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.

Unit 24 – The Community Space (Bury Street) is now showing vehicles made and painted by Abingdon Artists  placed in front of the Abingdon buildings they made last year for Heritage Open Days. This year’s heritage theme, Routes – Networks – Connections, has inspired the new creations.

To mark its 180th anniversary the Old Ticket Office at Culham will be opening to the public over Heritage Weekend (Saturday 14 September and Sunday 15 September) between 09:00 and 17:00. This will provide an opportunity to see inside an original Brunel designed station building.

The railway line to Culham passes relatively close to Abingdon. Trains pass over the River Thames near the Thames Path and beside the footpath leading via Swift Ditch to Clifton Hampden. Network Rail completed repairs to the Nuneham Viaduct around a year ago after it was closed in April 2023 due to structural issues. You can see the repaired south bank in this picture.