It was a wet start to the year. Despite the weather a good number of citizens gathered at the Market Place to take part in walking the 1556 Borough Boundary following instructions given in the 1556 Borough Charter.

Watch on youtube as the walk leader, Penny Clover, reads parts of the aforesaid instructions, and the Town Crier congratulates those who finished the two hour walk. He also shows everybody one of the few remaining boundary stones that separate Abingdon from ‘foreign parts’ , and ends by crying ‘‘God save Abingdon on Thames! God save the Queen!‘ ‘

There were a lot of walks put on by the Friends of Abingdon yesterday. They included the Ock Valley Walk,

and boundary walk. It is always a surprise to go on any of these walks to find how many new things you can discover about Abingdon when shown by an expert.

I went on the Lost Abbey Walk which ended at the Old Abbey Buildings – now maintained by the Friends of Abingdon. Somebody has recently discovered some medieval grafitti on a chimney breast,

It shows what looks like a portcullis, and they think it is the symbol of a family who stayed there in the 15th Century.

The same chimney breast has also more recent grafitti such as this name from 1931. If anybody knows of other medieval graffiti in Abingdon I would be interested to know. It could make an interesting tour.