Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/31

Rh ABINGDOX. 21 ABINGER. The town was garrisoned for Charles I. early in the civil war, and the head-quarters of his cavalry was fixed here. But in 1644, when the royalist forces retreated to Oxford, the Earl of Essex took Abingdon, and it was garrisoned for the parliament. Many attempts were subsequently made by the royalists to recover possession of it, but without success, and the garrison used to put to death every Irish prisoner they took, without trial ; hence arose the phrase, "Abingdon law." The borough received its first charter of incorporation from Philip and Mary, in 1557, by which its government was vested in a mayor, high steward, recorder, twelve principal and sixteen secondary burgesses, two bailifls, a town clerk and chamberlain. "Under the Reform Bill, it is governed by a mayor (who is returning officer), four aldermen, twelve councillors, with the style of the " mayor, aldermen, and burgesses cf the borough of Abingdon." It returns one member to parliament. It is a polling town and place of election for the county members, who are nominated at Reading. Borough sessions are held quarterly, and borough petty sessions weekly, on Tuesday. The county magistrates hold a petty session once a fortnight for the Abingdou division. The town is the centre of a county court, and assizes are held here alternately with Read- ing. Since the census of 1851, the population of the town has considerably declined, having been then returned at 5,954 against 5,691 in 1861, showing a diminution of 263 inhabitants in the decennial period. The number of inhabited houses has likewise fallen from 1,244 in the former period to 1,187 in 1861. The manufacture of woollen cloths was anciently earned on here to such an extent that Leland says, " The town standeth by cloth- ing;" but this had declined before the time of Queen Mary. This branch of trade has lately been revived with great success, and at present gives employment to above 3,000 men and women This, with malting, the dressing of hemp, the manufacture of carpets, sacking, and sail cloth, furnishes the principal occupation of the industrious classes. The Wilts and Berks canal joins the Thames here, near the confluence of the Ock with that river, and wharfs and warehouses have been erected at this point. The market days are Monday and Friday, the former for com principally, the latter for provisions only. Fairs are held on the first Monday in Lent, the 6th May, the 20th June, the 5th August, the 19th Sep- tember, the Monday before Old Michaelmas Day, the Monday after October 12th, and the llth December, for horses and horned cattle. Abingdon includes the two ]i:ns. of St. Helen and St. Nicholas, in the archdeac. of Berks and dioc. of Oxford. The living of the former is a vie., with the perpet. cur. of Drayton, val. 225, in the patron, of the bishop of the diocese. The church is in the early English stvlo, and has a square embattled tower with a lofty spire. It was built before 1573, and contains brasses of Barber and another, the former of the date of 1417. The living of St. Nicholas is a sinecure rect., value 30, the vicarage being annexed to St. Helen's, and is in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor. The church, which stands close to the abbey, was built by the Abbot Nicholas about the close of the 13th and commencement of the 14th century. It is partly Nor- man, and partly Gothic. There is an arch in the Norman style, and the circular door at the west end, with zigzag ornaments, appears to be of a much earlier date. Nothing is left of the abbey but the west gate-house, with some remnants of the old buildings occupied as a brewery by Miss Spenlove! It had 136 charters, and its revenue at the Dissolution amounted to 1,876 10*. 9d. It contained the tombs of its founder, and its abbot, Geoffrey of Mon- mouth, and others. A beautiful octagi >ual cross formerly stood in the market-place, and around it, in 1641, a company of two thousand singers celebrated the accom- modation with the Scots. When Waller's army, which had been stationed at Wantage, entered the town, a few days after Essex had taken possession of it, this cross was destroyed. It formed the model of one subsequently erected at Coventry. There are four chapels in the town belonging to the Society of Friends, the Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists. There is a large and elegant market-house, built of freestone in 1678, containing a hall in which the County Court and the Nisi Prius Court are held, and borough or county business transacted. The county gaol, in Bridge-street, a handsome stone building, was erected in 1811, at a cost of 26,000, and includes a court-house in which the Grown Court at the summer assizes, and the January and July county sessions, are held. Near the town arc Burford and Culham bridges, with a causeway uniting them, forming an agreeable promenade. They were constructed in the reign and by licence of Henry V., by the fraternity of the Holy Cross. The bridges have been widened and improved. There is an oval race- course of a mile and a quarter, on which races take place in July. The town has a mechanics' institution, a reading-room, horticultural and philanthropic societies, and a savings-bank. There are several free schools, and other charitable institutions. The revenues of the charities amount to the large sum of 1,953. The free grammar school was founded by John Royse in 1563, for the edu- cation of three-score and thirteen boys. It was endowed with two messuages, called at that time " the Bell and the Unicorn," situated in Birchin Lane, London. These were afterwards burnt down, and the site now forms part of the premises of the London Assurance Company. There are ten scholarships at Pembroke College, Oxford, connected with this school. It had Goodwin the anti- quary for a master; and among its pupils have been several men afterwards distinguished : Chief Justice Holl, Graves, author of the " Spiritual Quixote," Hoi- wick, the Greek scholar, and Morant, the antiquary. In 1608, William Bennett left lands for the maintenance of six poor scholars in this school ; and in 1609, Thomas Tesdale gave lands to support an usher. Mayott's free schools were founded in 1756 by Robert Mayott, for the education of poor children of Abingdon. There are at present ten boys and six girls on this foundation. They are nominated by the feoffees, and are educated, clothed, and apprenticed. Another free school was founded in 1703 by John Provost, for the instruction of ten boys in reading and writing, and for apprenticing poor chil- dren. Richard Belcher, in 1713, gave 14 per annum, and in 1753, Joseph Tomkins gave 100, South Sea Stock, for the education of children in this borough. There are also national and British schools. St. Helen's, or Christ's Hospital, which is situated on the west side of St. Helen's church, was built in 1446, and belonged to the fraternity of the Holy Cross. In 1553 it was re- founded by letters patent of Edward VI., granted on the application of the inhabitants of the town, who lamented the loss of the establishment by its dissolution in 1547. It was placed under the government of twelve persons who were incorporated by the name of " The Master and Governors of the Hospital of Christ." It consists of almshouses for twelve poor men and twenty-two women, and a nurse, with cloisters in front, and a turret and dome in the centre, with a handsome hall and council chambers, containing portraits of the founder and other benefactors to the hospital, in which the gover- nors meet, and where prayers are read morning and evening. Additional almshouses have been built, and donations made to the hospital from time to time. St. John the Baptist's Hospital, endowed before the Reformation, for six poor men, was rebuilt in 1801. There are also almshouses endowed by Twitty in 1707, and by Tomkins in 1733. The poor have the benefit of several charitable bequests by 3Ir. Klein, Mr. Bcasley, and others. St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1240 ; Sir John Mason, British Ambassador at the Court of France, and Chancellor of the University a poet, born in 1755, died in 1800, were natives of Abingdon. It confers the title of earl on the family of the HIT: ies. of Wytham Abbey. ABINGER, a par. in the first div. of the hund. of Wolton, in the co. of Surrey, 4 miles S.W. of Dorking, and 3 from Gumshall railway station. It is situated