where she stayed at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel . But few give Wallingford a first thought, let alone a second, despite the fact that it was here, on the banks of the River Thames, where Christie lived for most of her life.or any of the other idiosyncratic characters from her 66 detective novels it is well worth a mini-pilgrimage – and there are still plenty of reasons to visit Wallingford if you have only a passing interest in Christie’s works.
Growing up here, I could never lean into its quiet-life feel and twee little shops – it was a dull place, according to most teenagers in the town, so I moved away to theand later to London. But in my later years, I returned here seeking solitude and a pretty view of the river – much like Christie. Wallingford sits on the Thames just an hour down the M4 from London and a half-hour drive from Oxford, and its centre is one of the best surviving examples of a Saxon town. It has a grid system of small streets and narrow alleyways, and a charming cobbled marketplace at its heart.
For somewhere small and unassuming, it has some significant historical connections: William the Conqueror crossed the Thames here after the pivotal Battle of Hastings, and he spent time in the town negotiating his impending reign with the Archbishop of Canterbury. This led to the building of Wallingford