Abingdon Museum

About

Abingdon Museum was formerly The County Hall, completed in 1682 and is on the south side of Abingdon Market Place. It was built by stonemason Christopher Kempster, who worked with Sir Christopher Wren on rebuilding churches in London after the Great Fire of 1666.

Originally used as a courtroom for the Berkshire Assizes, the County Hall has also been a venue for entertainment and since 1761 the venue for the traditional ‘bun throwing’ to commemorate royal events. A museum was first set up in the building in 1919.

The museum re-opened in 2012 after extensive building restoration work and redisplay of the museum collections as part of a Heritage Lottery Fund project.

It features a permanent exhibition on the history of the town in the Sessions Gallery. Upstairs, three display rooms feature textiles, watercolours and the founders' collection of fossils and curios. In the basement you'll find a working demonstration of the original Crossley engines and pump, which used to supply the town with water, along with collections information, education room and a café. The basement is fully accessible via lift.

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