Abingdon and surrounding areas facts and history.

Abingdon Postcard C1930 Parish Church of St Nicholas and the Abbey Gate.

A postcard of the Square in 1963.

Exterior view of the Long Gallery, a late 15th or early 16th century timber and brick building. Picture c1900.

From AAAHS abingdon

The County Hall, sometimes called the Town Hall, is shown c.1930.

The large shop to the rear, on the left, was Shepherd & Simpson, tailors and outfitters.

The County Hall was built between 1678 and 1684 in baroque style, to replace an old timber-framed market house. It had three main roles: the basement served as a store, the open ground floor was used as a market, and the first floor was a law court for the County Assizes.

Abingdon hosted the Summer Assizes until it ceased to be a county town in 1869.
The County Hall was also a venue for plays, penny readings, concerts, political debates and other events. Since 1920, it has housed Abingdon’s museum.”

From the Abingdon History Tour by Pamela Horn

The Argyl Dairy in Victoria Road.

George Henry Argyle was a sixteen-year-old dairy boy. The 1881 Census for Abingdon in Berkshire, England says so.

The milk industry was good for George in more ways than one. The delivery of dairy products even led to his marriage. His future wife probably met him regularly twice every day in the course of their work, the reason being that part of his delivery route lay along Marcham Road. Ellen Sessions resided and worked there with her sister Eliza in the home of prominent Town Clerk of Abingdon, Bromley Challenor.

The young women had left their parents in nearby Wantage to earn a living as domestic servants.

In 1889, George and Ellen were married.

A decade later in the 1891 Census year, George Argyle was described as a milk purveyor living with his wife and firstborn Arthur at 14 Victoria Road. Part of that building located on a corner of Edward Street and Victoria served as his newly-owned dairy.

This happy change in status had been made possible unexpectedly by
the dishonesty of George’s former boss. A little detective work had
told George that his employer was watering down the milk which he, George, must sell to disgruntled customers. When he figured out what was going on he quit and in a daring move took the risk of starting up his own business.

The Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution must have been
inspiring him, goading him to get ahead. Whatever the impetus was, The Argyle Dairy quickly did well enough to have its name inscribed in concrete over its main door. George and Ellen parented four children, Gertrude Florence Mary being my grandmother.

The family lived behind and over the dairy and were successful enough to employ a maid who wore the familiar black dress, white apron and cap which we see in old movies featuring more moneyed homeowners of Victorian and Edwardian times.
The couple followed a steady routine. Each morning after George got raw milk from a farmer along Spring Road, he was returned home standing on his horse-pulled cart, a large urn now full of milk lodged beside him for company.

It was then the job of Ellen, my great grandmother - his full working partner - to filter the milk through clean cloths and pour it into tin containers which were measured in gills and pints. Pasteurization was not yet part of their dairy’s process. The rest of the milk was poured into a fresh and clean urn which would be hoisted up onto the cart. It would dispense whatever quantity of milk a customer might pour into his or her own pitcher right at the householder’s door. Or, the customer could buy standard amounts.

In the afternoon the pattern was repeated. George’s two older children helped a bit. Arthur earned six pennies weekly for his deliveries by pushcart to houses beyond his father’s own route and Gertie earned three pennies for light loads carried to two homes in Spring Road. Meanwhile on the Argyle Dairy premises Ellen washed all surfaces thoroughly, churned butter, made cream and served as a salesperson.

Extract from Sandra Marie Lewis, Toronto, Ontario, Canada copyright 2016

Geophysical Survey of Abbey Undercroft - Taken from the Friends of Abingdon Web Site.

The website can be visited here: -

https://friendsofabingdon.org.uk/.../geophysical-survey.../

The Undercroft in the Abbey Buildings has a floor which, to put it mildly, is uneven. Before pressing on and resurfacing the floor, however, it was decided to commission a geophysical survey to find out what, if anything, might lie underneath it.

The Abbey Buildings stand very close to the river Thames and, in its days as an Abbey, included a brewery – so there may well be a well down there, or parts of the water table.

Area 1 is an area of low resistance. This is near the door and may be caused by rainwater getting in. Other alternatives include the possibility that here we have an area of soil which is filling in a dishing of the floor where it has been worn away although the assumed 0.5 metre reading depth should be underneath any such deposits. It is, of course, possible that there is a large pit there, but this is only one of the possible alternatives.

Areas 2 are areas of high resistance near walls. This could be wide expanded footings, or it could be caused by capillary action drawing moisture up the walls and drying the soil adjacent to them. Not all the walls have this to the same extent.
Area 3 is a small patch of high resistance.

This could be rubble-filled pit or a filled in well although it seems a bit small for these. It is, however, near an area of modern concrete which prevented readings from being made and may be associated with it, although the surrounding area of fairly high readings would argue against this.

They pointed out, however, that many features “cannot be located by using resistivity” and that “features may well exist which are not visible on this survey”.
So, the source of the wetness is still something of a mystery, but it seems that there is no immediate danger to the structure of the building.

Mark Cox sent in these wonderful photos of Abingdon Cinema memorabilia in 2020.

This was the souvenir program from over 85 years ago, on 8th June 1935,
of the Regal Cinema opening.

The first screening was 'Girl in Danger' starring Ralph Bellamy and Shirley Grey.

This is a photo of a Fire Brigade helmet and epaulettes, which is now located in Abingdon County Hall Museum.

The Fire Brigade uniform consisted of a leather helmet, belt and axe. When it became part of the National Fire Brigades Union in 1901, brass helmets were introduced. This helmet is crested with downswept back and visor, a chain chin-strap and leather inside fixings. The epaulettes - here overlapping scales of chrome and leather - were probably only worn on ceremonial occasions.

Fire was a severe risk to towns with thatched wooden buildings and narrow streets. Ladders and fire buckets were kept in the churches of St. Helen and St. Nicolas', where they were always accessible.

In 1658, Abingdon bought its first fire engine (probably a manual pump to fill the buckets) from London for £29.

The Abingdon Volunteer Fire Brigade was formed in 1871. It became part of the National Fire Brigades Union in 1901.

Maker - Merryweather & Sons Firemans Outfitters, London

Date Made 1901 helmet

This is a photo of a Fire Brigade helmet and epaulettes, which are located in Abingdon County Hall Museum.

I'm not certain, but I'm guessing this is Doreen Evans in an MG Q-Type Special. (Kurt Niemeyer)

Lee Talbot sent in these photos yesterday from his walk with Bruce.