READING

C Shuie iL PbD F8A RHigttS

HI Copyright text

CONTENTS

Page

The Site and Situation 1

The Origins of the Borough 1-3

The Medieval Borough and the Abbey 3-6

The Post~Medieval Town 6-7

The Eighteenth~century Town 7-9

Maps and Plans Scale

The Situation of Reading I J50000

The Site I 5000

Reading c 1800 with major features in late medieval times 1 2500

Civil War Defences 1 5000

Reading c 1800 with major features in late medieval times 1 5000

Parishes and Wards in the 18th Century 1 5000

Medieval Street Names 1 5000

Copyright text

READING The historic town of Reading lay on the river Kennet near its junction with the river Thames but it was not until

the mid~19th century that the town proper extended as far as the Thames The reason for this is entirely a question of land drainage for the belt of well~drained grael that invited early settlement extends east and west from the Kennet and is separated from the Thames by a low~lying area formerly swampy in parts and very liable to flooding This gravel ridge on which original Reading stood rises some thirty feet above the Thames and is divided into two by the Kennet the eastern part of the ridge being some two miles long and half a mile wide the western the same length but only half the width The gravel itself is over twelve feet thick and rests on chalk and historic Reading occupied the central part of the ridge straddling the Kennet where the gap in the gravel is at its narrowest But although Reading was a town of the Kennet rather than of the Thames it was the Thames that provided communication by water towards the centre of the kingdom in the direction of Wallingford and Oxford and outward downstream to London The Kennet however drew on a rich agricultural and wool~producing area extending west towards Newbury and the Downs and Reading astride its lowest reaches was in a markedly favourable position for this local trade Equally advantageous were the land routes Although no major Roman road came near its site-the nearest was the Devils Highway running from London to Silchester--it formed in post~Roman times a nodal point at the crossing of two lines of communication one running east~west from London to Bath and Bristol and one running north~south from the Midlands and Oxford to Winchester and Southampton Both these roads crossed water obstacles in or near Reading for a short distance they ran together to cross the various branches of the Kennet near the town centre and the one running north~south crossed the Thames at Caversham just beside the boundary of the manor of Reading

The Origins of the Borough Evidence for occupation in and around the site of Reading can be found from Palaeolithic times onward although

it is not until the Mesolithic period that river lines and leels approximated to those of later times No prehistoric sites hae been identified in the area of the medieval borough but this would seem to be the result of subsequent building activity in both its destruction and its impediment to excavation for surrounding terrain similar to that within Reading has given considerable eidence of sites The Kennet valley has abundant Mesolithic ones1 in the gravel on either side of the borough are Neolithic ones~ also on the gravel was a possible Bronze~age barrow3 and an early Iron~age site was identified but largely unexcaated to the north of the Kennet at Southcote Pottery veapons brooches and other remains of these times are found in quantity in the River Thames4 and in the expanded borough area of modern times

The evidence so far points to a long tradition of occupation in the area but no marked concentration of population and this pattern would appear to continue through the time of Roman Britain The district is rich in Romano~British objects so much so that eighteenth~century antiquarianism combined with local pride to identify Reading with Calleva Atrebatumo Concentrations of sherds hae been found at Tilehurst Southcote Emmer Green in the Market Place and just to the east of the junction of Thames and Kennet a Romano~British cemetery has been found to the east of this and individual sherds and coins have been found scattered over the whole area6 bull The remains suggest persons living at a fairly modest standard in scattered settlements It is possible that good river communications had produced some centre for local trade but the proximity of the important cantonal capital of Silchester and the avoidance of the area by major roads were economic factors that could not be overcome The area can at the most have been a pagus a rural unit of local government vithin the civitas of the Atrebates

The first written mention of Reading occurs under the year 870 and the Reading then mentioned is if a small at least an established community What brought that community into being however can only be surmised The Teutonic arrivals of the 5th century were more concerned with mOement by river than their predecessors had been and in these complicated years Silchester had little to recommend it from any point of view and speedily fell out of habitation ceasing to be a hub of communications The one time main road from Winchester (Venta Belgarum) and the south to Silchester now went east of it to Basing and thence north to Reading one branch continuing over the hills to Goring others to Henley and Oxford The main road from London to the west now ran north of Silchester passing through Sonning and Reading and down the line of the Kennet valley until it rejoined the line of the former road near Speen Although this nev road pattern indicates the network of settlement it does not contribute to solving the important problem of when that settlement was established Local place~names ending in ~ingas of which only some have been mentioned are generally compounded with archaic personal names and would not conflict with the early 6th~century date suggested by archaeology and probability Archaeologically northern Berkshire and the upper Thames valley are areas of very early Teutonic settlement beginning around the middle of the 5th century Expansion would be into the agriculturally inviting land towards the south rather than into the inhospitable Chiltern area or into the British west and by the mid~6th century the Thames alley seems to have been sufficiently organized to produce the dynasty that ruled later 6th~century Wessex~ But the area to become Berkshire was debateable territory It was the meeting~point of new~comers from the north~east along the age~old Icknield Way that crossed

The following special abbreviation has been used BA] Berkshire Archaeologic-al Journal Grateful acknowledgement is made for the helpful criticisms received from Dr B R Kemp and -1r D ORourke of Redding University and Mr R Kneebone Reading Borough Archidst

1 The only one fully excaated to date is a rich site at Thatcham PlOc-etdings of the Prehistoric Society xxviii 329middot70 2 The most prominent are ring ditches at Englefield and rectangles at Sonning In each case one feature has been cxcaated that at [ngleneld is unpublished that at

Sonning is in BA] lxi 4middot19 bull Marshalls Hill Grosvenor Road largely leelled 1909 BAJ xxxi 72 xxxvi 121middot5 4 The Thames Conservancy Collection is in Reading Museum bull Wallingford also claimed this distinction but the nineteenthmiddotcentury discOerv of the inscription once on the fOrlllll positielv identined Silchester as Callem Atrtbatlilll 8 All information on published and unpublished Romano-British sites and nnds in Reading is contained in an unpublished cardmiddotindex in Reading Museum D P Kirby Problems of Early West Saxon History EHR lxxx lQ-19

1 Hi

Copyright text

READING

the Thames at the Goring Gap of those coming up the Thames and of those penetrating from the south and for many years it was in dispute between Wessex and the great midland kingdom of Mercia It did not finally become part of the former until the reign of Ethelwulf in the 9th century and as late as 870 its ealdorman seems to have been of Mercian extractions Meanwhile dynastic change and possibly Mercian pressure had moved the centre of gravity of Wessex towards the south and Winchester became the main urban focus of the kingdom

The earliest information for Reading is thus contained in its name which is one of the cluster of ingas names associated in this case with the eponymous figure of Reada9 bull The area occupied by the group the Readingas which perpetuated his name can only be deduced from later eddence but would appear to have been about seven miles across with the Thames as one boundarylO Material evidence surviving from this period is very slight there was a small cemetery to the east of the townll and one known unequivocal sherd has been found near the towns historic centre But the fact that the group name became attached to this settlement proves both its existence and its local importance The two significant occasions before 1066 on which Reading is mentioned are both in connexion with the Danes In 870 the Great Army settled there for a year Reading on this occasion is described as a royal vill and the Danes are said to have built a rampart from Thames to Kennet on the righthand side of the vill it was the entrance to this rampart that king Ethelred and his brother Alfred unsuccessfully assaultedlc bull No trace of the ditch that inevitably accompanied this rampart has ever been observed nor has evidence from the second known Danish isit in the winter of 1006 when Reading would seem to have been burntl3

What events in the years before 870 had resulted in Reading becoming a royal vill are unknown and equally dark are the happenings between 870 and 1066 that advanced Reading to the status of a borough In later centuries when Reading men were in dispute with the abbey they based their claim to burghal status on immemorial right longe byfore or ever the monastery of Rading was founded14 But they failed to produce the best evidence for this which comes from Domesday Book where the Borough of Reading (Burgus de Racling) is described apart from the manorY Supporting evidence comes from two coins certainly minted at Reading16 and from the name of the pasture held by the burgesses the Portmanbrook This latter would seem to bear out the supposition that Reading owed its rise at least in part to being a trading and market centre-a port- and there is no e-idence for either the line or even the existence of defences in the late Saxon period In 1086 it was markedly less important than Wallingford the then county town

