Abingdon-on-Thames

Abingdon-on-Thames , commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic <a href="/facts/Market_town/gLsYmDe6">market town</a> and <a href="/facts/Civil_parish/4GuHX8Wm">civil parish</a> on the <a href="/facts/River_Thames/XnQWN52L">River Thames</a> in the <a href="/facts/Vale_of_the_White_Horse/X7h3rgrj">Vale of the White Horse</a> district of <a href="/facts/Oxfordshire/dc4jQkHB">Oxfordshire</a>, England. The <a href="/facts/Historic_counties_of_England/kuRDeWsA">historic</a> <a href="/facts/County_town/gM2KhpBd">county town</a> of <a href="/facts/Berkshire/jpDjJrl6">Berkshire</a>, the area was occupied from the early to middle <a href="/facts/British_Iron_Age/pp33u4nv">Iron Age</a> and the remains of a late Iron Age and <a href="/facts/Roman_people/3UUhAFTy">Roman</a> <a href="/facts/Oppidum/sCVplc03">defensive enclosure</a> lies below the town centre. <a href="/facts/Abingdon_Abbey/eUboICM9">Abingdon Abbey</a> was founded around 676, giving its name to the emerging town. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Abingdon was an agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool, alongside weaving and the manufacture of clothing. Charters for the holding of markets and fairs were granted by various monarchs, from <a href="/facts/Edward_I_of_England/McXM7vvt">Edward I</a> to <a href="/facts/George_II_of_Great_Britain/zQJ6F5eF">George II</a>.
The town survived the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries/SSxJkzch">dissolution</a> of the abbey in 1538, and by the 18th and 19th centuries, with the building of <a href="/facts/Abingdon_Lock/4WIsIBps">Abingdon Lock</a> in 1790 and the <a href="/facts/Wilts_%26_Berks_Canal/EXVE750f">Wilts & Berks Canal</a> in 1810, Abingdon was on important routes for goods transport. In 1856 the Abingdon Railway opened, linking the town with the <a href="/facts/Great_Western_Railway/dFDmbH3d">Great Western Railway</a>. The canal was abandoned in 1906 but a voluntary trust is now working to restore and re-open it. <a href="/facts/Abingdon_railway_station/99nr4DQA">Abingdon railway station</a> was closed to passengers in September 1963. The line remained open for goods until 1984, its role including serving the <a href="/facts/MG_(car)/sHKgySlz">MG</a> car factory, which operated from 1929 to 1980.
Abingdon's brewery, <a href="/facts/Morland_Brewery/jRSuwW2o">Morland</a>, makers of <a href="/facts/Old_Speckled_Hen/StGJbvvX">Old Speckled Hen</a> ale, was taken over and closed in 1999; the site of the brewery has been redeveloped into housing. The rock band <a href="/facts/Radiohead/6TVeLFk7">Radiohead</a> formed in 1985 when its members were studying at <a href="/facts/Abingdon_School/GW1STF6r">Abingdon School</a>, a day and boarding independent secondary school. The <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom_Census_2011/0DyzduMs">2011 Census</a> recorded the parish's population as 33,130. This was 2,504 more than in the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom_Census_2001/pDqkjzbg">2001 Census</a> total of 30,626, and represented just over 8% growth in the population.

Abingdon-on-Thames open-in-new

Abingdon-on-Thames