Outline of the Abbey Church

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At 14:30 on Sunday 31 July there is a guided tour of Abingdon’s Mediaeval Abbey by the Friends of Abingdon. To book a place email: pb@paulineburren.co.uk or phone 01235 521873. It will include a walk round various grounds and buildings including the outline of the Abbey Church …
Tour of Abbey
… charted using underground scanning techniques by the Lost Abbey Project.

Tour of Abbey
Today there were a group of people learning Nordic walking round the outline.

And there was me, with my more erratic walking, filming the outline of the Abbey Church, and the Abbey Gateway…

Over Heritage Weekend there will be the launch of the Lost Abbey information trail. More of that soon.

Old Gaol building and refurbishment

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Old Gaol
A new pathway is being laid under the archway at Twickenham House …
Old Gaol
to the Old Gaol the other side – for this is now all part of one complex.
Old Gaol
Girders and steel ties lay ready to be used as the skeleton for new buildings.
Old Gaol
Older buildings are being merely refurbished.
Old Gaol
It will be interesting to see how the barred windows look when people live up there as luxury dwellers – not prisoners.

Fellowship at St Ethelwold’s

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St Ethelwolds
You can tell from the thickness of the walls that St Ethelwold’s House is one of the oldest houses in Abingdon. The house has a Georgian front, with medieaval rooms stretching behind.

There has been a lot going on at St Ethelwold’s House this weekend. Yesterday there was an open afternoon.
St Ethelwolds
I read in a leaflet called “The Fellowship of St Ethelwold” that  Dorothea Pickering – the founder – hoped to create a small scale Benedictine Community at St Ethelwolds. Dorothea was interested in the history of Abingdon Abbey and named the house  after St Ethelwold – a Benedictine monk who rebuilt and reinvigorated the Abbey in the tenth century.  Nowadays, Bed and Breakfast, and the use of  rooms for spiritual and community activities,  ensure that St Ethelwold’s continues to flourish.
St Ethelwolds
Another of Dorotheas interests was interfaith relationships and today –  Sunday – there was a large interfaith gathering in the garden. People shared a picnic and were entertained first by a group of children singing and dancing…
St Ethelwolds
Then with some Bangladeshi music …
St Ethelwolds
That reminds me, Duncan Brown, the ex Mayor, invited followers of a number of different faiths to act as his Chaplain during the year he was Mayor.

Local Excellence Market

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Local Excellence Market
Lots of people were out in town enjoying the occasional sunshine and the local excellence market.
Local Excellence Market
The carrots and other produce on this stall were picked yesterday.
Local Excellence Market
Duncan Brown, ex Mayor, bought some beetroot.
Local Excellence Market
There were samples of very tasty Double Gloucester, and Blue Veined Cheddar, from Glastonbury.
Local Excellence Market
Jill Carver, from Added Ingredients, had some very fine Olive Oil for people to try.
Local Excellence Market
The carbon cutters had a bike that drove a food mixer making strawberry smoothies – just visible behind the Town Crier on the bike.

The local excellence market was on from 9:00 – 14:00 today.