Michael emailed me to say it would need a heavy hammer to cause this much damage to the stonework in the Abbey Gardens. There is also a track of dry grass.

Old Abbey House has been unused and unoccupied since the town council and citizens advice moved out in 2014. The building was boarded up two years ago to stop vandalism, and rotating climb guards added more recently.

A lot of roof tiles are broken above the lower half of the building.

The roof on the higher part looks better, but mischief makers are still getting up there and causing damage.

Old Abbey House is owned by the Vale of the White Horse District Council. The Conservatives were in charge up to May 2019 and proposed using it as Social Housing. The Lib-Dems have been in charge since May 2019. They were putting together a strategy document about managing VWHDC buildings when the Coronavirus Pandemic struck.

The lead appears to have disappeared from the roof of Old Abbey House Porch, and an attempt has been made to remove the lead from the window. The building has not been used a great deal since Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council moved out in June 2014. The Vale of White Horse did make efforts to sell it at that time but withdrew it from sale after protests . There was the hope that a community minded group would be able to take it over for an arts centre of something similar.

There are also signs round the back that the flat part of the roof has been disturbed.

This morning (Sunday 25th Jan 2015) it was discovered that the door of Conduit House, an ancient monument on the corner of Albert Park, had been broken down.

The likely battering ram lay beside the door.