A picture of the physicallayout of the town before the foundation of the abbey in 1131 has to rest on grounds of presumption and later evidence and it is ery possible that the Danish activities had resulted in change The gravel ridge and proximity to the Kennet are two basic factors a third is the postRoman road changes The northerly junction of the two important throughroads lay on the gravel where Castle Street leads out of St Marys Butts and any small settlement concerned with trade and sen-ice industries must have clustered round this point possibly with an extension along the gravel to its nearest approach to the Kennet at High Bridge The eidence for this is that part of the road to Winchester near Seven Bridges was formerly known as Old Street and the present St Marys Butts as the Old Market and the name Minster Street in this same area shows either a religious house or a group of clergy of Old English times The complicating factors are the later tradition that the chapel of St Mary Magdalen at the east end of the town was once a parish churchli and the discovery of a cemetery identified as christian Saxon in the Forbury close by the later abbey church 18 As there is no report of the destruction of town property in the early 12th century to make way for the abbey it would seem that any settlement in this eastern part would have belonged to a much older phase of the towns history a phase when defence took precedence over commerce for the angle formed by the junction of Thames and Kennet needed defence on but one side These defensive possibilities were utilized by the Danes in 8701 and any settlement within the angle would hae been enclosed within their camp The only evidence is that already mentioned that the Danish defenshe line was built on the righthand side (dextrali parte) of the vill an expression that can also mean on the south side 19 The settlement would thus be within the fortification but as the line of the Danish defences is conjectural and on any military reasoning must have included at least part of the builtup area of later centuries occupation of this eastern area remains speculative An interesting implication of this Danish activity is that a break of a year or so occurred in the civilian occupation of the site But by the early 12th century there is no unequivocal evidence showing even ecclesiastical occupation in this eastern part and the one church then mentioned as existing in the town was St Maryso on the west and this must be the solitary church mentioned although not by name in Domesday Book The two other churches St Giless in the south St Laurences in the north are first mentioned late in the twelfth century but the latter contains traces of Norman work and there may have been an earlier chapel on or near its site~1 Whether one church would have sufficed for the spiritual needs of the population in 1086 is ery dubious for the fact that manor and borough came under the same parochial organization considerably increased the number of parishioners

Domesday information valuable as it is ghes but the vaguest picture of the borough of Reading in 1086 The

Thl Chronicle of lEtheweard ed A Campbell 37 9 Ekwall (Dictionary of English Place-Names) suggests that it is a by-name formed from read (red)

10 Later rural deaneries often as here gh-e an indication of early settlement areas 11 Berks Bucks and Oxon Archaeol Jnl xiii 7middotS Assers Life of Alfred ed Y H Stevenson 27middot8 Anglo-Saxon Chronlcle ed D Vhitclock 46-7 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ed Yhitelock 8t1 where it is said the Danes obsen-ed their ancient custom lighting their beacons as they went BAJ lxi 53 In 1253 thev claimed their liberties were granted bv King Edard (the Confessor) but failed to produce a charter C Coates History and Antiquities of

the Borough of Reading (1802) 50 15 VCH Berks i 334 16 British Numismanc Journal xxx 705 xxxi 161middot2 The abbey later had minting rights but these coins c 1047 long predate the abbey This date and the appeal back

to King Edwards time may indicate that burghal status was g~nuinelv acquire in his reign 17 BM MS Cotto Vesp E f48b It has not been archaeologicallv ilentified 18 Berks Bucks anel Oxon Archaeol In xiii 8middot16 It is impossible to draw conclusions from the name Forbury for its first appearance is much later I Actually nearer west than south if the rivers were joined h- a direct lin 20 B M Harl MS 1708 f 189 21 C Kerry A History of the Municipal Church of St Lmrcnce lcllding (1883) 9middot10 This church on its first mention is described as a chapel but from the early 13th

century as a church

2

Copyright text

CONTENTS

Page

The Site and Situation 1

The Origins of the Borough 1-3

The Medieval Borough and the Abbey 3-6

The Post~Medieval Town 6-7

The Eighteenth~century Town 7-9

Maps and Plans Scale

The Situation of Reading I J50000

The Site I 5000

Reading c 1800 with major features in late medieval times 1 2500

Civil War Defences 1 5000

Reading c 1800 with major features in late medieval times 1 5000

Parishes and Wards in the 18th Century 1 5000

Medieval Street Names 1 5000

Copyright text

READING The historic town of Reading lay on the river Kennet near its junction with the river Thames but it was not until

the mid~19th century that the town proper extended as far as the Thames The reason for this is entirely a question of land drainage for the belt of well~drained grael that invited early settlement extends east and west from the Kennet and is separated from the Thames by a low~lying area formerly swampy in parts and very liable to flooding This gravel ridge on which original Reading stood rises some thirty feet above the Thames and is divided into two by the Kennet the eastern part of the ridge being some two miles long and half a mile wide the western the same length but only half the width The gravel itself is over twelve feet thick and rests on chalk and historic Reading occupied the central part of the ridge straddling the Kennet where the gap in the gravel is at its narrowest But although Reading was a town of the Kennet rather than of the Thames it was the Thames that provided communication by water towards the centre of the kingdom in the direction of Wallingford and Oxford and outward downstream to London The Kennet however drew on a rich agricultural and wool~producing area extending west towards Newbury and the Downs and Reading astride its lowest reaches was in a markedly favourable position for this local trade Equally advantageous were the land routes Although no major Roman road came near its site-the nearest was the Devils Highway running from London to Silchester--it formed in post~Roman times a nodal point at the crossing of two lines of communication one running east~west from London to Bath and Bristol and one running north~south from the Midlands and Oxford to Winchester and Southampton Both these roads crossed water obstacles in or near Reading for a short distance they ran together to cross the various branches of the Kennet near the town centre and the one running north~south crossed the Thames at Caversham just beside the boundary of the manor of Reading

The Origins of the Borough Evidence for occupation in and around the site of Reading can be found from Palaeolithic times onward although

it is not until the Mesolithic period that river lines and leels approximated to those of later times No prehistoric sites hae been identified in the area of the medieval borough but this would seem to be the result of subsequent building activity in both its destruction and its impediment to excavation for surrounding terrain similar to that within Reading has given considerable eidence of sites The Kennet valley has abundant Mesolithic ones1 in the gravel on either side of the borough are Neolithic ones~ also on the gravel was a possible Bronze~age barrow3 and an early Iron~age site was identified but largely unexcaated to the north of the Kennet at Southcote Pottery veapons brooches and other remains of these times are found in quantity in the River Thames4 and in the expanded borough area of modern times

The evidence so far points to a long tradition of occupation in the area but no marked concentration of population and this pattern would appear to continue through the time of Roman Britain The district is rich in Romano~British objects so much so that eighteenth~century antiquarianism combined with local pride to identify Reading with Calleva Atrebatumo Concentrations of sherds hae been found at Tilehurst Southcote Emmer Green in the Market Place and just to the east of the junction of Thames and Kennet a Romano~British cemetery has been found to the east of this and individual sherds and coins have been found scattered over the whole area6 bull The remains suggest persons living at a fairly modest standard in scattered settlements It is possible that good river communications had produced some centre for local trade but the proximity of the important cantonal capital of Silchester and the avoidance of the area by major roads were economic factors that could not be overcome The area can at the most have been a pagus a rural unit of local government vithin the civitas of the Atrebates

The first written mention of Reading occurs under the year 870 and the Reading then mentioned is if a small at least an established community What brought that community into being however can only be surmised The Teutonic arrivals of the 5th century were more concerned with mOement by river than their predecessors had been and in these complicated years Silchester had little to recommend it from any point of view and speedily fell out of habitation ceasing to be a hub of communications The one time main road from Winchester (Venta Belgarum) and the south to Silchester now went east of it to Basing and thence north to Reading one branch continuing over the hills to Goring others to Henley and Oxford The main road from London to the west now ran north of Silchester passing through Sonning and Reading and down the line of the Kennet valley until it rejoined the line of the former road near Speen Although this nev road pattern indicates the network of settlement it does not contribute to solving the important problem of when that settlement was established Local place~names ending in ~ingas of which only some have been mentioned are generally compounded with archaic personal names and would not conflict with the early 6th~century date suggested by archaeology and probability Archaeologically northern Berkshire and the upper Thames valley are areas of very early Teutonic settlement beginning around the middle of the 5th century Expansion would be into the agriculturally inviting land towards the south rather than into the inhospitable Chiltern area or into the British west and by the mid~6th century the Thames alley seems to have been sufficiently organized to produce the dynasty that ruled later 6th~century Wessex~ But the area to become Berkshire was debateable territory It was the meeting~point of new~comers from the north~east along the age~old Icknield Way that crossed

The following special abbreviation has been used BA] Berkshire Archaeologic-al Journal Grateful acknowledgement is made for the helpful criticisms received from Dr B R Kemp and -1r D ORourke of Redding University and Mr R Kneebone Reading Borough Archidst

1 The only one fully excaated to date is a rich site at Thatcham PlOc-etdings of the Prehistoric Society xxviii 329middot70 2 The most prominent are ring ditches at Englefield and rectangles at Sonning In each case one feature has been cxcaated that at [ngleneld is unpublished that at

Sonning is in BA] lxi 4middot19 bull Marshalls Hill Grosvenor Road largely leelled 1909 BAJ xxxi 72 xxxvi 121middot5 4 The Thames Conservancy Collection is in Reading Museum bull Wallingford also claimed this distinction but the nineteenthmiddotcentury discOerv of the inscription once on the fOrlllll positielv identined Silchester as Callem Atrtbatlilll 8 All information on published and unpublished Romano-British sites and nnds in Reading is contained in an unpublished cardmiddotindex in Reading Museum D P Kirby Problems of Early West Saxon History EHR lxxx lQ-19

