Editing Abingdon-on-Thames (section)

===Administrative history===
Abingdon was first incorporated as a borough in 1556. The borough covered parts of the parishes of [[St Helen's Church, Abingdon|St Helen]] and [[St Nicolas Church, Abingdon|St Nicolas]]; both parishes also included rural areas beyond the borough boundary.<ref name=commissioners>{{cite book |title=First Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales: Part 1 |date=1835 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7pNRAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA3 |access-date=2 November 2024}}</ref> The borough was reformed to become a [[municipal borough]] in 1836 under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]], which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.<ref>{{cite book |title=Municipal Corporations Act 1835 |date=1834 |page=455 |url=https://archive.org/details/statutesunitedk35britgoog/page/454/mode/2up |access-date=2 November 2024}}</ref>

The [[Local Government Act 1894]] directed that parishes were no longer allowed to straddle borough boundaries, and so a parish called Abingdon was created covering the same area as the borough, and the parts of the parishes of St Helen and St Nicolas outside the borough boundary were combined into a separate parish called [[St. Helen Without]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Annual Report of the Local Government Board |date=1895 |page=233 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFIwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA233 |access-date=2 November 2024}}</ref>

The municipal borough was abolished in 1974 under the [[Local Government Act 1972]], which also transferred the town from Berkshire to Oxfordshire. District-level functions passed to the Vale of White Horse District Council. A [[successor parish]] covering the area of the former borough was created called Abingdon, with its council taking the name Abingdon Town Council.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1973/1110/made|title=The Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973|publisher=[[legislation.gov.uk]]|accessdate=7 August 2024}}</ref> The parish was formally renamed to Abingdon-on-Thames in 2012.<ref name=Wilkinson/>