The river by St Helen’s Wharf looked like a painting – the River Thames was so still and the clouds had an evening glow.
At the Margaret Brown Gardens some young lads ran over when I was taking this picture. They looked into the water for a scooter that another lad had allegedly thrown into the water.
All that was visible in the shallow water was a bicycle somebody else must have thrown in
Over the road from the Margaret Brown Gardens, the former Hygienic Laundry site has been made into flats.
Lovely photos as usual Backstreeter….there was also a full double rainbow last night at around 7pm..i saw it from Tilsley park…unfortunately i didn’t have my camera.
when i was a kid those gardens had a boat mooring type area cut out that was full of junk and never saw a boat.
you could climb through a few trees on the far edge and find a nice sitting point invisible to the world. was dis-appointed when they cleaned up the gardens and filled in the port.
Agreed, you’ve a good eye, backstreeter. I’ve had the ‘Spring Flu’ for the last four weeks and not been out much so these shots make me keen to be out-and-about again to enjoy what the Town & Surrounds have to offer.
In the 70’s wasn’t there a boat moored there called the Mary Watson (please correct me if I’m wrong).
Quite correct Badger, it resembled the beautiful old style college barges, by coincidence I tried googling yesterday but with no success?
I believe somewhere in that riverside area, there was an Iron Foundry and boat building yard. Its going back some time I’m sure but maybe someone can ….
Great photos as usual, and such a wide and varied choice of subject, Power to your photographic elbow’!
Ck2 – Glad my memory hasn’t failed me completely, I too searched the web for ages but can’t find anything at all, I think there are pictures of it and the area behind in one of those Abingdon in camera (or similar) books. I think when it finally left the town the barge was refurbished and given a home elsewhere on the Thames (Henley rings a bell but I may be wrong) presumably it was renamed which is why I draw a blank when searching.
I remember it resembling this http://www.davidsherriff.co.uk/portfolio_page/the-univ-barge
Hi again Badger, yes it looked very much like that, just trawled through my books on Abingdon, but can’t find any photos or reference to it ?
Dave – it was Gabriel Davis’ boatyard. there is a Henry Taint photo at http://viewfinder.historicengland.org.uk/search/detail.aspx?uid=53031. One of the AAAHS people has done a lot of research on this part of Abingdon but I don’t know if he has published it anywhere.
Ck2 – I can’t find the picture I remember either, although picture 7 from ‘Abingdon in Camera’ looks like a similar kind of barge but it’s not the picture I’m looking for.
Thanks for the picture link, I will have a look round and see what I can find about Davis Boatyard.
Is the boat on the third picture down on this site:
http://www.aeolian-hall.myzen.co.uk/winter%2063.html
Debbie – Yes, that is the Mary Watson where she remained moored for many years.
Debbie, brilliant pictures ! Brings back happy memories, I remember walking across the Thames by Abingdon bridge in the big freeze and the time when you could see the Anchor wharf from the nags island,( unlike now because the willows haven’t been pollarded,) and the Knowl looked well kept and cared for compared to what it looks like now ( if the inside is anything like the outside then I pity the residents, it must be a listed building? so isn’t someone/body responsible for enforcing its owners keep it maintained?
I remember back in the early to mid Sixties being involved in the restoration of a Mary Watson barge. I think that at the time the Berkshire Education Committee,Youth Service had an interest in the project. I think that at that time it was under their control as a service resource.
Wow, I made a post about this barge on this forum yesterday without realising this thread was here. So I didn’t imagine it, the Mary Watson was in Abingdon! So was the reference in the book about this boat?
https://www.abingdonblog.co.uk/?p=19652&cpage=1#comment-1125146