The Cosener's House sits on the north bank of the Thames, separated from the town by the Abbey mill stream and very much within the original grounds of Abingdon Abbey. The "cosener" was the medieval abbey's kitchener, responsible for buying and preparing food for the monks — the building survived because it was sold off privately at the Dissolution.
It is now a residential conference centre and not generally open to the public, but the path past the front door is one of the most attractive ways to approach the abbey ruins from the river. The little Abbey mill stream and the wooden footbridges around the house are particularly picturesque in early summer.