Abingdon Links in London 7 – Yours to Command

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Cecil Sharp House
Today, I visited Cecil Sharp House in Camden, off Regents Park Road.

Cecil Sharp was a collector of folk music and dances which he documented. He was instrumental in the revival of this traditional form of dancing and became the first ever Professor of Folk Music and Dance
Cecil Sharp House
Inside Cecil Sharp House I saw a little model of the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers who Cecil saw one Boxing Day morning when visiting an Aunt in Oxford.
Cecil Sharp House
A collaborator of Sharps’s called Mary Neal found her inspiration from nearby Berkshire. (Photo by Meritxell Bonas). The picture shows the recent Mary Neal celebration at Cecil Sharp House where the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers performed .
Cecil Sharp House
Cecil’s interest was perhaps  more academic, while Mary used the dances to teach to young working class girls in her Esperance Club.
Cecil Sharp House
Mary heard of some dancers from a town in Berkshire who always danced with horns mounted on a pole. That interested her greatly. So she wrote and got the reply ‘Honourable and respected Miss, I am that party which has the old dances, and I shall be proud to show them to you. Yours to command.’

She first came to Abingdon around 1910 and saw them dance at the White Horse Pub. They also went to London to dance for her. Her correspondent went by the well known Abingdon name of Hemmings.

Radley Road – where houses are not numbered

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Radley Road without numbers
On Tuesday I had the pleasure of walking the length of Radley Road. The single bus fare from Radley Station to Abingdon is £2:10. It was not raining and so I saved the money and enjoyed an interesting walk.
Radley Road without numbers
Radley Road has the distinction of having the longest section of residential housing in Abingdon without house numbers. For most of the way along the left hand side houses don’t have numbers. Thay have names like… Francissi, Jolibe, Rottingdean, The Shambles, Upwey, The Red House …
Radley Road without numbers
Over the other side every house has a number. A few also have names but not a lot. Even the Radley Road Stores has a large ‘191 Radley Road’ sign above the door.
Radley Road without numbers
It has to be said that the side without numbers has a lot of green space, and schools. As a result the houses are well spaced out. Perhaps that is the reason they managed to avoid being numbered along with the rest of Abingdon.

Rising water level on the River Ock

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Rising Water
The Ock Valley Walk is still walkable – with Wellington Boots. This picture shows where water from the upper Ock  flows across the path to the lower stream. A little further downstream there is a weir where water is supposed to cross.
Rising Water
Unlike the River Thames with its vast flood plain, opposite Abingdon, the River Ock runs through quite a narrow channel. But at the point where the upper and lower streams meet things are probably safer now,
Rising Water
The picturesque bridge by St Helen’s Mill was pulled down because it was thought to impede the flow. St Helen’s Mill has also been tanked, and a simple wooden gate is put across to keep the Ock on track, and not sweeping round people’s homes..
Rising Water
After the Iron Bridge the Ock helps swell the Thames. There are 7 boats moored at St Helen’s Wharf just upstream from the Iron Bridge. The mooring is more secure than the soft ground upstream from Abingdon Bridge.