1 Hi

Copyright text

READING

the Thames at the Goring Gap of those coming up the Thames and of those penetrating from the south and for many years it was in dispute between Wessex and the great midland kingdom of Mercia It did not finally become part of the former until the reign of Ethelwulf in the 9th century and as late as 870 its ealdorman seems to have been of Mercian extractions Meanwhile dynastic change and possibly Mercian pressure had moved the centre of gravity of Wessex towards the south and Winchester became the main urban focus of the kingdom

The earliest information for Reading is thus contained in its name which is one of the cluster of ingas names associated in this case with the eponymous figure of Reada9 bull The area occupied by the group the Readingas which perpetuated his name can only be deduced from later eddence but would appear to have been about seven miles across with the Thames as one boundarylO Material evidence surviving from this period is very slight there was a small cemetery to the east of the townll and one known unequivocal sherd has been found near the towns historic centre But the fact that the group name became attached to this settlement proves both its existence and its local importance The two significant occasions before 1066 on which Reading is mentioned are both in connexion with the Danes In 870 the Great Army settled there for a year Reading on this occasion is described as a royal vill and the Danes are said to have built a rampart from Thames to Kennet on the righthand side of the vill it was the entrance to this rampart that king Ethelred and his brother Alfred unsuccessfully assaultedlc bull No trace of the ditch that inevitably accompanied this rampart has ever been observed nor has evidence from the second known Danish isit in the winter of 1006 when Reading would seem to have been burntl3

What events in the years before 870 had resulted in Reading becoming a royal vill are unknown and equally dark are the happenings between 870 and 1066 that advanced Reading to the status of a borough In later centuries when Reading men were in dispute with the abbey they based their claim to burghal status on immemorial right longe byfore or ever the monastery of Rading was founded14 But they failed to produce the best evidence for this which comes from Domesday Book where the Borough of Reading (Burgus de Racling) is described apart from the manorY Supporting evidence comes from two coins certainly minted at Reading16 and from the name of the pasture held by the burgesses the Portmanbrook This latter would seem to bear out the supposition that Reading owed its rise at least in part to being a trading and market centre-a port- and there is no e-idence for either the line or even the existence of defences in the late Saxon period In 1086 it was markedly less important than Wallingford the then county town

A picture of the physicallayout of the town before the foundation of the abbey in 1131 has to rest on grounds of presumption and later evidence and it is ery possible that the Danish activities had resulted in change The gravel ridge and proximity to the Kennet are two basic factors a third is the postRoman road changes The northerly junction of the two important throughroads lay on the gravel where Castle Street leads out of St Marys Butts and any small settlement concerned with trade and sen-ice industries must have clustered round this point possibly with an extension along the gravel to its nearest approach to the Kennet at High Bridge The eidence for this is that part of the road to Winchester near Seven Bridges was formerly known as Old Street and the present St Marys Butts as the Old Market and the name Minster Street in this same area shows either a religious house or a group of clergy of Old English times The complicating factors are the later tradition that the chapel of St Mary Magdalen at the east end of the town was once a parish churchli and the discovery of a cemetery identified as christian Saxon in the Forbury close by the later abbey church 18 As there is no report of the destruction of town property in the early 12th century to make way for the abbey it would seem that any settlement in this eastern part would have belonged to a much older phase of the towns history a phase when defence took precedence over commerce for the angle formed by the junction of Thames and Kennet needed defence on but one side These defensive possibilities were utilized by the Danes in 8701 and any settlement within the angle would hae been enclosed within their camp The only evidence is that already mentioned that the Danish defenshe line was built on the righthand side (dextrali parte) of the vill an expression that can also mean on the south side 19 The settlement would thus be within the fortification but as the line of the Danish defences is conjectural and on any military reasoning must have included at least part of the builtup area of later centuries occupation of this eastern area remains speculative An interesting implication of this Danish activity is that a break of a year or so occurred in the civilian occupation of the site But by the early 12th century there is no unequivocal evidence showing even ecclesiastical occupation in this eastern part and the one church then mentioned as existing in the town was St Maryso on the west and this must be the solitary church mentioned although not by name in Domesday Book The two other churches St Giless in the south St Laurences in the north are first mentioned late in the twelfth century but the latter contains traces of Norman work and there may have been an earlier chapel on or near its site~1 Whether one church would have sufficed for the spiritual needs of the population in 1086 is ery dubious for the fact that manor and borough came under the same parochial organization considerably increased the number of parishioners

Domesday information valuable as it is ghes but the vaguest picture of the borough of Reading in 1086 The

Thl Chronicle of lEtheweard ed A Campbell 37 9 Ekwall (Dictionary of English Place-Names) suggests that it is a by-name formed from read (red)

10 Later rural deaneries often as here gh-e an indication of early settlement areas 11 Berks Bucks and Oxon Archaeol Jnl xiii 7middotS Assers Life of Alfred ed Y H Stevenson 27middot8 Anglo-Saxon Chronlcle ed D Vhitclock 46-7 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ed Yhitelock 8t1 where it is said the Danes obsen-ed their ancient custom lighting their beacons as they went BAJ lxi 53 In 1253 thev claimed their liberties were granted bv King Edard (the Confessor) but failed to produce a charter C Coates History and Antiquities of

the Borough of Reading (1802) 50 15 VCH Berks i 334 16 British Numismanc Journal xxx 705 xxxi 161middot2 The abbey later had minting rights but these coins c 1047 long predate the abbey This date and the appeal back

to King Edwards time may indicate that burghal status was g~nuinelv acquire in his reign 17 BM MS Cotto Vesp E f48b It has not been archaeologicallv ilentified 18 Berks Bucks anel Oxon Archaeol In xiii 8middot16 It is impossible to draw conclusions from the name Forbury for its first appearance is much later I Actually nearer west than south if the rivers were joined h- a direct lin 20 B M Harl MS 1708 f 189 21 C Kerry A History of the Municipal Church of St Lmrcnce lcllding (1883) 9middot10 This church on its first mention is described as a chapel but from the early 13th

century as a church

2

Copyright text

READING The historic town of Reading lay on the river Kennet near its junction with the river Thames but it was not until

the mid~19th century that the town proper extended as far as the Thames The reason for this is entirely a question of land drainage for the belt of well~drained grael that invited early settlement extends east and west from the Kennet and is separated from the Thames by a low~lying area formerly swampy in parts and very liable to flooding This gravel ridge on which original Reading stood rises some thirty feet above the Thames and is divided into two by the Kennet the eastern part of the ridge being some two miles long and half a mile wide the western the same length but only half the width The gravel itself is over twelve feet thick and rests on chalk and historic Reading occupied the central part of the ridge straddling the Kennet where the gap in the gravel is at its narrowest But although Reading was a town of the Kennet rather than of the Thames it was the Thames that provided communication by water towards the centre of the kingdom in the direction of Wallingford and Oxford and outward downstream to London The Kennet however drew on a rich agricultural and wool~producing area extending west towards Newbury and the Downs and Reading astride its lowest reaches was in a markedly favourable position for this local trade Equally advantageous were the land routes Although no major Roman road came near its site-the nearest was the Devils Highway running from London to Silchester--it formed in post~Roman times a nodal point at the crossing of two lines of communication one running east~west from London to Bath and Bristol and one running north~south from the Midlands and Oxford to Winchester and Southampton Both these roads crossed water obstacles in or near Reading for a short distance they ran together to cross the various branches of the Kennet near the town centre and the one running north~south crossed the Thames at Caversham just beside the boundary of the manor of Reading

The Origins of the Borough Evidence for occupation in and around the site of Reading can be found from Palaeolithic times onward although

it is not until the Mesolithic period that river lines and leels approximated to those of later times No prehistoric sites hae been identified in the area of the medieval borough but this would seem to be the result of subsequent building activity in both its destruction and its impediment to excavation for surrounding terrain similar to that within Reading has given considerable eidence of sites The Kennet valley has abundant Mesolithic ones1 in the gravel on either side of the borough are Neolithic ones~ also on the gravel was a possible Bronze~age barrow3 and an early Iron~age site was identified but largely unexcaated to the north of the Kennet at Southcote Pottery veapons brooches and other remains of these times are found in quantity in the River Thames4 and in the expanded borough area of modern times

The evidence so far points to a long tradition of occupation in the area but no marked concentration of population and this pattern would appear to continue through the time of Roman Britain The district is rich in Romano~British objects so much so that eighteenth~century antiquarianism combined with local pride to identify Reading with Calleva Atrebatumo Concentrations of sherds hae been found at Tilehurst Southcote Emmer Green in the Market Place and just to the east of the junction of Thames and Kennet a Romano~British cemetery has been found to the east of this and individual sherds and coins have been found scattered over the whole area6 bull The remains suggest persons living at a fairly modest standard in scattered settlements It is possible that good river communications had produced some centre for local trade but the proximity of the important cantonal capital of Silchester and the avoidance of the area by major roads were economic factors that could not be overcome The area can at the most have been a pagus a rural unit of local government vithin the civitas of the Atrebates

