Monthly Archives: August 2016

Three Stone Landmarks

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Under the archway connecting Stert Street and the Market Place is a mural painted by Margaret Jones, the same artist who painted, and repainted, the mural in the Stratton Way underpass. It shows three stone landmarks from Abingdon, and was commissioned by the Friends of Abingdon on the wall of John Menzies shop in 1991.
Three Stone Standards
The Queen Victoria statue was given to the town by E.J Trendell, and was to be seen on the Market Place for about 60 years, and has been in the Abbey Grounds for the next 70 years.

There is Abingdon’s “Right, Goodly Crosse of Stone” built in 1441, and demolished by parliamentary soldiers during the English Civil War in 1644.
Three Stone Standards
There is also an Obelisk Lamp Standard (1834-1887) that was part of the first gas street lighting system in Abingdon. I believe this one was to be seen alongside the River Thames near Abingdon Bridge.

Football for All

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Football for All
In the Community Freespace (opposite Samuels) there was a football display. Oxford City FC were letting people know they give opportunities for people of all ages and abilities who want to play football. For example the Oxford City casuals are a member of the Berks Bucks and Oxfordshire inclusive (BOBi) league that allows disability teams to play each other.

There was a sunny day in town. I noticed a number of rainbow flags in shop windows. The Abingdon rainbow movement has taken off while we were away.

Abingdon Hotels and Guest Houses 2016

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Abingdon Hotels
For anybody arriving late in Abingdon there is a list of Hotels and B&Bs on the A Board outside the Town Council Information Centre. (Thanks to DM for the comment yesterday. The Four Pillars has been recently renamed as the Oxford Abingdon Hotel. Maybe I should have sent the MG to Sandford on Thames.)
Abingdon Hotels
Still missing from the Abingdon list is the Upper Reaches which is looking overgrown as well as boarded up. The Vale of White Horse District Council own the land and could well be on the case. The hotel has an excellent location beside the River Thames.

Sculpture of Three Octagons at Old Gaol

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Three Octagons Sculpture
There is a new sculpture in the public area on the riverside of the Old Gaol development.
Three Octagons Sculpture
The sculpture is made of three interlocking octagons, and is lit up in three colours at night. The octagon could well represent the octagonal central block of the old Gaol, from which the three cell blocks project.

But Octagons are commonplace in Abingdon. There is the badge of the MG – a car formally made in Abingdon. There is also the Octagon Restaurant at the Four Pillars Hotel. Somebody in an open top MG asked me yesterday for the way to the Four Pillars Hotel. I directed them from the town centre to the hotel near the Marcham Interchange off the A34 – back the way they had just come.