Abingdon, a municipal borough and market and union town in Berks. It stands on a rich flat plain, at the influx of the Ock to the Thames, at the junction of the Wilts and Berks Canal with the Thames, and at the terminus of a sub-branch railway of 1 3/4 mile from the Oxford branch of the G.W.R., 6 miles by road S of Oxford, and 60 1/4 miles by railway W by N of London, It was called originally Scheovesham, softened into Shovesham. Cissa, king of the West Saxons, built an abbey in the seventh century, after which, says Camden, it began to lay aside its old name and to be called "Abbaddun" or " Abbington"—that is, Abbot's town. Synods were held at it in 742 and 822, and the royal courts of Mercia and Wessex made it long a seat of state assemblies. Some foundations of its royal palace can still be traced in a meadow on the E side of the bridge. A manuscript in the Cottonian Library, called " the old book of Abendon," describes it as "in ancient times a famous city, goodly to behold, and full of riches." The town was visited by William the Conqueror, by Henry III., and by Henry VIII. It was garrisoned for Charles I.; made the headquarters of his horse, and the temporary retreat of all his family; and became the scene of sharp struggles and great excesses before he was conquered. A sharp practice of its Parliamentary garrison, of hanging all Irish prisoners without trial, gave rise to the proverb "of Abingdon law." A graceful gateway, in the Perpendicular style, adjoining St Nicholas' Church, and part of a refectory behind, and containing a beautifully decorated window, are the chief remains of the mitred Benedictine abbey of St Mary, which was one of the richest in England. The original abbey, founded in Bagley Wood, in the neighbouring parish of Sunningwell, was totally destroyed in the time of Alfred by the Danes, The subsequent edifice was founded at Abingdon by King Edred, and completed in the reign of King Edgar. The nave was 180 feet long, the choir 65 feet long; the Lady Chapel, 36 feet long; the transept, 156 feet long; the western tower, 100 feet high.
The town consists of several wide streets diverging from a spacious market-place. It is well lighted, and has an excellent supply of water. It is also well drained, the sewage being utilized in the cultivation of a farm situated some distance S of the town, and belonging to the corporation. The borough received a charter in the year 1555, during the reign of Queen Mary, under which it was governed by a mayor, 2 bailiffs, and 9 aldermen. It has now a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, the corporate body acting also as urban sanitary authority. Population within the municipal limits, 6557. The borough sent one member to Parliament from 1337 until the passing of the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, when the representation was merged in that of the county. It is the head of a petty sessional division and county court district; but the assizes, formerly held here in the summer, were removed to Reading by an Order in Council in 1868.
The chief industry of Abingdon is the manufacture of ready made clothing, the large manufactory of Messrs Clarke affording employment to many hundreds of persons from the town and the surrounding villages. Brewing, malting, milling, and the making of sailcloth and sacking are also carried on. A weekly market for corn and cattle is held on Monday; horse fairs on the first Monday in Lent, May 6, June 20, September 19, and December 11; and on Monday before old Michaelmas Day there is a fair for hiring servants and pleasure. The town is a head post and telegraph office, has two banking offices, several good hotels, and a weekly newspaper. It gives the title of Earl to the family of Bertie, and it numbers among its natives or celebrities Archbishop St Edmund, Archbishop Newcome, Sir John Mason, Sir T. Smith, Abbot the Speaker, Moore who wrote the "Gamester," and W. Stevens the poet.
