The second window is for Sir John Mason, the first Master, appointed in 1553 – a liberal patron of the Hospital.

A hospital was a place of hospitality, not just for treating illness, but covered almshouses and hostels.

According to the article Medieval Hospitals by Margaret Markham, St. Helen’s Hospital (Long Alley Almshouses) was founded in association with the Guild of the Holy Cross in 1442 for the support of 7 poor men and 6 women. The Guild and its hospital was dissolved in 1548, but re-founded as Christ’s Hospital 5 years later.

WORKHOUSE DIET UNDER SCRUTINY

At the Abingdon Board of Guardians’ meeting last weekend, the cost of provisions at the Workhouse was submitted. The period was for three months, and the amount was £368 4s. 4d., as against £396 13s. 4d. for the corresponding period of last year, at which time there were no vagrants, whereas the amount for the past quarter included over 50 vagrants. The weekly cost of provisions showed a decrease of about 1s. per head.

Mrs. E. C. Reynolds, one of the guardians representing the borough of Abingdon, said the allowance of half an ounce of margarine per inmate per day was low; it was really awful. She would like the members of the Board to try the margarine diet and see what they thought of the allowance. Then she saw that jam at 5d. per lb. was given to the inmates. What could jam at that price be made of, she asked, when sugar cost that amount per pound?

She also complained of the guardians selling the fruit grown in the Workhouse gardens and giving the inmates what any schoolboy would probably call “muck.” The Chairman (Mr. H. Weaving) said they could not make jam unless the fruit was given to them, to which Mrs. Reynolds replied that it cost them nothing, as it was grown in the institution’s own gardens, and protested against the guardians sending the fruit to local tradesmen for them to make a profit. The Chairman thought the Master was acting wisely in selling the fruit. The matter was eventually referred to a committee.

NEW DISPOSAL PLANT.
A new sewage disposal plant has been installed at the Abingdon pumping station, and members of the Corporation attended the formal opening last week. The work has been carried out by Messrs. J. Taylor & Sons Ltd., Deptford, London, and is the latest in dealing with the disposal of sewage. The total pumping capacity of the plant is 3,466,000 gallons per day. It is estimated that during storms the amount of sewage to be pumped will only reach 1,749,000 gallons per day. A plaque has been fixed to the wall, with the inscription: “Borough of Abingdon. Sewage Pumping Station and Sewage Farm Extension, 1922-24.”

OUTING.
On Saturday, the annual outing at Nelson Inn took place, where the party went by charabanc to Wembley, departing at 6:30 a.m. and returning home at 12:15 a.m.

RETIRED RURAL POSTMAN.
Mr. Levi Broughton, of Park Road, Abingdon, who has retired from employment as a rural postman for the district after 40 years of service, was on Wednesday presented with H.M. Imperial Service Medal for long and meritorious service. Mr. Lucas, postmaster of Abingdon, made the presentation and mentioned the respect in which the recipient was held.

HOLIDAY-MAKER’S SUDDEN DEATH
Mr. Goode, of Isleworth, Middlesex (aged 49 years), a commercial artist and illustrator, who was camping out on the “Nag’s Head” island with his wife and children, on Thursday afternoon bathed with his daughter. On getting out of the water, he collapsed, falling forward on his face into the shallow water. Dr. R. H. Scott, M.D., of Abingdon, stated that he was called to the island and found others trying artificial respiration, which was continued for some time, but life was extinct. The cause of death was syncope (a sudden loss of consciousness) from overexertion on a half-empty stomach.

HORTICULTURAL SHOW
The Abingdon Horticultural Show was held in the Abbey House grounds, by permission of the Mayor and Corporation, on the 7th inst. The entries were well up to last year’s, and the attendance was good. Besides the usual show, the committee also organized a rabbit and pigeon show, which proved a great success. The Abingdon Town Band gave selections in the afternoon and supplied the music for the dancing in the evening. The Volunteer Fire Brigade gave a display of fire fighting. In the baby show, the winners in the different classes were Mrs. F. Lewis, Mrs. Turner, and Mrs. A. Tarry. (There then follows a long list of winners in the horticultural show.)

NEW UNIFORM
The Abingdon Town Band has now been supplied with new uniforms of a dark-blue cloth with green and yellow facings.

