Abingdon man ends up on London Bridge

William Mandeville
William Mandeville, of Abingdon, led an early rising of ordinary folk. An account can be read in Chronicles of London Bridge by Richard Thomson, available in google books ( https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=n2MuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA238&lpg=PA238#v=onepage&q&f=falseĀ  ).

It is diffuclt from this account to judge the justice of his cause. A rebellious association was formed in Abingdon by William Mandeville, a weaver and bailiff of the town (April 1431) who called himself Jack Sharp, of Wigmore’s lands in Wales. The object of this rebellion was ostensibly against the priests, for Mandeville confessed when examined, that it was ‘intended to make priests’ heads as plenty as sheep’s heads – ten for a penny,’
William Mandeville
William Mandeville is commemorated in a short street in Abingdon – off the Oxford Road
William Mandeville
Perhaps fitting for a rebellion that ended in execution, Mandeville Close is a Cul-de-sac. There are half a dozen houses on one side of the road, and a Beech hedge on the other.

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