Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire

I Location

Site Location: Abingdon Abbey
National Grid Reference: SU 500 972
County: traditional: Berkshire
now: Oxfordshire
Diocese: medieval: Salisbury
now: Oxford
Dedication: medieval: Blessed Virgin Mary
now (or name of monument): None
Type of building/monument: Former Benedictine Abbey.

II General Description

Nothing of the abbey church remains in situ, and the surviving abbey buildings all post- date the 12thc. In the Abbey Gardens, where the church once stood, is an artificial ruin constructed of fragments from the site. Reset in the S wall of this are the voussoirs described below.

III Exterior Features

3. Exterior Decoration

d. Miscellaneous

: Fragment 1, face

: Fragment 1 from SW (outer edge)

: Fragment from from SE (soffit)

: Fragment 2 from SE (hand-held)

: Fragment 2 from SE (camera on ground)

: Fragment 2, face, from S

: Fragment 1, from SE (soffit - re-excavated)

(i) Voussoir

S wall of artificial ruin, 2.80 m from W corner, 0.70 m above ground. Chevron on face and soffit. Face, pointing outwards five thick rolls alternating with five thin. Soffit, partly concealed by surrounding masonry, but at least two thick rolls (not including the angle roll), again alternating with thin rolls.

Dimensions

max. l.	0.53 m
w. at W (outer) end	0.135 m
w. at E (inner) end	0.12 m
max. measurable d. of soffit	0.22 m

(ii) Voussoir

S wall of artificial ruin, 0.50 m E of E jamb of S window, 0.20 m above ground. A badly-worn fragment consisting of the outer end only of a voussoir similar to (i).

Dimensions

max. l.	0.23 m
w. at E (outer) end	0.15 m
w. at W (inner) end	0.142 m

VII History

VIII Comments/Opinions

The voussoirs formed part of an arch of considerable size. The best estimate, which is necessarily extremely speculative, is of the order of 8-9 m inner diameter, quite large enough for the main arcade of the abbey church, or even for a crossing arch.

IX Bibliography

Abingdon Chronicle.
M. Biddle, G. Lambrick, JNL Myres, 'The Early History of Abingdon, Berkshire and its Abbey', Medieval Archaeology 12 (1968), 26-68.
N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Berkshire. Harmondsworth, 1966 54-56.
J. Slater, 'A Sketch of the History of the Abbey of Abingdon', Berkshire Archaeological and Architectural Society Transactions, 1880-81, 51-62.