The Ock St Heritage Group
http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/ockst/
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The History of a Street
Visitors to Abingdon, if they are historically aware, will certainly have noticed Ock Street. Half a mile long, reasonably straight, and remarkably wide, it has plainly been a major approach road to the ancient town for a very long time, as well as an obvious location for markets and fairs. Leases from the thirteenth century show that it was partly built up even then, and a survey of the sixteenth century lists eighty-eight holdings spread along its two sides. Over time, the inhabitants of Ock Street developed into a distinct community, with its own economy based on industrial labour, its own non-conformist religious practices, and its own cultural icons such as the morris dancers who elected a Mayor of Ock Street and vied for the trophy of the Ock Street Horns. By the nineteenth century, Ock Street and the crowded courts behind it was home to almost a third of the population of Abingdon.
This tradition came to an end about the middle of the last century, when slum clearance, carried out, it would seem, with no great sensitivity, dispersed the inhabitants to soulless new estates on the outskirts of the town. But the memories persist, and are being explored in a new project within the Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society.
It started in 2004, when the Abingdon Buildings Record, a group primarily interested in the architectural history of the town, held a meeting on Ock Street and decided to open it to the public. The response was unexpected; so many people were turned away that a second meeting had to be held. The interest and enthusiasm generated led to the formation of an Ock Street Research Group, which now unites local historians with a variety of specialised skills in an effort to recover the history of this unique community.
2006 happens to be the 450th anniversary of Abingdon’s first charter, and, as part of the celebrations, the Ock Street Research Group put on its first exhibition of its findings to date. This was at the Trinity Church Hall in Conduit Road, Abingdon, just round the corner from Ock Street, from 29 September to 1 October 2006. Enquiries to ockstreet@aaahs.org.uk
A part of last year's exhibition will be on show at OxStud (what
used to be the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies) at the Westgate
throughout May and June, and a totally new exhibition is being planned
which will be at the Abingdon Museum through January and February 2008.