The River Thames Floodplain near Abingdon (yesterday and today)

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Yesterday, you could just about walk the Thames path if you were careful and wore wellies.

The sun was shining, and there were some picturesque views.

One lot of new trees in Rye Farm Meadow was underwater.

Today, the River Thames has a muddier look. Walking along the river bank, even with wellies, would be unwise.

A notice at Abingdon Lock warns people of human sewage and hidden obstacles.

One of our local drone experts was taking pictures from Abingdon Bridge and from Abingdon Lock to be shown on his Facebook site, called fly4fun.

The water level was still rising near Abingdon Lock at 14:15. See https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/7073

Morris Dancing on New Year’s Day 2024

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On New Year’s Day 2024, Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers performed outside the Punchbowl in Abingdon, and then the Broad Face. They were led by the Mayor of Ock Street, Roger Cox, and the Deputy Mayor, Harry Knight.

They had a good turnout with about twenty members.

Abingdon morris dancing is similar to other Cotswold dances, with the dancers wearing white clothes and waving handkerchiefs. But unlike other Cotswold teams, they don’t use sticks. You can learn more about them on their website: http://atmd.org.uk/abingdon-morris/.

I filmed one of their dances, called “The Curly-Headed Ploughboy.” This tune became famous after a man named Cecil Sharp heard it from a local musician in Abingdon in 1922. Now, it’s a popular song at pubs and festivals beyond Abingdon according to the reference: https://www.efdss.org/learning/resources/a-z/2548-efdss-learning-resources-curly-headed-ploughboy.

Strong winds and flooding of low level land

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Abingdon was hit by strong winds today, and the heavy rains of previous days caused the River Ock to overflow and flood the surrounding area.

The path and fields near the Ladygrove Estate were submerged, but the water levels had peaked by evening, looking at the flood monitoring station.

At Tesco, the car park and central approach road were flooded, forcing customers to use the petrol station way instead.

Happy New Year, Abingdon! Almost a hundred walk the Town Boundary

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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.