Abingdon
Abingdon maps (2 available)
Map of Oxfordshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Oxfordshire
Personalised maps
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Abingdon books (11 available)
Abingdon Photographic Memories
Hardback
Abingdon Photographic Memories
Paperback
Banbury Town Walk Guide
Paperback
- 78 photos on Abingdon appear in 4 Frith books - View photos of Abingdon
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Abingdon and Oxfordshire
Abingdon memories
Read and share memories of Abingdon and Oxfordshire inspired by Frith photos
cheers steanes langfords simons and more
My mother's ancestors all seemed to live in Abingdon and the surrounding villages of Launton, Kiddlington, Bicester, Charlbury etc. and I am collecting photographic records of these families and their activities for a family tree. Photos are a good way of recording events. There are many text genealogical websites, but few, if any where one can get photos of one's ancestors activities. Where people can give and recieve photos for research. Villages I've visted when in England seemed to have changed little over time.
Contributed by Yoga-Prakash Saraswati
Oxfordshire memories
cheers steanes langfords simons and more
My mother's ancestors all seemed to live in Abingdon and the surrounding villages of Launton, Kiddlington, Bicester, Charlbury etc. and I am collecting photographic records of these families and their activities for a family tree. Photos are a good way of recording events. There are many text genealogical websites, but few, if any where one can get photos of one's ancestors activities. Where people can give and recieve photos for research. Villages I've visted when in England seemed to have changed little over time.
A memory of Abingdon contributed by Yoga-Prakash Saraswati
Fortescue and Church families
I don't have a memory as such, but I have been researching my family history and have traced my mother's family back to this place. My mother was born in 1916 and lived in Oxford. However, her grandfather came from Marcham and I've now traced the family back (so far) to the 1600's. They were Fortescues and Churches, all from Marcham. In the main the males were farm labourers and my mother's grandfather moved to Oxford to become head gardener at one of the colleges.
There is a record of the family being joined by marriage 200 years ago and, also, my mother's parents were a Fortescue and a Church.
If anybody has any memories of these families, or descend from ...read more here
A memory of Marcham contributed by anne woodford
Family connections.
This was my grandfathers favourite inn at the time the photograph was taken. He was coachman at the Manor House at Long Wittenham a short walk along the 'Maddy' (a road from the inn to Long Wittenham following the river and very prone to flooding). Its a family story that he would often spend too long here and Granny would have to prepare the horse and coach and dress up in his clothes to fetch the master of the house from Didcot station several miles away. I remember her as a very resourceful woman. She died in 1938 on her 83rd birthday.
A memory of Clifton Hampden contributed by Mr BK Seeney
Extracts From Abingdon & Oxfordshire books
We are upstream of the bridges. Nag’s Head Island is in the centre with its hotel fronting the bridge, and Stevens’s
Boatyard are the white buildings to the left. On the right the tall chimney belongs to the old hemp and twine works.
It had been bought by G W Shepherd of Ladygrove House in 1879, and by 1890 was also producing coconut and rush
matting. New buildings with Dutch gables were added, and it became Abingdon Carpet Factory soon after 1900. Now
demolished, its site is occupied by the modern Upper Reaches Hotel.
An extract from from"Abingdon Photographic Memories".
This unusual viewpoint is from the tower of St Helen’s parish church; we are looking south over the roofs of Brick Alley
Almshouses and their panelled chimney stacks. These were rebuilt in 1718-20. At right angles to their right is the roof of
Long Alley Almshouses. The river is immediately beyond the road in front of Brick Alley Almshouses, but until 1884 there
were cottages, a pub, warehouses and wharves fronting the river. The isolated boathouse in the middle distance has gone,
and the area is now a promenade and park, Margaret Brown Garden.
An extract from from"Abingdon Photographic Memories".
We are looking upstream from the centre of the 14th-century stone bridge across the Thames where it crosses Nag’s Head Island. The landing stage to the Crown and Thistle, a hotel some way away on Bridge Street, now belongs to The Mill House, the pub on the island. The weatherboarded outbuilding has since been demolished.
An extract from from"Down the Thames Photographic Memories".
A steam launch - the ‘Thistle’ - is moored outside the Crown and Thistle pub’s landing stage just above Abingdon town bridge. This pub, a 19th-century coaching inn, is still open for business.
An extract from from"Canals and Waterways".
The punts and rowing boats have long since disappeared, and the Boat House has been demolished, though the
landing stage is still used by Thames pleasure steamers from Oxford. The large house between the trees was built
on the site where the Abbey Kitchener once lived.
An extract from from"Oxfordshire Photographic Memories".