The first written mention of Reading occurs under the year 870 and the Reading then mentioned is if a small at least an established community What brought that community into being however can only be surmised The Teutonic arrivals of the 5th century were more concerned with mOement by river than their predecessors had been and in these complicated years Silchester had little to recommend it from any point of view and speedily fell out of habitation ceasing to be a hub of communications The one time main road from Winchester (Venta Belgarum) and the south to Silchester now went east of it to Basing and thence north to Reading one branch continuing over the hills to Goring others to Henley and Oxford The main road from London to the west now ran north of Silchester passing through Sonning and Reading and down the line of the Kennet valley until it rejoined the line of the former road near Speen Although this nev road pattern indicates the network of settlement it does not contribute to solving the important problem of when that settlement was established Local place~names ending in ~ingas of which only some have been mentioned are generally compounded with archaic personal names and would not conflict with the early 6th~century date suggested by archaeology and probability Archaeologically northern Berkshire and the upper Thames valley are areas of very early Teutonic settlement beginning around the middle of the 5th century Expansion would be into the agriculturally inviting land towards the south rather than into the inhospitable Chiltern area or into the British west and by the mid~6th century the Thames alley seems to have been sufficiently organized to produce the dynasty that ruled later 6th~century Wessex~ But the area to become Berkshire was debateable territory It was the meeting~point of new~comers from the north~east along the age~old Icknield Way that crossed

The following special abbreviation has been used BA] Berkshire Archaeologic-al Journal Grateful acknowledgement is made for the helpful criticisms received from Dr B R Kemp and -1r D ORourke of Redding University and Mr R Kneebone Reading Borough Archidst

1 The only one fully excaated to date is a rich site at Thatcham PlOc-etdings of the Prehistoric Society xxviii 329middot70 2 The most prominent are ring ditches at Englefield and rectangles at Sonning In each case one feature has been cxcaated that at [ngleneld is unpublished that at

Sonning is in BA] lxi 4middot19 bull Marshalls Hill Grosvenor Road largely leelled 1909 BAJ xxxi 72 xxxvi 121middot5 4 The Thames Conservancy Collection is in Reading Museum bull Wallingford also claimed this distinction but the nineteenthmiddotcentury discOerv of the inscription once on the fOrlllll positielv identined Silchester as Callem Atrtbatlilll 8 All information on published and unpublished Romano-British sites and nnds in Reading is contained in an unpublished cardmiddotindex in Reading Museum D P Kirby Problems of Early West Saxon History EHR lxxx lQ-19

1 Hi

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READING

the Thames at the Goring Gap of those coming up the Thames and of those penetrating from the south and for many years it was in dispute between Wessex and the great midland kingdom of Mercia It did not finally become part of the former until the reign of Ethelwulf in the 9th century and as late as 870 its ealdorman seems to have been of Mercian extractions Meanwhile dynastic change and possibly Mercian pressure had moved the centre of gravity of Wessex towards the south and Winchester became the main urban focus of the kingdom

The earliest information for Reading is thus contained in its name which is one of the cluster of ingas names associated in this case with the eponymous figure of Reada9 bull The area occupied by the group the Readingas which perpetuated his name can only be deduced from later eddence but would appear to have been about seven miles across with the Thames as one boundarylO Material evidence surviving from this period is very slight there was a small cemetery to the east of the townll and one known unequivocal sherd has been found near the towns historic centre But the fact that the group name became attached to this settlement proves both its existence and its local importance The two significant occasions before 1066 on which Reading is mentioned are both in connexion with the Danes In 870 the Great Army settled there for a year Reading on this occasion is described as a royal vill and the Danes are said to have built a rampart from Thames to Kennet on the righthand side of the vill it was the entrance to this rampart that king Ethelred and his brother Alfred unsuccessfully assaultedlc bull No trace of the ditch that inevitably accompanied this rampart has ever been observed nor has evidence from the second known Danish isit in the winter of 1006 when Reading would seem to have been burntl3

What events in the years before 870 had resulted in Reading becoming a royal vill are unknown and equally dark are the happenings between 870 and 1066 that advanced Reading to the status of a borough In later centuries when Reading men were in dispute with the abbey they based their claim to burghal status on immemorial right longe byfore or ever the monastery of Rading was founded14 But they failed to produce the best evidence for this which comes from Domesday Book where the Borough of Reading (Burgus de Racling) is described apart from the manorY Supporting evidence comes from two coins certainly minted at Reading16 and from the name of the pasture held by the burgesses the Portmanbrook This latter would seem to bear out the supposition that Reading owed its rise at least in part to being a trading and market centre-a port- and there is no e-idence for either the line or even the existence of defences in the late Saxon period In 1086 it was markedly less important than Wallingford the then county town

A picture of the physicallayout of the town before the foundation of the abbey in 1131 has to rest on grounds of presumption and later evidence and it is ery possible that the Danish activities had resulted in change The gravel ridge and proximity to the Kennet are two basic factors a third is the postRoman road changes The northerly junction of the two important throughroads lay on the gravel where Castle Street leads out of St Marys Butts and any small settlement concerned with trade and sen-ice industries must have clustered round this point possibly with an extension along the gravel to its nearest approach to the Kennet at High Bridge The eidence for this is that part of the road to Winchester near Seven Bridges was formerly known as Old Street and the present St Marys Butts as the Old Market and the name Minster Street in this same area shows either a religious house or a group of clergy of Old English times The complicating factors are the later tradition that the chapel of St Mary Magdalen at the east end of the town was once a parish churchli and the discovery of a cemetery identified as christian Saxon in the Forbury close by the later abbey church 18 As there is no report of the destruction of town property in the early 12th century to make way for the abbey it would seem that any settlement in this eastern part would have belonged to a much older phase of the towns history a phase when defence took precedence over commerce for the angle formed by the junction of Thames and Kennet needed defence on but one side These defensive possibilities were utilized by the Danes in 8701 and any settlement within the angle would hae been enclosed within their camp The only evidence is that already mentioned that the Danish defenshe line was built on the righthand side (dextrali parte) of the vill an expression that can also mean on the south side 19 The settlement would thus be within the fortification but as the line of the Danish defences is conjectural and on any military reasoning must have included at least part of the builtup area of later centuries occupation of this eastern area remains speculative An interesting implication of this Danish activity is that a break of a year or so occurred in the civilian occupation of the site But by the early 12th century there is no unequivocal evidence showing even ecclesiastical occupation in this eastern part and the one church then mentioned as existing in the town was St Maryso on the west and this must be the solitary church mentioned although not by name in Domesday Book The two other churches St Giless in the south St Laurences in the north are first mentioned late in the twelfth century but the latter contains traces of Norman work and there may have been an earlier chapel on or near its site~1 Whether one church would have sufficed for the spiritual needs of the population in 1086 is ery dubious for the fact that manor and borough came under the same parochial organization considerably increased the number of parishioners

Domesday information valuable as it is ghes but the vaguest picture of the borough of Reading in 1086 The

Thl Chronicle of lEtheweard ed A Campbell 37 9 Ekwall (Dictionary of English Place-Names) suggests that it is a by-name formed from read (red)

10 Later rural deaneries often as here gh-e an indication of early settlement areas 11 Berks Bucks and Oxon Archaeol Jnl xiii 7middotS Assers Life of Alfred ed Y H Stevenson 27middot8 Anglo-Saxon Chronlcle ed D Vhitclock 46-7 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ed Yhitelock 8t1 where it is said the Danes obsen-ed their ancient custom lighting their beacons as they went BAJ lxi 53 In 1253 thev claimed their liberties were granted bv King Edard (the Confessor) but failed to produce a charter C Coates History and Antiquities of

the Borough of Reading (1802) 50 15 VCH Berks i 334 16 British Numismanc Journal xxx 705 xxxi 161middot2 The abbey later had minting rights but these coins c 1047 long predate the abbey This date and the appeal back

to King Edwards time may indicate that burghal status was g~nuinelv acquire in his reign 17 BM MS Cotto Vesp E f48b It has not been archaeologicallv ilentified 18 Berks Bucks anel Oxon Archaeol In xiii 8middot16 It is impossible to draw conclusions from the name Forbury for its first appearance is much later I Actually nearer west than south if the rivers were joined h- a direct lin 20 B M Harl MS 1708 f 189 21 C Kerry A History of the Municipal Church of St Lmrcnce lcllding (1883) 9middot10 This church on its first mention is described as a chapel but from the early 13th

century as a church

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the Thames at the Goring Gap of those coming up the Thames and of those penetrating from the south and for many years it was in dispute between Wessex and the great midland kingdom of Mercia It did not finally become part of the former until the reign of Ethelwulf in the 9th century and as late as 870 its ealdorman seems to have been of Mercian extractions Meanwhile dynastic change and possibly Mercian pressure had moved the centre of gravity of Wessex towards the south and Winchester became the main urban focus of the kingdom

