July 2026
Abbingdon Abbey
What you see above is all that is left of Abbingdon Abbey. It is a folly built in the 19th century made up of pieces found around the area.
Abbingdon Abbey was a Benedictine Monastery founded c. 675 AD and was dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. It was disestablished in 1538 during the dissolution of the monasteries.
The Church of St. Margaret
The church of St Margaret in Binsey dates from the 12th century.
Its fame lies just outside – St Margaret’s Well, which is the model for Lewis Carroll’s “Treacle Well” from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland;
Importantly, this is a holy well dedicated to St Frideswide, patron saint of Oxford and the church of Christ Church College. According to legend, she fled to Binsey in a bid to escape marriage to a king of Mercia, whose pursuit of her was halted when he was struck blind at the gates of Oxford. Frideswide’s prayers brought forth a healing spring, whose waters cured his blindness, and the spring was walled into a shallow well which became a focus for pilgrimage, the medieval sense of the word “treacle” meaning “healing unguent”. The well became a pilgrimage site in medieval times.
Godstow Abbey
Godstow Abbey was built on what was then an island between streams running into the River Thames. The site was given to the founder, Edith de Launceline.
It was a house of Benedictine nuns. The abbey was suppressed in 1539 under the Second Act of Dissolution by Lord Cromwell.
Rosamund Clifford, the mistress of King Henry II, retired here and died at 30 in about 1177. Her grave is somewhere in the grounds, but now lost.
The Trout
If you are a fan of the British TV series Inspector Morse, you will know the Trout. It is a short walk across the river from Godstow Abbey.
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