Among the principal buildings of the town are the County Hall, a curious edifice of ashlar and rough freestone, erected in 1677 from the designs of Inigo Jones; the Grammar School, erected in Albert Park in 1869; the County Chamber, situated on the south side of the abbey gateway; and the Corn Exchange, which stands at the NW angle of the market-place. Christ's Hospital, founded in 1553 by Sir John Mason, is a curious cloistered edifice of brick and timber, with turret and dome; contains an oak hall with pictures and stained glass; shows, at the E end of its cloister, a representation of a famous octagonal market-cross which was destroyed in 1644, and has an income of more than £3000 a year. There are also several other charities and a well endowed grammar school. The bridge across the river is a picturesque structure with six pointed arches, erected in 1416; was regarded, at the time of its erection, as a grand boon to all the surrounding country; and is the subject of some quaint old verses preserved in Christ's Hospital. Prince Albert's cross is an elegant erection of 1864, after designs by Gibbs. It has a quadrangular base, with medallions, a central octagonal shaft, with rich entablature, side columns, with carved capitals supporting heraldic lions; and a surmounting pyramidal pedestal, crowned by a statue of the Prince. In the centre of the market-place there is a white marble statue of the Queen, which was erected in commemoration of Her Majesty's jubilee in 1887.
St Helen's Church occupies the site of an ancient nunnery, and was restored in 1873. It has a nave, three aisles, and a south chapel, and forms altogether a spacious rectangle. The north aisle has rich timber ceilings of the time of Henry VI., and the south aisle was built in 1539. A tower, in the Early English style, rises at the NE corner, and is surmounted by a lofty octagonal spire, in the Perpendicular style, which figures conspicuously for miles. St Nicholas Church was built about the year 1300, on the site of an earlier edifice; and it has a good Norman doorway and a tower; it was thoroughly restored in 1881. The Church of St Michael, erected in 1867 as a chapel of ease to St Helens, is a building of stone, in the Decorated style. There is also a small iron church in the union grounds. The Roman Catholic church, dedicated to St Mary and St Edmund of Canterbury, is an edifice of stone in the Decorated style. There are also Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and a place of meeting of the Salvation Army.
The parish of St Helen comprises 3255 acres, and includes the farms of Barton and Pumney, the hamlets of Northcourt and Cholswell, and the townships of Sandford and Shippon. Population, 6233. The parish of St Nicholas comprises 148 acres; population, 532. The living of St Helens is a vicarage, that of St Nicholas a rectory, in the diocese of Oxford, and the two are conjoined. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The vicarages of Drayton, Sandford, and Shippon are separate benefices. The net yearly value of St Helens is £138 and residence, and that of St Nicholas £56.
Abingdon Parliamentary Division, or Northern Berkshire, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 49,082. The division includes the following parishes:
Abingdon—Abingdon (St Helen, without the borough), Abingdon (St Nicholas, without the borough), Appleford, Appleton and Eaton, Bagley Wood, Besselsleigh, Chandlings, Cumner, Draycott Moor, Drayton, Frilford, Fyfield, Garford, Grandpoint, Hinksey (North), Hinksey (South), Kingston Bagpuize, Lyford, Marcham, Milton, Radley, Seacourt, Steventon, Sunningwell, Sutton Courtney, Sutton Wick, Tubney, Wootton, Wytham, Wittenham (Long), Wittenham (Little); Faringdon—Ashbury, Baulking, Bourton, Buckland, Buscot, Charney, Coleshill, Compton Beauchamp, Coxwell (Great), Coxwell (Little), Eaton Hastings, Faringdon, Fernham, Hatford, Hinton, Kingston Lisle, Longcott, Longworth, Pusey, Shellingford, Shrivenham, Stanford, Uffington, Watchfield, Woolstone; Wantage—Ardington, Chaddleworth, Challow (East), Challow (West), Charlton, Childrey, Denchworth, Fawley, Goosey, Grove, Hanney (East), Hanney (West), Harwell, Hendred (East), Hendred (West), Letcomb Bassett, Letcomb Regis, Lockinge (East), Lockinge (West), Sparsholt, Wantage; Wallingford (or Moreton) —Aston Tirrold, Aston Upthorpe, Blewbury, Brightwell, Cholsey, Didcot, Hagbourn (East), Hagbourn (West), Moreton (North) Moreton (South), Moulsford, Sotwell, Upton; Wallingford—All Hallows and Clapcot, St Leonard's, St Mary-the-More, St Peter, Castle Precincts; Wallingford, municipal borough; Abingdon, municipal borough (the part in Berks) ; Oxford, municipal borough (the part in Berks).