The earliest information for Reading is thus contained in its name which is one of the cluster of ingas names associated in this case with the eponymous figure of Reada9 bull The area occupied by the group the Readingas which perpetuated his name can only be deduced from later eddence but would appear to have been about seven miles across with the Thames as one boundarylO Material evidence surviving from this period is very slight there was a small cemetery to the east of the townll and one known unequivocal sherd has been found near the towns historic centre But the fact that the group name became attached to this settlement proves both its existence and its local importance The two significant occasions before 1066 on which Reading is mentioned are both in connexion with the Danes In 870 the Great Army settled there for a year Reading on this occasion is described as a royal vill and the Danes are said to have built a rampart from Thames to Kennet on the righthand side of the vill it was the entrance to this rampart that king Ethelred and his brother Alfred unsuccessfully assaultedlc bull No trace of the ditch that inevitably accompanied this rampart has ever been observed nor has evidence from the second known Danish isit in the winter of 1006 when Reading would seem to have been burntl3

What events in the years before 870 had resulted in Reading becoming a royal vill are unknown and equally dark are the happenings between 870 and 1066 that advanced Reading to the status of a borough In later centuries when Reading men were in dispute with the abbey they based their claim to burghal status on immemorial right longe byfore or ever the monastery of Rading was founded14 But they failed to produce the best evidence for this which comes from Domesday Book where the Borough of Reading (Burgus de Racling) is described apart from the manorY Supporting evidence comes from two coins certainly minted at Reading16 and from the name of the pasture held by the burgesses the Portmanbrook This latter would seem to bear out the supposition that Reading owed its rise at least in part to being a trading and market centre-a port- and there is no e-idence for either the line or even the existence of defences in the late Saxon period In 1086 it was markedly less important than Wallingford the then county town

A picture of the physicallayout of the town before the foundation of the abbey in 1131 has to rest on grounds of presumption and later evidence and it is ery possible that the Danish activities had resulted in change The gravel ridge and proximity to the Kennet are two basic factors a third is the postRoman road changes The northerly junction of the two important throughroads lay on the gravel where Castle Street leads out of St Marys Butts and any small settlement concerned with trade and sen-ice industries must have clustered round this point possibly with an extension along the gravel to its nearest approach to the Kennet at High Bridge The eidence for this is that part of the road to Winchester near Seven Bridges was formerly known as Old Street and the present St Marys Butts as the Old Market and the name Minster Street in this same area shows either a religious house or a group of clergy of Old English times The complicating factors are the later tradition that the chapel of St Mary Magdalen at the east end of the town was once a parish churchli and the discovery of a cemetery identified as christian Saxon in the Forbury close by the later abbey church 18 As there is no report of the destruction of town property in the early 12th century to make way for the abbey it would seem that any settlement in this eastern part would have belonged to a much older phase of the towns history a phase when defence took precedence over commerce for the angle formed by the junction of Thames and Kennet needed defence on but one side These defensive possibilities were utilized by the Danes in 8701 and any settlement within the angle would hae been enclosed within their camp The only evidence is that already mentioned that the Danish defenshe line was built on the righthand side (dextrali parte) of the vill an expression that can also mean on the south side 19 The settlement would thus be within the fortification but as the line of the Danish defences is conjectural and on any military reasoning must have included at least part of the builtup area of later centuries occupation of this eastern area remains speculative An interesting implication of this Danish activity is that a break of a year or so occurred in the civilian occupation of the site But by the early 12th century there is no unequivocal evidence showing even ecclesiastical occupation in this eastern part and the one church then mentioned as existing in the town was St Maryso on the west and this must be the solitary church mentioned although not by name in Domesday Book The two other churches St Giless in the south St Laurences in the north are first mentioned late in the twelfth century but the latter contains traces of Norman work and there may have been an earlier chapel on or near its site~1 Whether one church would have sufficed for the spiritual needs of the population in 1086 is ery dubious for the fact that manor and borough came under the same parochial organization considerably increased the number of parishioners

Domesday information valuable as it is ghes but the vaguest picture of the borough of Reading in 1086 The

Thl Chronicle of lEtheweard ed A Campbell 37 9 Ekwall (Dictionary of English Place-Names) suggests that it is a by-name formed from read (red)

10 Later rural deaneries often as here gh-e an indication of early settlement areas 11 Berks Bucks and Oxon Archaeol Jnl xiii 7middotS Assers Life of Alfred ed Y H Stevenson 27middot8 Anglo-Saxon Chronlcle ed D Vhitclock 46-7 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ed Yhitelock 8t1 where it is said the Danes obsen-ed their ancient custom lighting their beacons as they went BAJ lxi 53 In 1253 thev claimed their liberties were granted bv King Edard (the Confessor) but failed to produce a charter C Coates History and Antiquities of

the Borough of Reading (1802) 50 15 VCH Berks i 334 16 British Numismanc Journal xxx 705 xxxi 161middot2 The abbey later had minting rights but these coins c 1047 long predate the abbey This date and the appeal back

to King Edwards time may indicate that burghal status was g~nuinelv acquire in his reign 17 BM MS Cotto Vesp E f48b It has not been archaeologicallv ilentified 18 Berks Bucks anel Oxon Archaeol In xiii 8middot16 It is impossible to draw conclusions from the name Forbury for its first appearance is much later I Actually nearer west than south if the rivers were joined h- a direct lin 20 B M Harl MS 1708 f 189 21 C Kerry A History of the Municipal Church of St Lmrcnce lcllding (1883) 9middot10 This church on its first mention is described as a chapel but from the early 13th

century as a church

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main entry mentions 28 plots (hagas) from which pound4 4S should have been but pound5 was actually received as customary payment (pro omnibus consuetudinibus) The increased payment may represent Norman exaction but it may represent a modest rise in numbers of inhabitants or in prosperity and certainly there is no mention of houses destroyed or waste How many paid cannot be calculated for a plot could well contain more than one house What elements made up the customary payment are not described but in the 12th century there is mention of a housetax (heuscire) and a tradingtax (chepyngavdl) figures throughout the Medieval period and into Tudor times 22 In addition to these plots was the one held by a powerful Norman baron Henry de Ferrers together with half a virgate of land containing four acres of meadow This estate had been held by Godric the Sheriff for the entertainment of official guests (ad hospitium) and Henry held it for the same purpose This would seem to be the first recorded indication of Readings role as a stoppingplace on the main route from London to the west a point also noted by a contemporary of Henry I in connexion with Henrys founding of the abbey23 A further plot held by Reinbald son of Bishop Peter was by 1086 in the kings hand The other mention of Reading in Domesday Book is under an estate of Battle Abbey This estate lay to the west of the town and included property there consisting of twentynine dwellings (masurcr)24 rendering 25S 8d and twelve acres of meadow It also included the church in Reading and it is possible that the area of the later parish of St Mary indicates the part of the town that lay in this Domesday estate it certainly includes the demonstrably older parts 25 Two unresolved problems exist from this time the sites of the Saxon nunnery and of the castle The existence of the nunnery is known only from later evidence that merely refers to its former existence 2

The estate belonging to Battle Abbey in 1086 had been held in 1066 by the Abbess Elveva and whether or no this lady had any connexion with the nunnery the estate she held was certainly sufficient for the endowment of a modest religious house Tradition has it that St Marys church stands on its site and as already said the name of the ad joining Minster Street suggests a religious house or collegiate church of Old English times But as St Marys was certainly parochial in the early 12th century and presumably so in 1086 the nunnery must have gone possibly it did not survive the Danish attack of 1006 The only genuine evidence for the castle is in the names Castle Street and Castle Hill2 These lead to the higher ground to the west of Reading and continue west as the Bath Road It is mili tarily very probable that William of Normandy in 1066 moving south and west of the Thames until his crossing at Wallingford would endeavour to control major routes to the west while he concentrated on securing London a situation that would no longer apply once he had the west country under control No certain trace of this castle has been located and the one built by king Stephen against right and justice in the grounds of Reading Abbey in 1150 seems to have been a creation de novo in any case it was destroyed in 115228

