Yesterday we made a short visit to the city of Abingdon which is appr. 8 miles south by bus, so it was an experience travelling through the countryside. The bus driver was kind of adventurous, heading into puddles, balancing on kerbs. So the journey was long and we had to get back home because we had an invitation for the evening. 
Abingdon Abbey is the main attraction in Abingdon, because it had monopolised power and wealth in the city for more than 500 years. The Abbey was founded in 650 with 12 monks, and by 1086 he was the biggest landowner in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Henry I and Henry II gave it the rights to create a lucrative market place, which was created in Abingdon, as opposed to nearby Oxford. The control was in the hand of the Abbey, and it kept all the revenues generated by the flourishing market; no wealth was distributed to the peasantry. In 1327 local townsmen boiled into riot. With the support of students from Oxford, the people of Abingdon attacked the Abbey. The riot was supressed but revolts were against the abbey in 1381 and in 1431. In 1535 the Abbey was investigated by Thomas Cromwell and in 1538 the property and the estates of the abbey were taken over by the crown. Most of the abbey buildings , including the Abbey church and cloisters were destroyed after the Dissolution.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries was a legal and administrative process between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII appropriated the income of the English, Welsh, Irish monasteries, nunneries and friaries. In the case of Abingdon Abbey it meant that literally nearly every stone except the archway was taken away by the crown.
Aaron, who is a historian, lodges in a 16th century homestead north of Oxford invited us for a hare dinner. We had to got off the bus, and go further on a dirt road - withou a torch in pitch black - until the sign of St Frideswide - a local saint - where we found our destination. The 80 year old owner of the house still lives there and joined to our dinner with pleasure. It's really hard to describe the feeling of the layers of centuries in a house where actually people and cats hanging around as normally. It was an amazing night!
Not only for us because the whole city was flowing to the south part of the city to watch the fire works. On the 5th of November and it seems so that throughout the whole week the Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated with such spectaculars everywhere in England. Guy or Guido Fawkes was a member of a catholic conspiracy against the Protestant King , James I. In 1605 they planned to blow up the House of Parliament, but the Gunpowder Plot was unveiled before anything could have happened. They were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. On the 5th of November when the conspiracy was discovered, the people of Lonmdon were encouraged to celebrate the survival of the king. This tradition persists across to UK until today. Probably it does not mean the overall loyalty of the British people rather "circus and bread" like anywhere. It has only just occurred to me that one of Poirot's misteries happened on that night. If you have not read it, Murder in the Mews shows a typical Guy Fwakes night for the European lay people.
Source: John Wilks: Walks into History, Oxfordshire. 2001 
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