A long tradition

In 1944, The Friends of Abingdon saved several of the support buildings of the ancient Abingdon Abbey from destruction. Over many years the society has kept faith with the intentions of the founders and the buildings have been carefully maintained and are in regular use by the community.

In 1970, the idea of holding a Craft Fair in the buildings began with small local craftworkers and grew to be a widely-loved event bringing our enthusiasts into the town from towns and villages in the surrounding counties.

In 2016 we learned that the company managing the event for us was no longer trading and an alternative gift event was held in October 2016. In 2017, due to the upsurge of demand for the return of the Craft Fair, we organised a Traditional Craft Fair with the emphasis back on the genuine British Crafts ethos as it had been in the early days and this idea strengthened with its success. The Craft Fair has been managed for us by operators who genuinely care about crafts for three years now and we are looking forward to the 2022 event.