The Medieval Borough and the Abbey The foundation of the abbey was a major event in the history of the borough Projected by Henry I in 1121 as a

house of Black monks the abbey receied its foundation charter in 1125 and completion of the original building programme was marked by the consecration of the abbey church by Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1164 In size and wealth it ranked high among the major abbeys of the kingdom and its very extensive endowment included the borough manor and hundred of Reading The buildings occupied the eastern end of the gravel patch on which the town stood and there is no evidence that any quantity of existing buildings had to be cleared to make way for the new The walls of the abbey buildings consisted of a core of flintinmortar faced with stone blocks and the whole abbey complex on its site of some 30 acres was surrounded by a boundary wall of the same construction against the west part of which shops might in later centuries be built under licence 29 Outside the boundary wall lay the abbots wharf-distinct from the town wharf-on the abbey side of the Kennet and to the north the Abbots Mead known after the dissolution of the monastery as Kings Meadow extended over the marshy approaches to the Thames Grants to the abbey by its founder and later rulers affected the tmvn in two ways Firstly the townfolk now had a resident lord a lord who held courts for his men and dispensed justice and who appointed one or more reeves-later bailiffs-to control the town But secondly the grant of exemption from tolls and other charges throughout the land applied to all men on the abbey lands and the abbot was constantly on the watch to see that this was not infringed But more valuable than this were the fairs great occasions under royal protection when traders and customers could come from all parts without any of the normal restrictions on buying and selling Henry I granted one to be held at the feast of St Laurence (10 August) Henry II another at the feast of St James (25 July) and John yet another at the feast of St Philip and St James (1 May) and each held yearly was of four days duration

Relations between abbey and borough were complex Little is known until the mid13th century when within the space of a decade 124454 there occurred oppression by abbey servants against townspeople obstruction by towns people of abbey officials and a claim by the town for its liberties granted before the founding of the abbey the purchase from the king for irao by the townspeople of a charter of liberties the annulling of this on the abbots petition the obtaining of a charter of liberties from the king by the guild merchant the thwarting of its provisions by the abbot and the final concord of February 1254 between guild and abbeylll As this last document governed relations

BM 11S Cotto Vesp E xxv passim Reading Records Diary of the Corporation cd J ~1 Guilding i passim 23 William of Malmesbury De Gestis Regwll Anglorwn (RS) edW Stubbs ii 489 2 Comparison of the two Reading entries suggests that a mamra was only a quarter as valuable as a haga To indicate this difference the terms dwelling and plot have

been used respectivey This holding by Battle Abbey in the mmor of Reading is commemorated in the names of the medieval Battle Farm and the modern Battle Ward Battle Hospital etc

The holding was acquired by Henry I for his new abbey at Reading in exchange for land elsewhere 26 BM MS Cotto Vesp E v f 17 Villiam of Malmesbury Gesta Pontitiw771 (RS) ed N E S A Hamilton 193 Liber Vitae of Newminster and Hyde (Hants Rec

Soc 1892) ed W de Gray Birch 58 27 The first known reference to Castle Street occurs in the midmiddot 13th century see note 51 Castle Hill was originally included in Castle St 28 Matthew Paris Chronica Maiora (RS) ed H Luard i 184 The Chronicle of Robert of Torigni (RS 82) ed R Howlett 174 The reason for its being built is not

clear Possibly its site is represented by the enigmatic mound in the Forbury Gardens which mound could well represent a decayed motte This mound has been variously interpreted as a feature of the Danish camp of 870 the burial mound of Jar Sidroc kUled at the battle of Ashdown in 870 or part of the Civi Var defences An alternative site for this castle has been suggested near Blakes Bridge bv the former East Gate of the abbey

29 This part later known as the Westhay Wall ran at the back of Shoemakers Row 30 BM Harl MS 1708 f 165b Close R 12513374499 The most accessible copv of the Final COrlcord is that printed bv Guilding op cit 280middot2 The royal charter

to the guild granted immunity of toll throughout England to all burgesses of Reading who were in the guilJ merchant there Not until the charter of 1487 were further privileges given

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between guild and abbey for nearly three centuries its provisions have more than passing interest The main ones were that the cornmarket should remain in its accustomed place and there should be no change in existing arrangements for buying and selling within the town the burgesses were to have their guildhall with twelve messuages and the Portmanbrook (their meadowland) at a yearly rent of half a mark the guild was to continue and each year the abbot was to appoint a guildsman acceptable to the others as a warden of the guild each burgess was to pay to the abbot a trading tax of 5d a year the socalled chepyngavell and the abbot was to receive part of the entryfines of all new guild members the warden was to hand over the key of the guildhall to the abbots representative for the court to be held there for all pleas concerning the town all amercements going to the abbot the abbot was to tallage whenever the king should tallage his demesne From this time the guild became the governing body of the town and the terms guildsman and burgess became synonymous

Occasions for friction developed thereaftee l but in general the status quo was preserved and the main reason for this would seem to have been the reluctance of either party to push matters to extremes Admittedly the abbot controlled the town the bailiffs were his officials he had some say in the election of the master of the guild and possibly in that of the constables But the guild looked after its own affairs and on occasion passed bylaws for other than guildsmen 32 the mayor33 and the burgesses were responsible for the members of parliament that Reading sent in unbroken sequence from 1295 34 the town was responsible for its share of national taxation there were no petty restrictions on townsmen and no compulsion to hae their corn ground at the abbots mil1 35 The reason for matters not going to extremes appears to 1gte uncertainty on the abbots part concerning the status of the town and disinclination on the part of the burgesses to apply excessie pressure for they formed a select group rarely reaching seventy in number and including the wealthiest in the town Such men had a vested interest in the maintenance of law and order and in retaining their position visavis the rest of the community Constant negotiation between burgesses and abbot kept most friction under control and disputes not immediately reconcilable found their way to the kings court or counci1 3ti There is no record of physical violence even in the dark days of 138I

In matters economic the coming of the abbey appears a major advantage and it may be wondered whether the guilds mid 13th century challenge to its lord was not made possible by the increased wealth fostered by the abbey But the abbey did not cause the development of Reading-the great Abbey of Abingdon never produced an important town-it rather injected wealth and employment into a community already in a potentially favourable situation And as the town outdistanced its local rials success bred success until its fairs37 and markets dominated for many miles around the commercial interests of Reading men extended from Southampton to London and men from the latter invested in property in the town3~ Opportunities of employment for the laity at the abbey were many masons appear in the 12th century as important members of the local community39 and the vast stone complex of the abbey would have needed constant maintenance there is an example of an abbey cook living in the town 40 the abbots wharf required its staff for the collection of dues and the maintenance of order41 as well as for porterage and a list of the abbots lay senants of the early 14th century by no means complete and disregarding casual labour details some thirtyseven people in a ariety of jobs 4~ and it is a fair presumption that local industry benefited But more important than the direct provision of employment was the attracting of money for Reading abbey became a major centre of pilgrimage with its imposing collection of relics of which the hand of St James took pride of place its many days of indulgence and for the connoisseur its statuary43 The tourist of these times could not move with the speed of his modern counterpart and it was the town rather than the abbey that made provision for him But important as was the tourist trade it took second place to royal visits Kings could claim at the abbey hospitality based on founders rights and expensive as it was for that institution it can have been nothing but profit to the town The founders main visit was for his solemn and wellattended funeral his grandson Henry II held important gatherings there H But it was during the crucial 13th century that there reigned a king Henry III who had a peculiar attachment for Reading abbey he frequently made three visits a year at times four or even five and a visit might be as long as a month 45 With the king there moved the apparatus of government his hunting organization and his immediate entourage to the king came petitioners of all ranks government servants and many great men lay and ecclesiastical each accompanied by his attendants The bulk of the attendants and persons of lesser rank would look to the town for sustenance and for entertainment and all would look to it for the replacement of expendible articles of everyday use Royal visits although less frequent continued and in the 15th century parliament met there three times46 These royal visits required provisions and the records of Johns reign show occasions on which the kings wines were sent to Reading against the coming of the king They also mention the giving of land worth roos to Alan of Reading vintner 47 That one of the earliest known craft guilds in Reading is that of the Vintners reflects this extraneous impetus to the towns development

However the other earliest known craft guild that of the Drapers48 reflects the towns own potentialities Its

31 Coates Reading 52) BAJ lxi 48-62 32 Corp Diary ed Guilding 18 2167 13 The name first ppears in 1300 The abbey was going through a financial crisis at this time and it is possible the burgesses somehow took advantage of its difficulties

Ahhots refused to recognize the style and continued to refer to the warden or master of the guild 34 A Aspinall et aI Parliament Through Seven Centuries Reuding and its MPs pussim 30 At some other monastic boroughs this was a major grievance The abbey owned the town mills of Reading but they were let at rent as ordinary commercial proposhy

sitions The abbev mill was concerned solely with milling for the abbey 36 Reading Corporation MSS Account Rolls 15th and early 16th centuries passim RAJ xi 48-62 Corp Diary ed Guilding 1059 117-8 121 37 See p 8 That granted on the feast of St Laurence fell into disuse probably bv the early 14th century 3 The earliest surviving references showing Londoners investing in Reading property come from the late 14th century Reading Corporation MSS deeds In 1300 and

