Who would have thought what a huge role she would play in the life of Our Lady’s Abingdon when, on Michaelmas Day 1778, a daughter, Catherine, was born to James and Eleanor McAuley in Dublin.

A SCHOOL has unveiled its new headteacher who will take over in September. Our Lady’s Abingdon (OLA) has announced Daniel Gibbons will be taking over the position for the next academic year.

The Shadow Man, and a Christmas poem called Noel, were found at Our Lady's School, Abingdon. It is thought Tolkien got to know the school while he was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University.

The Shadow Man, written a year before his first classic work The Hobbit was published, was found after staff at Our Lady’s Abingdon school, Oxfordshire looked through back issues of its magazine.