Abingdon-on-Thames (/ˈæbɪŋdən/ AB-ing-dən), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish[2] on the River Thames in the Vale of the White Horse district of Oxfordshire, England.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, Abingdon was an agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool, alongside weaving and the manufacture of clothing.

The line remained open for goods until 1984, its role including serving the MG car factory, which operated from 1929 to 1980.

Petrological analysis in 1940 identified the stone as epidotised tuff from Stake Pass in the Lake District, 250 mi (400 km) to the north.

[7] Abingdon Abbey was founded in Saxon times, possibly around 676,[8] but its early history is confused by numerous legends, invented to raise its status and explain the place name.

[citation needed][11] In the 13th and 14th centuries, Abingdon was a flourishing agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool and a famous weaving and clothing manufacturing industry.

Since the 1980s, Abingdon has played host to a number of information communication companies, with many based in the town's respective business and science parks.

[26] The Unicorn theatre was built in an area called The Checkers Hall in the ruins of the Abbey buildings and shows plays and films on an irregular basis.

The town centre of Abingdon was renovated in 2012[29] as part of the council's redevelopment plan, with the 1970s shopping precinct converted to look more modern.

During the 1930s the club was based at the Queens Hotel and games were played on the Council owned recreation ground at Caldecott Road.

At the start of the Suez Crisis in 1956 play temporarily returned to the Caldecott Road site because of security risks.

In a short time the ground was developed and a pavilion erected but the organisation was plagued with financial difficulties and very soon dissolved with hockey disbanding and Abingdon Rugby remaining at the site as tenants to the cricket club.

[citation needed] The current base at the town's Southern Sports Park was opened by former Abingdon MP John Patten in 1989.

Abingdon has had members representing the county, progressing to first-class level and on to international status in the Six Nations Tournament.

Initiated in 1956 as a one-off tournament to celebrate the town's 400th anniversary of receiving a Royal Charter, it proved so successful that the competition has been held on an annual basis ever since.

[35] In May 1947 at the annual British Industries Fair in Birmingham, Pavlova advertised doe skins, chamois, lambskins and goatskins, much of it as suede, for uses including shoes, gloves and belts.

[36] In 1958 Pavlova's site covered 35 acres (14 ha), employed neary 200 people and included a staff sports field.

At that time its factory still processed imported skins of sheep, lamb and goat, mainly to make suede.

[33] Abingdon was originally home to the Morland Brewery, whose most famous ale was Old Speckled Hen, named after an early MG car.

Abingdon is near several major scientific employers: the UKAEA at Culham (including the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion research project), Harwell Laboratory, the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the new Diamond Light Source synchrotron, which is the largest UK-funded scientific facility to be built for over 40 years.

Abingdon has a business park which has offices for several local, national and international companies including, until recently, Vodafone (acquired as part of its takeover of Mannesmann in 2000) and Northern Rock bank.

Penlon Ltd, a medical equipment company, have their premises on the outskirts of Abingdon (their previous site, near the former railway station, has been redeveloped as residential housing).

[38] However, in recent years, urban expansion has brought Radley railway station close to the town's northeastern limits.

[39] The small, primarily stopping-service, railway stations at Culham and Radley are both just over two miles (3.2 km) from the town centre.

After the 2023 local elections, the political composition of the council was:[44] The incumbent Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon is Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat).

[52] Abingdon has the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle, which can be found to the north of the town centre surrounded by trees within a housing estate.

Originally built of wood or stone, it was a fortification on a raised earthwork called a motte surrounded by a protective ditch.

According to local legend, prior to its conversion in the 1970s, the gaol was haunted by the ghost of an eight-year-old boy who, after being convicted for arson in the mid-19th century, became the youngest person in the UK to be executed by hanging.

It was once hailed by Nikolaus Pevsner with the comment "Of the free-standing town halls of England with open ground floors this is the grandest".

The Friends of Abingdon's Unicorn Theatre, housed in the old Abbey buildings, is the site of first productions of many stage adaptations of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels by Stephen Briggs.