Discover Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Abingdon, England. View of Abingdon Bridge across the River Thames: Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AbingdonBrBu02.JPG
Author: Motmit


Abingdon is a market town in Oxfordshire, England. It has a population of 37,000 people (2012 estimate), and is claimed to be the oldest continuously occupied town in Britain. Abingdon is about 8.9 km (5.5 mi) to the south of Oxford, on the west (right) bank of the River Thames. Formerly a county town of Berkshire, it was transferred to Oxfordshire in 1974.

St Helen's Church, Abingdon: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abingdon_Berks_St_Helens.jpg
Author: Motmit


Abingdon is said to be over 6,000 years old. The area has been occupied since the early to middle Iron Age. Despite this claim, the town is much more recent, dating to the founding of Abingdon Abbey during Saxon times, around the 7th century AD. It was named after someone named Æbba.

The ironic thing about the name is that Abingdon means "Æbbe's Hill", but the place is not on a hill, but a valley. A possible explanation to this is that it was relocated to a valley when the Abbey was built.

East Saint Helen Street, Abingdon: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abingdon_-_East_Saint_Helen_Street.jpg
Author: Nigel Cox


The fortune of Abingdon was tied to its abbey, so when the abbey was dissolved in 1538, Abingdon almost sank to oblivion. A new lease on life came in 1790, when the Abingdon Lock was built. This, along with the construction of the Wilts and Berks Canal in 1810, made Abingdon an important transport link between industrial centers such as Bristol, London, Birmingham and the Black Country.

Today Abingdon has a developed economy based. It is home to a number of information communication companies sited at its business and science parks. There is a proposal to renamed the town as Abingdon-on-Thames. It was voted upon in November 2011, and is pending approval.

Abingdon Old Bridge: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abingdon_old_bridge.JPG
Author: Krzysztof.Redzko

Visiting Abingdon

The most practical way to reach Abingdon by public transport is to take a train to Oxford, and from there, a bus. By car, take the M40 motorway until Exit 6, then head west on B4009 until Benson. Continue on the A4074 heading west until you see signage for A415 that leads to Abingdon.

Places of Interest in Abingdon

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About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.