A cross patonce sable between four martlets sable
The martlet derives from the arms of Abingdon Abbey for the School owes its origins to the Abbey which, first founded in 675, was re-established as a Benedictine abbey in 950. It is possible that Abingdon School dates from this period too but the earliest surviving reference is dated 1256 and records the endowment created by Abbot John de Blosneville for the support of thirteen poor scholars.
St Edmund of Abingdon, whose father was an official of the Abbey, would have received his first education at the School. On St Edmund’s Day, 16 November 2006, a meeting of the St Edmund’s Society will be held in St Nicholas’s Church, the extra-mural church of the Abbey built for the benefit of the lay community whose earliest rectors seem likely to have been headmasters of the School.
The image shows The arms of Abingdon Abbey on one of the ceiling bosses in the Grundy Library.
