Unit 25 in Bury Street has launched the first exhibition of this year’s Heritage Open Days – opening a day ahead of the wider programme.

The ground floor exhibition shows the changing face of central Abingdon in the 60s and 70s. Displays trace the development of Bury Street precinct, the Charter area and Stratton Way, with detailed accounts of the buildings that were lost. One panel explains how the Victorians replaced earlier Georgian structures – and other panels show how, when their own landmarks such as the Queen’s Hotel and the Corn Exchange fell out of favour in the 1960s, they too were swept away for modernist redevelopment. In 2012 the flat roofs and covered walkways were in turn replaced with pitched roofs and wider streets.

Upstairs the focus is on local creativity. Abingdon artists are showing paintings of historic buildings to be in an upcoming book. Last year’s cardboard models of local landmarks also return, alongside a display on the Culham fusion research project.

There’s more to come when the main Heritage Open Days programme begins on Saturday.