Old Berks Hunt in Abingdon

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A meet of the Old Berks Hunt in Abingdon was once a popular event, especially on Boxing Day.

A crowd would gather to see the horses, hunts people and hounds. Pete lent me some old slides so I have added his name to the pictures. They appear to be from the mid 1970s.

Owing to the cold wind, it was not a good scenting morning that day.

The only fox gave them a run round near Bagley Woods, and was lost.

Fox Hunting has been banned since 2005 and since then the Old Berks Hunts have carried out trail hunting. They are based near Faringdon and no longer come to Abingdon on Boxing Day.

New Shop

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Michael sent some pictures of Bella Rita’s new Italian ceramic shop next to Seeneys in Stratton Way. He says they could do with some publicity – not many people have found them yet.

They’ve got some nice designs, mainly fruit, vegetables, flowers etc. and Christmas designs but some more artistic items. They also have leather handbags.

He says I’m now the proud owner of the large blue plate in the window display!

Abingdon Boundaries 1556 – 2022

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(The 1556 Boundary Walk follows the 1556 Abingdon Borough Charter.)

In the window of Preston Road Community Centre are details of the 2022 Abingdon town boundary.  The town council have asked for the neighbourhood plan area be the same as the parish boundaries of Abingdon.

However because parish boundaries have changed in the last decade, part of the Abingdon neighbourhood plan area is already part of the Radley neighbourhood plan (hatched area above) and the change has to go to consultation. Comments can be made via https://whitehorsedc.gov.uk/abingdonnp.

Of the 950 new homes proposed to be built on the North Abingdon strategic housing site (including Abbey Field mentioned yesterday) some are in land that used to be part of Radley.

Even more of the houses were within the Sunningwell Parish as seen from the green line in the map above, but they were never included in the Sunningwell Neighbourhood Plan.  Other new housing in North West Abingdon was part of the St Helen’s Without Parish. The Morland Gardens Estate in South Abingdon was part of Drayton Parish.

A 2022 Abingdon boundary walk would be further than a 2012 boundary walk and much further than a 1556 boundary walk.