Attractions and Places To See around Garford - Top 20

Historical placesto visit and plenty of coffee stops and a new wine bar 🍷😁

This beautiful 17th-century Baroque building is raised on arches over a market space in the centre of Abingdon. The museum displays a range of exhibitions, including interactive displays archaeological artifcats and interactive displays that showcase local life from Abingon's past. The museum is open for the public to explore on Tuesday - Sunday from 10am-4pm.

The Church of Saint Nicolas is a CoE parish church in Abingdon, in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly within Berkshire). The church was added to the gateway of the already-existing Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary around the year 1170, although the oldest remaining piece is reportedly from 1180. While the monks used the abbey church, St Nicolas's was built for their lay servants and tenants. The Normans propagated the cult of Saint Nicholas and many English churches are named after him. The earliest documentary evidence of this church's existence is in a ruling about tithes in 1177 by Pope Alexander III. Saint Edmund of Abingdon worshipped there as a child and his mother was initially buried there. From its early years, there is evidence that a school used a room in St Nicolas which has links with the founding of Abingdon School. A tower was added and the chancel rebuilt in the 15th century. Ref. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicolas_Church,_Abingdon

Abingdon-on-Thames is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Abingdon Abbey was founded around 676, giving its name to the emerging town, but the area was occupied from the early to middle Iron Age and the remains of a late Iron Age and Roman defensive enclosure lies below the town centre. The 2011 Census (the last published) recorded the parish's population as 33,130. Bun-throwing is an Abingdon tradition that began with the 1761 Coronation of King George III. This long-standing tradition of the town has local dignitaries throwing buns (5,000 buns in 2018) from the roof of the Abingdon County Hall Museum into crowds assembled in the market square below on specific days of celebration (such as royal marriages, coronations and jubilees). The museum has a collection of the buns, dried and varnished, dating back to bun-throwings of the 19th century. To date there have been 35 bun-throwing events. The central meeting place for most Abingdon folk, the Market Place is a lively place with markets and events frequently taking place but also a wonderful spot for an open-air coffee in the sunshine. There is a choice of the R&R, Costa, Java, Pablo Lounge and the cafe next to the County Hall aptly-named Throwing Buns. Ref: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abingdon-on-Thames - https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/where-go/market-place

Abingdon County Hall has dominated the Market Place, in the heart of Abingdon, since the late 17th century. [...] Constructed between 1678 and 1682, the old town hall has the typical combination for the period of a market space sheltering under a courtroom. Examples of this type of building that are earlier in date survive elsewhere as timber-framed free-standing town halls. Abingdon gains architectural distinction, however, from being built in Oxfordshire limestone; it is a monumental presence despite its compact site. [...] Sir Christopher Wren is the most celebrated architect of this period working in this idiom, and in the 1670s he was busy on the designs for rebuilding St Paul’s Cathedral. It has been suggested that Abingdon County Hall was one of his designs, and it was certainly constructed by two men he respected and worked with closely: Christopher Kempster, master mason, and John Scarborough, clerk of works. Cit. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/abingdon-county-hall-museum/history/

The Church of Saint Nicolas is a Church of England parish church in Abingdon in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly within Berkshire). The church was added to the gateway of the already-existing Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary around the year 1170, although the oldest remaining piece is reportedly from 1180. While the monks used the abbey church, St Nicolas's was built for their lay servants and tenants. The Normans propagated the cult of Saint Nicholas and many English churches are named after him. The earliest documentary evidence of this church's existence is in a ruling about tithes in 1177 by Pope Alexander III. Saint Edmund of Abingdon worshipped there as a child and his mother was initially buried there. From its early years, there is evidence that a school used a room in St Nicolas which has links with the founding of Abingdon School. A tower was added and the chancel rebuilt in the 15th century. Cit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicolas_Church,_Abingdon

St Helen's Church is a Church of England parish church in Abingdon on the bank of the River Thames in Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire), England. The church is thought to occupy the site of the Anglo-Saxon Helenstowe Nunnery. The church spire is a landmark of the town. The earliest parts of the church are late 12th- or early 13th-century. Some of the windows are 14th-century and the building was remodelled in the 15th and 16th centuries. The building was restored in 1869–73 to plans by the Gothic Revival architect Henry Woodyer. Of note within the church are the painted ceiling panels of the north aisle, dating from about 1390 and representing the Tree of Jesse. The church is a Grade I listed building. Around the churchyard are three sets of almshouses: Long Alley Almshouses built in 1446, Twitty's Almshouses of 1707 and Brick Alley Almshouses of 1718. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner declared "No other churchyard anywhere has anything like it." Cit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Helen%27s_Church,_Abingdon

The Church of England parish church of SS Peter and Paul was originally a chapelry of Sutton Courtenay. The nave is 12th century Norman and the chancel was rebuilt early in the 13th century. Surviving early features include a Norman door on the south side of the nave and an Early English Gothic door to the chancel. The east and north walls of the chancel have original Early English lancet windows and the south wall has a Perpendicular Gothic window that was added in the 16th century. The building was altered in the 19th century. The nave was remodelled and extended to designs by the architect Ewan Christian, and in 1885–86 the tower was rebuilt to hang a ring of six bells and the spire was added to designs by the architect William Gilbee Scott. The tower has a ring of six bells, and a plaque on the southwest wall in the church commemorates their being rung for the Millennium at noon on 1 January 2000. Currently they are unringable. The fourth bell was cast at Wokingham, Berkshire late in the 14th century, and the fifth was cast by the same foundry late in the 15th century. John Warner & Sons of Cripplegate, London cast or recast the first, second, third and tenor bells in 1886, in time to be rung for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. Samuel Green built the organ in 1777 for Abbey House of Sutton Courtenay. It was moved to Appleford parish church at a later date. SS Peter and Paul parish is now part of the Benefice of Sutton Courtenay with Appleford. Cit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appleford-on-Thames#Parish_church