This morning, around 90 enthusiastic Abingdonians (and several dogs) set off on a special New Year’s Day tradition: walking the ancient boundary of our borough. This centuries-old walk follows the line laid out in the 1556 charter, back when it was the official duty of the Mayor and Council. After a break, the tradition was revived in 2000, and it’s been going strong ever since!
The charter gives a detailed description of the boundary, and it’s close to the red line drawn in 1831 for the Abingdon Parliamentary boundary (see above). Today, the Ock Valley Walk mud forced us to detour along Caldecott Road. But otherwise, we stuck fairly close to the boundary.
Our guide for the day was the silver-tongued Helen Pighills, with our very own Town Crier keeping things lively with his hangover-hurting bell and loud voice and entertaining announcements. He even gave a plug to the Abingdon Drama Club’s upcoming production of Peter Pan (he’s playing Captain Hook, by the way!). The young lady playing Peter Pan was also on the walk. Catch the show if you can – tickets are available at https://www.abingdon-drama-club.com/.
Despite the threat of rain, the weather held out, and around 60 folks made it all the way to Abingdon Lock, the final stop on our boundary journey.
Helen even pointed out one of the ancient boundary stones near the lock. It was a great way to start the new year, and if you missed it, and were stuck indoor watching repeats of Richard Osman’s House of Games, don’t worry, there is next year, but it might be raining then.
Yes it was an excellent and enjoyable way to spend New Years Day. The Town Crier was Patrick Bird by the way, according to the Town Council website.
This must be the best attended for many years- well done to Helen Pighills for leading this year after year!
PS looking at the photo if I am not mistaken, the Town Crier was Jon Crowley
You don’t need to wait till next New Year – the Friends of Abingdon usually include the Boundary Walk as part of our guided walks programmes at the late May Bank Holiday (Monday 27 May) and Heritage Weekend (14-15 September) – complete with Town Crier.
Or you can do it on your own with the help of one of our leaflets https://abingdoncivicsociety.org.uk/activities/abingdon-walks/abingdon-boundary-walk/
Sorry – I don’t know the Town Criers but maybe Patrick couldn’t make it.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the walk.
Thank you to Jon for his hangover busting cries.
And thank you to Patrick Bird for his help in organising., although he was unable to attend this year.
For those who don’t know – Patrick is the Rota Secretary for the Abingdon Guild of Honorary Town Criers. So he’s the man to talk to if you need a Town Crier!
Thank you I really enjoyed it.