1318 the right of Reading burgesses to freedom of toll within the city of London was recognized there Corp Diary ed Guilding 282middot3 39 Early Medieval Miscellany for D 1 Stenton (PRS -5 xxxvi) 236 40 BM Harl Charter 48 L 17 41 RAJ lxi 49-50 42 J B Hurry Reading Abbey 78 quoting BM Har MS 82 43 Hurry 01 cit 127-51 EHR iii 115-16 Haklt Society (SeT ii) cviii 56 amplt Hurry op cit 283L 4 Cal Close passim Cal Pat passim 46 Aspinall op cit 2 Rot Litt Claus (Ree Com) ii 18b 96b 182 199b 242 8 BM Har MS 1708 f 4b This guild and that of the Vintners were itl existence by the mid-13th century but how much before is unknown

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position made it an outlet of a woolproducing area and it rose steadily in importance as a place for the manufacture of cloth and leather goods In the 14th century the local cloth teule de Radingis had a more than local reputation 49

and the craft guilds of the town included the weavers fullers and shoemakers Later centuries saw the tanhouse on the Kennet opposite the town wharf and there is no reason to doubt its being there in earlier times There were fulling millsso next the cornmills in Mill Lane and many important men have their occupations given as draper fuller dyer and weaver others are described as capper shoemaker saddler hatter skinner and glover Associated with these are the butchers who formed the last of the important craft guilds and who link with those concerned vith supplying everyday needs through their shops stalls and the weekly market

The street plan was by the later tv1iddle Ages essentially that shown on the main map5l The centre of gravity had come to rest between the old attraction of the road junctions and the new one of the abbey To the west of the wooden High Bridge and between two arms of the Kennet was the Guildhall connected by a lanes2 to Minster Street on the east of High Bridge lay first the town wharf with the woolbeam-an area that saw considerable building activity in the early Tudor period53-then the abbots wharf to the south the broad expanse of London Street rose to its junction with the road from London known otherwise as Sunning Lane from which ran the track leading to the town and abbey Orts to the north extended the narrow High Street running past the south gate of the abbey and into the Market Place where on the east the properties in Shoemakers Row backed on the abbeys west wall At the far end of the Market Place was the vealthy church of St Laurence reroofed in 141O5~ and by it was the west gate of the abbey the entrance for pilgrims and visitors to the great abbey church of otfwhite stone that dominated over all other buildings New Street ran westward from St Laurences and at the far end just inside the borough limits was the establishment of the Grey Friars with their orchard behind it 55 The development of New Street is another example of the pull of the abbey but for some time rents there were lower than in the central part of the town The west end of New Street faced Towns End and beyond this the fields of Battle manor to the north the road to Oxford56

led through fields to the bridge adorned with its chapel at Caversham having the meadow of the burgesses the Portmanbrook to the right of the road and the abbots meadow adjoining it on the east to the south the same road coming from Southampton and Vinchester slowly dropped in height from its junction with Sider Street7 down towards Seven Bridges58 passing on its way the church of St Giles The area between Towns End and Seven Bridges was a busy one with lateral roads joining the main through road Coming in from the east was Broad Street at the far end of which lay the narrow alleys of Fisher Rowand Butcher Row with the Shambles or Slaying House near at hand and Gutter Lane59 connecting them with New Street Sun Lane and Back Lane continued the lines of these alleys almost to High StreetliO and at the junction of Butcher Rowand Minster Street lay the Drapery on the west and Tothill with its ironworks on the east A little further to the south and facing on the Old Market was St Marys church the oldest known church in Reading with Minster Street to the south of it At the corner of Minster Street and the Old Market6l stood from the late 15th century the wellendowed and pleasandooking almshouses founded by John Leche or John aLarder a Reading man who served in the royal household Opposite St Marys lay Lorimer Lane or the Lormery a name corrupted by Tudor times to Lurkemer or Lurkman Lane62 Opposite Minster Street lay the busiest corner in the town where Castle Street began the main road to the west and just to the south of Seven Bridges was Mill Lane with the corn and fullingmills drawing their power from the Kennet For police and taxation purposes the borough was divided into five wards Old63 New High Minster and London The three parishes of the town-St Laurence St Mary St Giles-extended over the manor as well as Oer the borough the abbey having the patronage of all three churches

The picture of Reading at this time is of an expanding and prosperous community wellgoverned by the standards of the times and with no obvious impediment to development but with its leading men ambitious for more power within the borough it was possessed of ample spiritual provision and was in touch with the wider world There were few of its leading men who did not possess at least modest estates outside the town and it had long replaced Wallingford as the main urban centre of Berkshire64 Its leading burgesses are found as members of parliament justices of the peace coroners assessors of taxes or wool subsidies within the county or even outside Reference has already been made to Reading merchants at Southampton and to Londoners investing in property in Reading In addition a growing number of men in government employ made Reading their headquarters and in the early Tudor period men high in royal favour were not averse to joining the ranks of the burgesses65 The 15th and early 16th centuries saw considerable rebuilding of guild property and it can be assumed that rebuilding extended into the private sphere It has been the continued prosperity of Reading at this and later times that removed even by 1800 all but slight traces

EHR xvi 502 50 The first known reference to a fullingmill here occurs in the mid-13th century BM )fS Cotto Vesp E xx f 172b 61 The streets of the town are in most cases first mentioned in the abbey cartularies Cott Vesp E v and xx A few have their first Illcntim amon the d~cjs in Rcdinn

Corporation MSS Those mentioned in the 12th and 13th centuries are Old Street (1165middot Ii) New Street (1186-1213) Vharf ([186middot1213) D~apery (1200middot25) Higl~ Street (1200-50) Old Market (1225middot50) London Street (1225-50) Lormery (122550) Corn Market (1225-50) Shoemakers Row (1225middot 75) Gutter Lan (bef 1241) Butcher Row (1250-60) Seven Bridges (1250middot75) Castle Street (1250-75) Minster Street (1250middot75) Tothill (1269middot88) Sinker Street (1275-1300) fill Lane (c1275) Fisher Row is first mentioned in 1317 Shop Row (bef 1304) represents part of later Broad Street whose name may have corne from the clearing of a block of buildings down the centre Peoples Lane near St Giless Church was later known as Church Lane Two medieval lanes Holy Water Lane off New Street md Bread Lane off London Street cannot be identified with any certainty The Guildhall is first mentioned 120516 and the new bridge of 1173middot36 is probhlv High Bridge Four crosses are mentioned as being in the borough Cornish Cross Gerards Cross Coley Cross Fair Cross (Bella Crllx)

62 Known from Tudor times as George Lane after the George Inn was built in 1507 on its cast side now remiddotnamed Yield Hall Lanc 53 Reading Corporation MSS Account Rolls 5 Kerry op cit 22 55 New Street is now Friar Street In the 13th century the abbot allowed the Grey Friars to settle but only after considerable pressure from the Crown bullbull The modern Oxford Road the westward continuation of Broad Street as known as Pangbourne Lane 7 Reputedly somiddotcalled after the sieve makers Otherwise called Synkar Street no Sihcr Street 68 This is the former Old Street Later the part north from Seven Bridges was called Vood Street now Bridge Street thc part south infll Seven Bridges was later called

Horn Street and subsequently the name Southampton Street was extended north to include this bullbull Now Cross Street The other lateral street in existence in 1800 was Union Street a narrow street reserved tojav for pedestrians The main lateral street not on an

older line is dated bv its name Queen Victoria Street 60 Sun Lane and Back Lane were demolished in 1760 Fisher Rowand Butcher Row in Victorian times 01 Now St Marys Butts In Tudor times each parish had its butts but this is the only one to survive by name 6 Literally where bits and bridles were made A later change of industry is shown in its current name Hosier Street es This replaced a former Castle Ward and may be a reversion to an older name The wards were in existence by the midmiddot 13th century B )vl Har IS 1 ~03 f 5 6 For the 14th-century subsidies Reading was assessed at f29 65 l~d Vindsor at frr 85 rrd Wallingford at flt) res 51J PRO E179) C)middot10 etc SO Examples of all these can be found in Aspinall op cit 11middot36

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of the buildings of its medieval past The number of people who lived in the town cannot be calculated with any precision but some appreciation of the growth in population between the early 14th century and the early Tudor period can be obtained from taxation assessments These suggest that in some two hundred years with the Black Death intervening the population considerably more than trebled66 Nor is it certain where the towns expanding population came from for the high mortality exacted by town life would preclude increase from its own numbers In the 13th century when many men were distinguished by location most surrounding places were represented together with others as far afield as Chichester and Banbury while the scatter of Welshmen would seem to derive from the abbeys great estate at Leominster

That certain matters needed amending emerges from a plaint to the king in 1478 that repair of the bridges was neglected by the abbot67 and the very fact that Henry Kelsall of Reading and Southampton left money for the repair of roads leading out of Reading68 suggests that they left something to be desired But the last words on this phase of the towns history can rest with an outsider it is a very auncient toun and at this tyme the best toun of al Barkshire the toune chiefly stondith by clothyng69

