Abingdon, Berkshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Abingdon. You may be able to find further references to Abingdon in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Abingdon municipal borough Bartholomew
ABINGDON a town, two parishes, a subdistrict, and a district Imperial
Abingdon (or Northern) Division parliamentary division Bartholomew

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Abingdon.

Place Type of entry Source
Barton Farm tract of land Bartholomew
Cholsall hamlet Bartholomew
CHOLSALL a hamlet Imperial
NORTHCOTT, or Northcourt a hamlet Imperial
SANDFORD a township Imperial
Shippon ecclesiastical district Bartholomew
SHIPPON a township-chapelry Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Abingdon within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex 10
Celia Fiennes Buckinghamshire, Oxford and Chichester 4
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 2: Somerset and Wiltshire 3
William Cobbett Nov. 9th to 21st, 1821: Gloucester to Berghclere 2
John Byng A Tour into Kent, 1790 1
William Camden The Division of Britaine 1
Charles Wesley Jan. 3 - Aug. 31, 1737: Devon, and around London 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 2: The City 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Northcourt 0 1
Shippon 0 2
Sutton Wick 0 2
Culham 0 2
Sunningwell 1 2
Radley 0 2
Sutton Courtenay 0 2
Drayton 0 2
Dry Sandford 0 2
Chandlings Farm 0 1
Wootton 0 2
Marcham 0 2
Hormer 0 2
Bagley Wood 0 2
Nuneham Courtenay 4 2
Ock 0 2
Besselsleigh 2 2
Appleford 0 2
Clifton Hampden 0 2
Kennington 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Abingdon. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
ABBANDUN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ABBANDUNE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ABBENDON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ABBINDON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ABBINGTON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
ABENDON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ABINDON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ABINGDON John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
ABINGDON OR NORTHERN DIVISION John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
ABINGTON Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
SHEOVESHAM William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.