A little bit of history…
Abingdon is quite old.
Alfred the Great, son of funky-named King Æthelwulf, became King of the Anglo-Saxons around 886 and who is considered by many to be England’s first monarch, frequented Abingdon.
An abbey was built here somewhere around 700 AD by Benedictine monks. They were a strict bunch, introducing celibacy and separation of religious life from everyday life that meant these monks lived in cloisters and monasteries.
These chaps displaced the more secular early Christan priests, who tended to be married and also follow everyday professions. The Benedictines’ secret to success was that they offered the Saxon nobility to teach them how to read and write, and they sorted out financial accounting for them.
They also had cash, probably provided by the Vatican in Rome, which helped them buy up land around Oxfordshire. The goods from these lands were then sold at feisty and often unholy mark-ups on the area’s markets. This made the Abbey very rich. In fact, Abingdon Abbey is said to have been one of Britain’s wealthiest for many centuries. It also made the Abbots and monks there very unpopular with the local people, and there were frequent riots against them.
Unpopular as they may have been, some pretty stuff was built that’s associated with them. St Helen’s Church on the southwestern end of town and just off the banks of the rivers Thames and Ock, is the older, dating back to around 995 AD, perhaps even longer. Adjacent to St Helen’s Church is the beautiful Long Alley almshouse, first built in 1441 and still in use for its original purpose today.
More closely related to the old Abbey is St Nicolas Church, which sits on Abingdon’s Town Square. It was built around 1170 AD and used to be part of the gateway into the Abbey. It was initially meant for the workers employed by the Abbey, sometimes called lay servants (read underpaid staff on zero-hour work contracts).
Talking about Town Square. On it stands the great Abingdon Country Hall, built from 1678 to 1683. Today it houses the local museum. The local ‘sport’ of ‘Bun Throwing’ takes place here to mark a royal occasion. It’s been going on for 400 years and apparently involved the Councillors throwing baked buns off the roof of County Hall into the masses, who then scramble to pick up the buns’ remains. I haven’t seen this. It sounds lovely. I’ll check it out on the next occasion.
Abingdon’s main historic attraction is, however, something that doesn’t really exist anymore: the Abbey. Its foundations are marked by brick lines in the lovely Abbey Gardens, which sit just next to the equally lovely Abbey Meadows. Anyways, judging from historic documents and those lines in the ground, the original Abbey was HUUGE. It’s mostly gone though. King Henry VIII had it largely torn down during the dissolution of the monasteries between 1538 and 1541 after he split from the Catholic Church to conveniently make himself head of the new Anglican Church, aka Church of England. Apparently, the stones from the Abbey grounds were mostly used to build parts of London, though I dunno which parts.
Destroying the Abbey was rather rude of Henry, especially given he and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, visited and stayed here in 1518. There’s an original truss painting from that time dedicated to their visit in one of the few remaining buildings of the Abbey, the magnificent Long Gallery. It’s possible the two dined right in that room. This is also the building where the Abbey collected and counted its income from local taxes, tolls, and fees, known as the Exchequer or Chequer.
There’s also some medieval graffiti on the fireplace mantle in this Long Gallery. It’s from the noble Beaufort family. On 3 Feb 1458, Thomas Courtney, the 5th Earl of Devon died while visiting the Abbey. Accompanied by Queen Margaret Anjou, the wife of King Henry VI, rumour had it that he was poisoned here by her orders. Thomas was married to Margaret Beaufort. One of their daughters was reportedly the artist of the graffiti. There’s also some very old graffiti here that was likely engraved into the walls by monks, hoping to protect the building from Witchcraft.
I tire. The history of this Abbey is too long for this blog, but here are a few more tidbits:
Æthelwold of Winchester (another great name), who was Bishop of Winchester (then England’s most important city) from 963 to 984 AD and a leader of the 10th-century monastic reform, which I described earlier as displacing the secular clergy, was possibly charged with re-building the Abbey after it got ransacked by one of the many Danish attacks of this era.
Famous Abbots included one Faritius, an Italian chap who also became royal physician to Henry I of England (1100-1117). Ælfric of Abingdon (those cool Saxon names again!) was a late 10th-century Archbishop of Canterbury. He was also Abbot of St Albans and Bishop of Ramsbury. Weirdly, despite his name, it is not entirely certain (though likely) whether Mr Ælfric was also Abbot of Abingdon.
Just next door to that Long Gallery is the amazing Unicorn Theatre. It’s not actually that old, started in 1953, but it’s in one of the few original buildings left of the Abbey, so that’s cool. This entire section can still be visited today (easier in summer cause it gets very cold in these walls in winter).
An exceptionally friendly team of paranormal investigators checked it out in September 2021. They were convinced the place is inhabited by spirits. Perhaps it’s related to some of the old Witchcraft or Beaufort family graffitti.
Go check it out for yourself. It’s worth it!
St Helen’s Church tower is seen behind the Long Alley almshouse in Abingdon. September 2021.
Abingdon’s Long Alley almshouse. July 2021.
St Nicolas Church at Abingdon’s Town Square used to be the gateway into the Abbey. Seen in September 2021.
Abingdon Country Hall sits on Town Square and in front of St Nicolas Church. September 2021.
A rainbow seen in central Abingdon. August 2021.
Inside Abingdon’s Long Gallery, one of few original Abbey buildings still standing. September 2021.
The Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon’s remaining Abbey buildings. September 2021.
