Heritage Open Days – This Weekend

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Abingdon Heritage Weekend is back for 2023 from 16th – 17th September, with a focus on Creativity Unwrapped. Over the weekend, there will be a wide range of events taking place, from open properties and historical walks and talks to exhibitions and workshops.

Creativity Unwrapped in East St Helen Street This street has been home to many creative people over the years, and this year their work will be celebrated in a series of window displays. For example, Dorothea Pickering, who opened up St Ethelwold’s House for the community, was also an artist.

Community Shop The Abingdon Artists have created a series of facsimiles of historic Abingdon buildings, which can be seen in the former premises of Samuels the jeweller. There will also be an exhibition about Abingdon artists, musicians, and other creative people.

Other highlights include:
* 70 Years of Drama at the Unicorn Theatre
* Talks by four current day Abingdon creators at the Guildhall
* Two different exhibitions of Oswald Couldrey’s art, and one of Sampson Strong’s work
* The Abingdon Missal exhibition at the Abbey Buildings

This is just a small selection of the events taking place at the Abingdon Heritage Weekend. For more information, pick up a leaflet at the information stall on the Market Place at the weekend, or visit the website: https://abingdonheritage.org.uk/.

Old Mill and Otwell Lane

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A license application has been submitted to the Vale of White Horse District Council for 15 Market Place. It used to be The Nursery Shop and before that La Baguette. The new business appears to be called ‘The Old Mill’ and has applied to serve alcohol from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm indoors, and from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm outdoors.

15 Market Place is a Grade II listed building with original 17th-century features and an overhang. The overhang of this historic building has the advantage of increasing the available space inside without obstructing the street. Queen Street enters the Market Place at this point and is very narrow.

Queen Street is named after the Queens Hotel, which was built there in Victorian times. According to Agnes Baker, the lane had various names before Queen’s Street, including Otwellesland, Bryanneslane, Scholelane, Crab Lane and Workhouse Lane. Agnes Bakers says ‘But still the name of Otwell Lane Persisted with all the other forms, until in modern times it was somewhat unimaginatively renamed Queen Street’. Recently the Town Council proposed putting up a sign to say it is Queen Street with ‘(Formerly known as Otwell Lane)’ in small type.

Agnes Baker also mentions a horse-driven mill for crushing crab apples near this site, when it was called Crab Lane. That may be where the new business owner got the idea of calling it “Old Mill.”

Sources:
1. https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101368313-15-market-place-abingdon-on-thames.
2. Historic Street of Abingdon by  Agnes C Baker (p 22-23)
3. https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Draft-minutes-9.3.23-Town-Infrastructure-Committee.pdf

Lodge Hill Full Diamond Interchange – Approved

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Oxfordshire County Council has authorised the long-awaited improvements to the Lodge Hill Interchange on the A34. See their news item at https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/works-to-improve-junction-capacity-at-lodge-hill-given-planning-permission/.

The work will involve the addition of new south-facing slip roads to the A34.

The junction currently only has north-facing slips.

The improvements are partly funded by contributions from developers, the Growth Deal, and the Department of Levelling Up. However, a funding gap was discovered, and Oxfordshire County Council is in talks with Homes England to secure additional funding.

The project was a condition for the new housing in North Abingdon and is expected to reduce traffic through Abingdon.

MG100 Celebration in Abingdon

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Abingdon was the manufacturing home of MG for many years, from the 1920s until 1980. Today, the Oxfordshire MG Owners Club and the MG Car Club Abingdon Works Centre worked together to host a celebration of the marque’s 100th anniversary. The event, which took place at Abingdon Vale Cricket Ground, attracted around 250 MG cars from all over the UK.

The event was initiated by local MG enthusiast Tony Cotter, who felt that many large MG100 events were taking place elsewhere but not in Abingdon, the spiritual home of MG. Tony and wife, Richard Martin and his wife Gill worked very hard with many others to make the event possible.

The event was a great success, with a wide variety of MG cars on display, from classic models to modern classics. Special plaques were on display on many.

There were also stalls selling MG merchandise, as well as some very well-known Abingdon traders, such as Busby Bees and Devine Times Photography.

The rain did come at around 1 pm, but this didn’t dampen the spirits of the enthusiasts who remained. The Mayor of Abingdon was on hand to talk to owners and present cups to the winners of various competitions, including the car that most other car owners would have liked to own. That turned out to be the MGA above.

Money raised through entrance fees for cars etc. went to two charities, the Abingdon Foodbank and the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. (To find about more about the Foodbank visit https://abingdon.foodbank.org.uk.)

The announcer at the end of the event said, “We’ll see you all again in another 100 years.”