Abingdon-on-Thames

Abingdon (also known as Abingdon -on-Thames ) is a town with 36 626 inhabitants ( 2001) in the county of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city is located about 9 miles south of Oxford and 8 km north of Didcot on the Thames. It is the main town in the Vale of White Horse District. Until 1974 it belongs to the county of Berkshire and was its administrative center.

History

Abingdon is one of the places that take lay claim to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the UK. The place was supposedly already established in the Iron Age. It claims for itself in claim with the Abingdon Abbey to possess the oldest monastery in England (although this claim is also of Glastonbury applicable). Legends predate the founding of the Abbey to the year 166 AD; evidence- dating its founding in the 7th century. William the Conqueror celebrated Easter in 1084 in the monastery and his son Henry, later King Henry I was brought up here. The place was a trading point for wool and cloth in medieval times. In the 19th century the town was a bit more to the sidelines, as it was not well integrated into the railway network. From 1929 to 1980, the British car brand MG had a factory in the city. The city lost its importance when Berkshire was abandoned in 1974 as an administrative unit.

Economy

Abingdon is now benefiting from the dynamic development of the region around Oxford. There are several companies have settled in the area of ​​new technologies.

Until it closed in 2000, the Morland Brewery in Abingdon in England produced the well-known Pale Ale " Old Speckled Hen ".

Twinning

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the town

  • Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester ( 1757-1829 ), politician and Speaker of the House
  • Tom Hingley (born 1965 ), musician and songwriter
  • Edward Moore (1712-1757), English playwright, novelist and editor
  • Edmund Rich of Abingdon (ca. 1170/1180-1240 ), philosopher and theologian, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Dorothy Richardson, essayist and writer
  • Michelle Stephenson ( born 1977 ), singer
  • Dean Whitehead, Football Player
Post town Administrative counties of England Ceremonial counties of England Henry I of England Sint-Niklaas Schongau, Bavaria
1055
de