1864-5 Albert Park laid out by the charity Christ’s Hospital of Abingdon.
1865 Monument to Prince Albert, designed by J Gibbs, completed.
1867 St Michael’s Church, designed by G Scott, completed.
1870 Roysses School, designed by E Dolby, completed.
1875 Trinity Methodist Church, designed by W Woodman, completed.
Gothic houses in the North-Oxford style were set out around the park forming a fine Victorian residential area –
with gated private roads.
And from 28th June 2015, 150 years after the monument was unveiled, a new book about the park will become available. It is still possible to become a founding subscriber and have your name printed in the book. Address queries to albertparkra@gmail.com.
Apologies, but a blatant hijack for my own neferious ends…
Please can anyone confirm the full planning name/title/ref number for the Drayton Rd development and also related traffic calming on Marcham Rd? Thank you…and apologies….
I could add to this info Abingdon Bowling Club-Founded in the Park 1913/14.
Daniel … P14/V1196/FUL is the most recent. P12/V2266/FUL is the original which has a transport assessment and the planning inspectors appeal decision with mitigation measures
Just to add to backstreeter’s comments, apart from the book being an interesting read, its proceeds will also be used to contribute to further improving the park. Sandy and her team have done a great job in pulling it together.
You can also pick up some of the ‘Founding Subscriber’ forms at Mostly Books…tells you more about the book as well.
I am researching the writer Dorothy M. Richardson, born 17 May 1873. She was born ‘in a newly fashionable area (of Abingdon) called Albert Park. The park had recently been commemorated to the late Prince Consort, and around it had sprung up a crescent of homes. Charles (Dorothy’s father) rented one of these, a large white-stoned house with a walled garden, which Dorothy would remember as the scene and source of her first experiences.’
It would be marvelous if someone could tell me the number/name and street of this house.
I have now come across the below – but I have a new question now. Does anyone know what happened to the proposal to have a blue plaque for Dorothy Richardson at 18 Park Cresecent?
Where was Richardson born?
12/09/09 13:06
I have been contacted by the Vale of White Horse District Council who ask if I know where Richardson was born. I discover I don’t exactly. Gloria Fromm’s Biography is not specific. Dorothy Richardson lived the first few years of her life in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on the Crescent next to Albert Park. By the 1881 census, the family had moved to Worthing in Sussex because of her father Charles Richardson’s financial difficulties. I put my ex-colleague who lives in Abingdon onto the case. A Swift scholar, he shows the acuity one would expect and a remarkable adeptness at sleuthing. Not put off by my misdirections, he comes up first with an article about the sale of the Richardson’s family business, which turned Mr Richardson into a gentleman of leisure: http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/ockst/page24.phtml. From the 1871 census he finds that Charles and Mary, her mother, are living in Marcham Road, which runs into Ock Street where the shop was. He then obtains the birth certificate, which just says ‘Albert Park’ as date of birth. Afterwards he spends some time pondering the ethics of looking into the back gardens of Park Crescent to see if anything matches up to the family picture in Fromm, which features Dorothy as a baby. Very quickly, however, the search bears fruit. After consulting the Abingdon town archivist, he discovers the house is 18 Park Crescent, now owned by Abingdon School. It has already been suggested for a blue plaque in the Autumn 2001 Newsletter of the Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society. It turns out this is not the house in the picture, which he speculates might belong to the grandparents. According to the Abingdon town archivist, the photograph looks as if it was taken at the back of one of the houses in Marcham Road. The Park Crescent house would have paid ground rent to Christ’s Hospital, which has an archive, which it may pay to investigate. However, that will have to wait until I can get down there. If Charles Richardson rented the house from the house’s owner, it may reveal nothing at all.
I am very pleased to have purchased a copy of the book today.
I am curious about the postcard at the top of Page 62, showing the junction of Victoria Road and Park Crescent. I wonder if it is possible to date the card? (Does the 49/4 indicate that it is from 1949?)
I would very much appreciate any clues from the owner of the card!
thanks
James