Abingdon

Abingdon is a historic market town on the River Thames and the old county town of Berkshire. People occupied the site from the early to middle Iron Age, and remains of a late Iron Age and Roman defensive enclosure lie beneath the center. Abingdon Abbey was founded around 676 and gave its name to the growing settlement.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the town became an agricultural center with extensive trade in wool, weaving, and clothing. Charters for markets and fairs followed from Edward I through George II. After the abbey’s dissolution in 1538, Abingdon adapted its river position to wider transport networks.

Abingdon Lock opened in 1790, and the Wilts and Berks Canal opened in 1810, linking the town with the Kennet and Avon Canal and routes toward Bristol, London, and the industrial Midlands. These changes carried a market town built on sheep country into a network of canals and steam transport, while its abbey, bridges, and riverside location kept the Thames at the center of local identity.