Abingdon 2026

The Mayor of Ock Street, an Abingdon tradition that dates back to 1700, there’s mention of an Ox roast in the centre of town followed by a fight between the men of Ock Street and the men of the Vineyard, intriguing to say the least !

So, on a mildly overcast June morning I set off from Leicestershire at 8:00am to give myself ample time for a comfortable journey to Oxfordshire (the car is getting familiar with this pattern of late) and 90 minutes later I was parked in a quiet back road just off Ock Street.

I like to get to events ahead of the scheduled start as it gives me time to have a wander, get my bearings, check to see where the light is coming from, check the locations of where the event is moving around, and so on - and also to give myself time to grab a coffee and croissant of some description.

Wandering back from Abingdon town centre suitably caffeine & sugar boosted my first location to check in on was The Brewery Tap public house situated on Ock Street as here was to be found the polling station where the voting would take place to choose the Mayor of Ock Street for 2026, the candidates being Mr. Harry Knight & Mr. Rob Charlton, both members of the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers.

Several members of Abingdon were already at the polling station and as the time ticked closer to 10:30am more dancers arrived, the odd member of the general public and the town crier ! - this is when you know the chance for some candid photo opportunities as well as ‘in dance’ imagery will present during the day.

Following the scheduled timings the 11:00am procession into the town centre duly commenced vigourously announced by the town crier (who also ably halted & directed the road traffic) with Abingdon leading the way proudly behind the Ox Horns followed by the guest teams of Summertown Morris and Oxford City & University.

The sun was doing its best to break through the cloud cover sporadically so I was enthusiastic for the first dance spot which was to be outside The Black Swan public house in the town centre, sadly the sun gave in to sporadic and let cloud cover take control - ominous for what was to come in the next 60 minutes !! - all three teams delightfully performed at least a couple of dance routines and I started to get my camera eye going picking out the moments of interest.

From the Black Swan the procession tracked its way through the town centre to arrive at the Abbey Gateway which is a rather splendid 15th century honey stoned structure which was the main entrance to the abbey, and with the adjoining walls that form Abbey Close serving as a great backdrop this looked an ideal spot to get some nice imagery if only the sun would break through ! - I continued to capture in my usual manner and this was a great location to get close to the dance, but each time I looked on my camera back screen I was never fully delighted with what looked like ‘flat’ images (flat as in lack of sparkle on account of lack of light) nevertheless a moment of ‘try something else’ logged in my mind so I adopted the slow shutter speed approach to see if my rare (but sometimes it surfaces) artistic bent would kick start into life, thankfully an image of Summertown Morris delivered exactly what I was looking for, motion flow + slight blur giving a ‘painterly’ quality to the image.

Onwards to the next location, the Broad Face public house, and the sky which had gradually gone from ‘overcast’ at the Black Swan to ‘getting a bit dark’ at Abbey Gateway was now decidedly “it’s a bit black over Bill’s mother’s” threatening and sure enough the heavens opened ! - at this point honourable mention goes to the ladies of Summertown Morris who sported their matching blue waterproof tops and continued to dance regardless - bravo !

The Broad Face offered welcome sanctuary and as we were after 12:00 liquid refreshment was in order.

Once the rain had (seemingly) cleared the procession headed for the Market Place in the town centre and wisely took up dance residence under the baroque architecture of the Abingdon County Hall Museum, this was opportunity once more to experiment with some slow shutter speed imagery and I came away with some successful attempts this time of ATMD - the clock had ticked round to past 1:30pm and it was now time to adjourn for lunch with dance proceedings commencing later at 3:00pm

Following lunch, the Brewery Cottages on Coopers Lane was the next dance spot and finally we had some sunlight which, although short lived, was a welcome sight for the 30 minutes that the teams danced at this location before heading back to the Brewery Tap public house where we were only 20 minutes or so away from electing the 2026 Mayor of Ock Street once the votes had been counted.

Congratulations to Mr. Harry Knight, duly elected Mayor of Ock Street 2026 who was presented with the sword & chalice by the (actual) Mayor of Abingdon and then in the customary tradition was duly carried along part of the south side of Ock Street and back again in the ceremonial chair by his fellow ATMD team members.

Dancing continued at the Brewery Tap for another hour before the teams then formed procession once more behind the Ox horns and moved down to the White Horse public house and it was at this point of the day, and handily placed for where I’d parked the car, I left the celebrations - it had been a great day and a traditional morris event I’m glad to have witnessed and as always my extended thanks reach out to ATMD for allowing me to photograph at the event and welcoming me throughout the day, I look forward to a return visit in 2027.

My curated observations of the day can be found in the projects section of this website.

Mr. Harry Knight - elected Mayor of Ock Street, Abingdon, Oxfordshire - June 2026