A few weeks ago I went to the very popular Ock Street exhibition and bought a leaflet called “Ock Street Heritage Walk.” I’m grateful to the Abingdon and Area Archaelogical Society (Aaahs) for all the quotes given below.

Between the Ock Street Dental Practice and Steer’s Hair Stylist is the building above which has a sign for Abingdon Upholsterer Workshops. The Aaahs leaflet describes this: “Nos 39 and 41 have an early C19 brick frontage on a pair of earlier buildings. The central arch gave access to Court No 1 with dwellings round a yard” Ock Street used to have lots of dewllings arranged round different courts before the 1930s slum clearance.

“Nos 75 & 77 are two timber-framed houses faced with tiles hung on battens. No 75 has plain tiles, but no 77 has tiles closely resembling brickwork…”

“The large building to the left of the Crown Mews development, with three gabled dormer windows, was Mr Warricks Public Houses, c.1700, a good example of the use of locally quarried rubble stone with brick dressings.”

No 143 was the Happy Dick Pub, a timber framed building c. 1600. It retains the distinctive jetted construction and prominent gable.

There is lots more in the leaflet, but I’ll end with one building it does not mention: Domino’s Pizzas – not quite such an old building.