River Thames in Abingdon – St Helen's Church, Abingdon loop from Didcot Parkway
River Thames in Abingdon – St Helen's Church, Abingdon loop from Didcot Parkway
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River Thames in Abingdon – St Helen's Church, Abingdon loop from Didcot Parkway
01:14
20.7km
60m
Cycling
Hard bike ride. Great for any fitness level. You may need to push your bike for some segments of this route. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.
Last updated: April 22, 2026
Tips
Includes a segment in which cycling is not permitted
After 10.5 km for 65 m
Waypoints
Start point
Train Station
Get Directions
4.73 km
Hobbyhorse Lane
Highlight (Segment) • Trail
7.22 km
The Hanson Way
Highlight • Trail
Tip by
9.75 km
River Thames in Abingdon
Highlight • River
Today, the pretty town has plenty of interesting places to visit where you can learn about this history first-hand. There's also a good selection of cafes, pubs, restaurants and shops.
Tip by
9.86 km
St Helen's Church, Abingdon
Highlight • Monument
The church is thought to occupy the site of the Anglo-Saxon Helenstowe Nunnery.
The church spire is a landmark of the town. The earliest parts of the church are late 12th- or early 13th-century. Some of the windows are 14th-century and the building was remodelled in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The building was restored in 1869–73 to plans by the Gothic Revival architect Henry Woodyer. Of note within the church are the painted ceiling panels of the north aisle, dating from about 1390 and representing the Tree of Jesse. The church is a Grade I listed building.
Around the churchyard are three sets of almshouses: Long Alley Almshouses built in 1446, Twitty's Almshouses of 1707 and Brick Alley Almshouses of 1718. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner declared "No other churchyard anywhere has anything like it."
Cit. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Helen%27s_Church,_Abingdon
Tip by
10.5 km
Abingdon County Hall Museum
Highlight • Historical Site
[...]
Constructed between 1678 and 1682, the old town hall has the typical combination for the period of a market space sheltering under a courtroom. Examples of this type of building that are earlier in date survive elsewhere as timber-framed free-standing town halls.
Abingdon gains architectural distinction, however, from being built in Oxfordshire limestone; it is a monumental presence despite its compact site.
[...]
Sir Christopher Wren is the most celebrated architect of this period working in this idiom, and in the 1670s he was busy on the designs for rebuilding St Paul’s Cathedral. It has been suggested that Abingdon County Hall was one of his designs, and it was certainly constructed by two men he respected and worked with closely: Christopher Kempster, master mason, and John Scarborough, clerk of works.
Cit. english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/abingdon-county-hall-museum/history
Tip by
10.6 km
St Nicolas' Church, Abingdon
Highlight • Other
The church was added to the gateway of the already-existing Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary around the year 1170, although the oldest remaining piece is reportedly from 1180.
While the monks used the abbey church, St Nicolas's was built for their lay servants and tenants.
The Normans propagated the cult of Saint Nicholas and many English churches are named after him.
The earliest documentary evidence of this church's existence is in a ruling about tithes in 1177 by Pope Alexander III. Saint Edmund of Abingdon worshipped there as a child and his mother was initially buried there. From its early years, there is evidence that a school used a room in St Nicolas which has links with the founding of Abingdon School.
A tower was added and the chancel rebuilt in the 15th century.
Cit. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicolas_Church,_Abingdon
Tip by
10.6 km
Abingdon Town Centre
Highlight • Cycleway
Tip by
20.7 km
End point
Train Station
Way Types & Surfaces
Way Types
10.3 km
5.22 km
2.85 km
2.01 km
144 m
< 100 m
< 100 m
Surfaces
14.4 km
5.20 km
475 m
302 m
291 m
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Elevation
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Weather
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Sunday 21 June
30°C
16°C
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Our route recommendations are based on thousands of hikes, rides, and runs completed by other people on komoot.
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