LOCAL TERRITORIALS
The local Territorials of the 4th Batt. Royal Berkshire Regiment returned from camp on Sunday, having been at Salisbury Plain for the past fortnight.

CHARGE OF ABDUCTION
At the County Police Court on Monday, Harold Milligan, alias Jock Martin, aged 23, a variety artist of no fixed abode, was charged with taking a girl of 16 out of the custody of her parents. The girl, a domestic servant employed at Cumnor, met Milligan last May, but her parents objected to them keeping company due to her age. Milligan persuaded the girl to leave her employment, and on the 7th August, they walked to Henley and then on to Aylesbury en route to London, sleeping at night in fields. Milligan sang in the streets for money to support them. The prisoner was sent for trial at the Berks Assizes.

ABINGDON TOWN BAND APPLICATION
The Abingdon Town Band has made application to the Town Council for permission to play in the Abbey House Grounds on Thursday evenings, and will also play on the ‘Nag’s Head’ meadow on Sunday if permission can be obtained.

COUNTY POLICE COURT
On Monday, a farm labourer named John Lambourne was accused of attacking a 14-year-old girl on August Bank Holiday. The girl was walking home from Cumnor along a lane when he grabbed her and assaulted her. A man named George Neadwell heard the girl screaming and went to help her, and Lambourne ran away. The judge sentenced Lambourne to 14 days hard labour.
Leslie Berry, was fined for riding his bike without a light.

RICK FIRE
On Saturday afternoon, a rick belonging to Mr. W. E. Long, farmer, Marcham, was found to be on fire. The Abingdon Fire Brigade was called and saved a portion of the rick. The cause of the fire was over-heating.

CHILDREN’S TREAT
The Church Sunday School children had their annual treat on Saturday, but as the weather prevented it from being held in a meadow, the proprietors of the Cinema in Stert Street kindly gave an extra performance in the afternoon.

GOLDEN WEDDING
Last week, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Townsend celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They were married at St. Michael’s Church in Abingdon in 1874. They used to own a bakery and grocery store in the Vineyard, but they retired in 1914. They are both in good health, even though they are very old.

Thanks to the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, North Wilts Herald and Reading Standard on the British Newspaper Archive. Thanks to the Oxford Chronicle for the Summertown Baby Competition and jam advert. Ebay for the 1st Edition Mrs Beeton’s Jam Making book and the 1920s bicycle lamp.

This photo is from 1952. The houses in Kingston Close, behind Fitzharris Manor House, were built between 1946 and 1948 for workers at Harwell’s Atomic Energy Research Establishment, established in 1946.

The manor house and grounds had been requisitioned by The Ministry of Supply. While building the new housing estate, the Ministry also proposed demolishing the house. The Friends of Abingdon and the Council for the Preservation of Rural England had both voiced strong opposition to the demolition arguing that the Elizabethan and eighteenth-century architecture had been allowed to fall into disrepair due to years of neglect by the Ministry. Abingdon Borough Council expressed doubts about its ability to afford the repairs of £20,000 even if the property were gifted to the town. The Ministry then went ahead and demolished the manor house early in 1953.

Nothing was ever built on the site where the manor house stood. Today, it’s a green space with trees, a plaque commemorating the house, and its foundations buried underground. This picture offers a similar view from the green towards Kingston Close.

There are some surviving features from the original estate. Stone walls and trees surround parts of the property, including the wall along Bath Street and that running between the estate and Withington Court, and along Fitzharrys Road.

There is also a stable yard that is used for garages and what looks like an electricity substation.

The most significant survivor, however, is the motte and bailey mound, a pre-existing Norman fortification that predates and has outlasted the house.

There is more about the Fitzharris Estate at https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_streets/fitzharris-estate .

What confuses me are the variations in spelling with the old estate called Fitzharris and there is a Fitzharris Industrial Estate, but there are Fitzharrys Road and Fitzharrys School.

Thanks to The Sphere on the British Newspaper Archive 27 September 1952 for information about the protests and the first photo. To Dick Barnes article ‘Fitzharris Manor, Abingdon: from Gentleman’s residence To Demolition’ for ideas about what remains. To Abingdon Past and Present by E Drury and J Thomas for pointing out the houses behind the manor house are Kingston Close. To Alwyn for telling me about the estate today and showing me the estate wall in his back garden. He also said the houses had garages as some American scientists at the time, who AERE wanted to keep after the war, expected garages.