In the feature on Abingdon in September 1926, I reported that the new church hall opened that month, but commenters wondered where it was. Elizabeth sent me a picture that she took – used in Abingdon Past and Present. It answers the question. The picture was taken in 1988, the year before the hall was demolished to make way for the Abbey Close extension from the Vineyard.
As you can see from this roughly drawn map, the church hall, the cattle market and, beyond that, the railway all stood in the way of the Abbey Close extension.
In the Oxford Journal, I found pictures of the hall under construction. This picture from December 1925 is when the foundation stone was blessed by the Archdeacon of Berkshire. The inscription on the stone is not easy to decipher and this is guesswork. It may say, ‘This hall was dedicated … Glory of God … ????? … Ven Richard Wickham Legg ?? … Archdeacon of Berks.. Anno MCMXXV.’
When I first wrote about the Church Hall back in 2014, Dick Barnes said: “The Church Hall was sited in the Parish of Abingdon St Nicolas, although the legally separate parish of Abingdon St Helen was largely responsible for building and administering it. The dedication tablet over the entrance stated that it was for the benefit of ‘The Parish’.”
Acknowledgments: Abingdon Past and Present by Elizabeth Drury and Judy Thomas; the Oxford Journal, accessed through Oxford Library.
What a shame! It looks like a very useful hall right in the town centre. Presumably they used to have vehicle access through the Abbey Gateway and then decided there was too much traffic for that, so they had to build the new road.
There was vehicular access through the Abbey Gateway, Michael, but it was stopped due the damage being done as they drove through. If you look up toward the top of the arches, as you walk through, you can still see the grooves left by the larger vehicles that squeezed through.