Roundabout Buddha looking lonely without wooden monk

Now, following its collapse after it rotted over the years, only a small Buddha statue remains at the busy roundabout on the Marcham Road, where drivers can access Abingdon Tesco Extra and Fairacres Retail Park.

New Union flags and Cross of St George flags were recently reposted on the roundabout at the junction of Marcham Road and Nuffield Way.

READ MORE: Final resting place of wooden monk

For drivers entering the town from the A34 Marcham interchange, the stone Buddha statuette is one of the first things they see.

But the Buddha may not be lonely for too much longer.

Town councillor Gwyneth Lewis, a former mayor of Abingdon, said there are plans for a monk to return soon.

“A monk will be brought back – I think the plinth is there already.”

The Buddha statue at the roundabout (Image: Andy Ffrench)

A long-serving wooden monk statue was removed last year after it rotted and fell to the ground and it has not yet been replaced.

There has been no official announcement so far about a possible replacement.

The wooden monk was a prominent reminder of an important element of the town’s history – the large abbey which existed until Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries in 1536.

The monk statue was installed as part of an advertising campaign in 2002 and became a popular landmark for drivers heading for the A34 Marcham Interchange, or arriving back in town after a break.

The toppled monk at the roundabout in Abingdon (Image: Andy Ffrench)

Last year, Alastair Fear, whose popular Abingdon Blog has reached its 20th anniversary, revealed the wooden monk’s “final resting place” to be Boxhill Walk Woods.

Mr Fear, a former town councillor, reported that the town council had given the monk a new purpose as a “bug hotel”, placing it among the naturally decaying tree trunks in the woods.

The sculpture was originally created for a Britain in Bloom project, commissioned by the town council and sponsored by the Abbey Press. People used to dress it up for festive occasions.

Last year it emerged that the town’s historic Abbey Buildings have won a £4m restoration grant from the National Lottery.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund grant is expected to cover a substantial part of the cost of a once-in-a-generation improvement project.