On Tuesday the Mayor, Town Clerk and Town Crier took a minute at 12 noon to remember those whose lives have been affected during the pandemic. Many others in Abingdon stopped at school, work, home, or wherever they were to mark the minute.
In the evening at 8 pm, on Tuesday, some people lit a candle at their window or front door.
The Abingdon Herald’s headline is ‘Long Year, but Light at end of tunnel’.
The best pictures I can take walking round the new development by the Dunmore Road is to show heaps of earth and piles of pipes. This picture is taken from Tilsley Park with the houses of Dunmore Road behind.
From the Wootton Road the first houses can be seen going up.
But Daniel with his Bird’s Eye View gets something much better.
This is the view looking from Tilsley Park towards the Wootton Road with the existing houses of Dunmore Road top left.
This is the view of the development entrance and the first houses. Daniel hopes to return fairly frequently to show progress from the air.
The Gothic Gateway that once led to the yard of Roysse School has a coat of arms for John Roysse.
The other two coat of arms have only partly survived. The Borough of Abingdon arms are still recognizable to the right.
A picture by Henry Taunt shows the other coat of arms with the date MDCCCX1 (1811) is for the Earl of Abingdon.
According to Agnes Baker, the 5th Earl of Abingdon gave £100 towards building the gateway. Accounts show the gateway was made by local craftsmen for £99. 10. 11½. The Earl’s arms were added in gratitude. Borough and school also contributed to school improvements in 1811.
The current Earl of Abingdon (the 9th) was born in 1931 and I took this picture during a visit to Abingdon during 2006 (450th Charter Anniversary). Peter Green was the Mayor of Abingdon at the time. The Earl of Abingdon is next to Peter (in the double breasted suit).
(source: Historic Abingdon – 56 Articles by Agnes C. Baker)
Today was the first sunny day since the start of Spring. Hawthorn leaves are growing from buds around the Abbey Fish Ponds Nature Reserve in Abingdon.
Blackthorn blossoms appears before the leaves.
At the north edge of the Abbey Fish Ponds a whicker fence provides a barrier to the slope down to the reedbeds. Young trees have been planted with plastic guards and will replace the fence in time.
A north-south path crosses over a brook and forms a cross roads with the main east-west path that follows the brook.
The banks of the brook are green with new vegetation.
Fresh reeds (or sedges) are pointing up from the shallow ponds beside the main path.
That main path goes from the Radley Road to Audlett Drive.
Many birds can be heard. Fewer can be seen. As the nature reserve is close to houses there are domestic cats prowling near the edges and so birds are best to be wary.