TWO generations have come together to tell the story of Abingdon in a new book.

Judy Stubley, 72, has written a children’s history of the town and 13-year-old Molly Padbury has illustrated it.

Mrs Stubley, from Shippon, wrote Sixty Spooky, Strange and Surprising Stories about Abingdon, and asked schoolgirl Molly Padbury, from Ducklington, near Witney, to draw the illustrations.

Now their work has been published.

When Mrs Stubley moved to Abingdon seven years ago, the first thing she did was to go to the children’s section of the library to look for a book on Abingdon history.

But she couldn’t find one – so instead wrote her own.

The book is narrated by the ghost of a colouful 14th century cleric called Brother Cedric.

“I did an awful lot of research,” said Mrs Stubley, “I took out about every book I could find in Abingdon library.

“Then I put on my child hat and thought ‘what would interest them?”

The 60 local legends include stories about Abingdon’s only saint, Edmund Rich, King Alfred and the monks of Abingdon Abbey.

Mrs Stubley first met Molly when the then 11-year-old illustrator handed her a full set of illustrations to her last book, The Story Traveller.

She said: “Molly handed me illustrations for every single chapter and I said ‘you have to illustrate my next book’.

“They were beautiful.”

For Sixty Stories, Mrs Stubley emailed Molly each chapter as it was completed, and after school each night Molly would pen illustrations for each one.

Molly, a pupil at Wood Green School in Witney, said: “It’s like a little souvenir that you can take home when you visit Abingdon.

“There are stories about kings and queens, ghosts, highwaymen – I didn’t think there would be that much going on in Abingdon.”

Molly said she has been drawing since “forever”, and added: “I just find it relaxing, it’s something different from watching TV.”

The book was published by Troubador in May and is now available from Mostly Books and the Abingdon County Hall Museum.