Thames Path

Nuneham Viaduct, also known as Nuneham Railway Bridge and the Black Bridge is near the town of Abingdon-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England. It is a two-span, bowstring truss bridge that carries the Didcot to Oxford section of the Cherwell Valley Line across the River Thames between Abingdon Lock and Sandford Lock. Its name is derived from the neighbouring Nuneham House. The total length is 99 yards (91 m); the southern and northern ends are respectively 57 miles 24 chains (92.22 km) and 57 miles 29 chains (92.32 km) from Paddington (via Didcot station).As well as passenger trains, the line over the bridge carries freight from the Port of Southampton to distribution centres in the Midlands and North of England. By 2023, up to forty freight trains per day were using the route, which is part of the core UK intermodal freight network, and was to have been part of the proposed Electric Spine. From March 2022, the bridge suffered a progressive failure with sinking of the southern end of the southern span. This led to its temporary closure to all rail traffic on 3 April 2023 and a major remedial project being undertaken; the line was reopened to traffic on 9 June 2023.

Abingdon Junction railway station was a junction station for the branch line to Abingdon. It was opened by the Abingdon Railway Company on 2 June 1856 along with the branch, and was subsequently closed and replaced by Radley railway station on 8 September 1873. Radley station was in a more convenient place for access. At the same time as the station's opening, the next station to the south, formerly known as Abingdon Road was renamed Culham.In 1837 the first Bill for a railway to Abingdon was laid before Parliament; it would have brought a direct line from Didcot to Oxford through the town. The House of Commons passed the Bill, but the Lords rejected it. The Bill for the Oxford line was revived in the following year, but so strong was the opposition of Mr. Duffield, Abingdon's M.P., that the proposed line was forced to by-pass Abingdon; it eventually opened on 12 June 1844 and ran no nearer to Abingdon than the village of Radley, some two miles to the east.Located at the point where the branch diverges from the main line, Abingdon Junction was provided purely for interchange for services to Oxford, Culham and Didcot and was not shown in timetables. No proper road access to the station was provided and only modest passenger facilities were afforded consisting of two facing wooden platforms with a small building constructed on the up main side and a run-around loop for branch services and connections with the main line.Following the conversion of the branch to standard gauge in November 1872, works began to extend the line a further ¾ mile northwards alongside the main line to reach a new station at Radley where it terminated in a bay platform on the station's west side. The station building from Abingdon Junction was transported to Radley, where it was sited just south of the road bridge, most likely on the down side. It remained there until well into British Railways days and was used by gangers and platelayers. The remains of Abingdon Junction survived for several years before their demolition, so that the only trace of the station today is the widened formation to the west of the main line before the Abingdon branch curved away.

The European School, Culham (ESC) was one of the fourteen European Schools and the only one in the United Kingdom. Located in Culham near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. It was founded in 1978 for the purpose of providing an education to the children of staff working for the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

The Europa School UK is an all-through, free school and IB world school located in Culham near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. It was founded in 2012 by stakeholders of the European School, Culham and subsumed the former school's campus upon its closure in 2017. It now offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and Middle Years Programme in the secondary section and a bilingual curriculum in primary with English and one of German, French or Spanish. From its foundation until 31 August 2021, it was the only Accredited European School in the United Kingdom. This status was lost due to Brexit.

Culham railway station serves the village of Culham in Oxfordshire, England. It is on the Cherwell Valley Line between Didcot Parkway and Banbury, 56 miles 17 chains (90.5 km) from London Paddington. It is served by local train services provided by Great Western Railway. The station is just off the A415 road, between the villages of Culham and Clifton Hampden. It is close to Culham Science Centre, an 80-hectare (200-acre) scientific research site housing two nuclear fusion experiments: JET and MAST. The Science Centre was built on the site of RNAS Culham (HMS Hornbill), a World War II airfield.

Abingdon Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, less than 1 mile east and upstream of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on the opposite bank of the river. It was originally built in 1790 by the Thames Navigation Commission. The weir runs across from the Abingdon side to the lock island, and has a pedestrian walkway across it. According to a tablet above the front door, the current lock-keeper's house dates from 1928. Ice creams and refreshments have been sold from the door of the house for at least 30 years.

The East Hendred Brook is a small tributary of the River Thames which starts on the springline at the base of the Berkshire Downs, and joins the Thames between Abingdon and Wallingford.

Andersey Island is a 273-acre (110.5 ha) area of flood-meadow and former flood-meadow south-east of Abingdon Bridge, Abingdon, Oxfordshire on the reach above Culham Lock in which parish it lies however maintaining close links with Abingdon by virtue of its current amenities. It is the second-largest island of the non-tidal course of the River Thames in England upstream of the Tideway — if disqualifying the villages of Dorney and Eton, Berkshire enclosed by the engineered Jubilee River. Andersey means Andrew's island after its chapel to St Andrew, demolished, built about 1050 CE.

The Swift Ditch is a 2 km (1.2 mi) long artificial channel that formed a short-cut for river traffic to and from Oxford, across a meander of the River Thames in England. It was formerly the primary navigation channel. With the main river, it creates Andersey Island on the left bank of the Thames opposite Abingdon-on-Thames. Within a poem published in 1632, the Water Poet John Taylor wrote:At Abingdon the shoals are worse and worse That Swift Ditch seems to be the better course

Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST) was a nuclear fusion experiment, testing a spherical tokamak nuclear fusion reactor, and commissioned by EURATOM/UKAEA. The original MAST experiment took place at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Oxfordshire, England from December 1999 to September 2013. A successor experiment called MAST Upgrade began operation in 2020.

Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace manufacturer based in Oxfordshire, England.

Culham is a village and civil parish in a bend of the River Thames, 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The parish includes Culham Science Centre and Europa School UK (formerly the European School, Culham, which was the only Accredited European School within the United Kingdom). The parish is bounded by the Thames to the north, west and south, and by present and former field boundaries to the east. It is low-lying and fairly flat, rising from the Thames floodplain in the south to a north-facing escarpment in the north up to 260 feet (80 m) above sea level. The 2011 Census recorded its population as 453.