The PostMedieval Town The anatomy of the town had been firmly established in the preceding years and although there was much rebuilding

and prosperity before the period of the Civil Vars the street plan underwent no significant alteration Nor was there any known building expansion beyond the existing built~up area the increasing population being largely accommodated by the division of houses into tenements But the two decades following the execution in 1539 of Abbot Hugh Faringdon on his own abbey premises were difficult ones holding no real promise of the prosperity to come for not merely was Reading affected by the national stresses of internal and foreign tension debasement of the coinage inflation and heavy taxation but it had lost a major source of wealth and had acquired an indifferent lord the king Although Henry VIIIs charterdeg set up a corporation his representatives still took the profits while apparently neglecting their duties of maintaining the bridges Part of the abbey became a royal palace and its temporary tenure by the Duke of Somerset is reflected in the name of Duke Street given to the short stretch between High Bridge and Sun Lane 7l In many ways these years continued the pattern of times gone by but with the grant of Elizabeth Is comprehensive charter in September 1560 a new pattern emerged In addition to confirming former charters it declared Reading a free borough incorporate in reality fact and by name remodelled the corporation made generous financial provision through the profits of fairs markets and courts and the transfer of former religious property and extended the borough boundaries to those of the former manor of Reading It is this charter that identifies nineteen bridges by name as being in a ruinous state so that no passage can be made over the same bridges without great danger as well of our Subjects as of horses oxen and animals whatsoever a situation discouraging travellers and so contributing to the great poverty of the inhabitants72 The privileges of Elizabeth Is charter were confirmed and extended by that of Charles I gh-en at the insistence of Archbishop Laud who had been born in a house on the north side of Broad Street had an abiding affection for his home town and on his death bequeathed to it considerable charitable endowments The change in the tovns status during these years was symbolized by the decline in the abbey buildings As the town had three good parish churches there was no interest in preserving the abbey church and the temporary royal palace occupied only a small part of the complex In 1549 much lead stone and timber were removed 73 betveen 1550 and 1553 seventy and more cartloads of material were taken for the rebuilding of St Marys church74 about 1557 the knights lodgings at X1indsor were built of stone from the abbey5 Elizabeth Is charter allowed 200 loads of stone from the abbey plus timber and tiles for repair work in the town as late as 1754 stone from the abbey was used to build a bridge on the road between Henley and Wargrave 76 and unofficially the abbey became a quarry for building materials for the town and surrounding district The nave of the church of the dissolved house of the Grey Friars became the new town hall a privilege granted by the king in 1545 in return for a nominal rent on the strength of a petition that stressed the smallness and decay of the existing guildhall and the noise made by the women doing their washing in the surrounding branches of the Kennet 77

Reading during Elizabethan and early Stuart times was a prosperous and well~governed town both in its corporation and in its fie trading companies Its market vas the most important for miles around its fairs of national reputation and its prosperity based on cloth Reading is ancient and populous and inhabited chiefly by burgesses actively exercising cloth making and merchandize78 as Charles Is charter had it The greatest of the clothiers John Kendrick bequeathed money for the building of large premises where the poor could work on clothing These premises first known as the Work House but soon as the Oracle were erected in Minster Street and after 1633 all cloth made in the borough had to be brought there to be checked for fraud The other striking building of these years was the walk

bullbull umbers are as follows 1297 102 with goods worth 9S or more (Reading Corporation MS) 1322-149 with goods worth 2S or more 1332-129 with goods worth 2S or more 1525-440 with goods or annual income of 20S or more (PRO EI7973j5 7 133) A pollmiddot tax return of 1370middot80 gives 118 names (pRO EI797342) A muster roll of 1311middot12 now lost gave 276 names the great majority being armed with hatchets and knives (HMC 11th Report App Pt viii) This figure must represent at least a large majority of men of military age ithin the borough

amp BA] lxi 51 OK Kerry op cit 170 Leland Itin ed L ToulminmiddotSmith i 109 Ill 70 Previous charters had been granted to the guild merchant and those known are 1252 1344 1378 1426 1486 Later charters granted to the borough are

1542 (the one mentioned here) 1547 1559 1604 1638 Keepers of the Liberties of England 1662 1686 1830 1835 All are printed in translation where need be in Reading Churters Acts uncl Ordinunces ed C Fleetwood Pritchard

71 King Street after 1760 7 Reading Charters ed C F Pritchard 34middot5 The printed version of Elizabeth ls charter is 38 pages long 73 BA] xxxix 107middot44 from PRO Ministers Accts Ed VI Divers Counties Bundle 774 7( The Churchwardcm Accounts of the Parish of it Mans Reading 1550middot1662 transcribed by F and A Garry 4middot23 75 Annals of Windso) ed R R Tighe and] E Davis i 606 76 Hurry op cit 142 77 VCH Berks iv 91 quoting BM MS Cotto Cleop E iv t 225 It remained there until the late 16th century and was then transferred to a new building on the old

site This later became a dwelling house and was finally demolished c1930 In 1786 a new town hall was built at the east end of Friar Street and now forms part of the municipal buildings as standing in 1969 The house of the Grey Friars became a bridewell and then a prison but was restored to ecclesiastical use in the midmiddot 19th century

78 Reading Charters ed C F Pritchard 54

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built on the south side of St Laurences church It was paid for jointly by Mr Blagrave of Southcote and the corpora tion and was known as Blagraves Piazza79 Some private dwellings of architectural merit were erected at this time but many houses had thatched roofs an obvious fire danger and the building of cottages and the subdivision of dwellinghouses were faults so widespread as to require prohibition in the charter of Charles 1 The recital of these evils in a public document suggests that they were both true and widespread and words from the charter itself effectively describe this aspect of the physical appearance of the town and suggest its cause a rising population And whereas certain covetous persons preferring their own private benefit before the public good of the borough aforesaid have built and daily do build divers cottages within the said borough the liberties and precincts of the same and have subdivided and daily more and more subdidde divers messuages and larger houses fairly built and fit for the dwellings of men of better fortune into small dwellings or rather into obscure receptacles of poor people not only of the natives and burgesses of the same borough but also of foreigners resorting thither from other places and creeping and intruding into that borough to the great grievance and unless by our royal care it shall be speedily obdated to the manifest impoverishment of the borough aforesaid so But possibly other parts of the town lived up to the opinion of Lauds biographer that Reading was the principal town of Berkshire for wealth and beautyS] an opinion supported by another contemporary who added his praise for the fair buildings and large streetsS2

Charles 1s charter was granted in 1638 in a time of tension and growing stress that within four years was to break into civil war In this Reading suffered badly possibly more so than any other English town Parliamentary forces were the first to come but they failed to fortify the town and in October 1642 withdrew before the Royalists who turned Reading into a major fortified positionS3 and held it against superior Parliamentary forces until the end of April 1643 The town was forced to pay heavily in cash and service and change in control meant no change in the exactions indeed the entry of the Parliamentary troops was marked by major plundering It was reoccupied by Royalist forces in September 1643 after the first Battle of Newbury but these withdrew in the face of Parliamentary pressure in May 1644 slighting the defences before they went The failure of the Parliamentary forces to defend the town left it open to Royalist attacks from the north and the mayor was kidnapped and held to ransom In fact Parliamentary activity vacillated between further slighting of the defences in May 1644 and schemes for refortifying the abbey in July84 It seems to have been these arious defensive schemes and the slightings that resulted in major destruction to the abbey church for opinion a century later vas that the great blocks of masonry then visible looked as though they had been blown up by gunpowder85 Other evidences of this time still dsible in 1800 were portions of military works especially across the site of the abbey and near the Bath Road and the spire of St Giless church a thin and illfitting one that had replaced the original damaged by gunfire Any precise estimate of the general damage done during these years cannot be made But many thousands of pounds had been levied on the inhabitants they had been forced to labour on the defences and soldiers of both sides had plundered indiscriminatelyB6 However the economic position that Reading had developed over the past centuries could be eclipsed but not destroyed and before long fairs and markets were again functioning and the corporation was actively administering the boroughs7

The last occasion on which Reading was militarily in the front line occurred on 9 December 1688 To the inhabitants it looked like being the most serious calamity in the towns history for the royal troops including Irish dragoons threatened to massacre them and burn the town a burning that would clearly have been beyond the scope of the borough fire engines A swift message to the army of the Prince of Orange produced a successful relieving force and even in 1800 the church bells were still rung to commemorate the anniversary of Reading FightsS

The Eighteenthcentury Town

The exclusive and selfperpetuating corporation continued and emphasized by the charter of Charles I was subjected to increasing criticism as the 18th century passed Repairs to corporation property were in general too little and too late and administrative activity was suited to a day and age remote from the increasing population and commercial pressures The builtup area was scarcely enlarged89 and only intensive development within that area made it possible to accommodate the majority of the 9421 inhabitants returned at the census of 1801 Pressure was already developing on the ater supplies sanitary arrangements and the graveyards Burials still took place in the ancient yards around the parish churches although the Quakers had buried in a plot in the eastern undeveloped area of the borough and now by their meetinghouse Water came mainly from wells or direct from the river and not until 1800 was the project of the waterworks again taken up The original project had started in 1694 but the engine on the millstream in Mill Lane proved too small for its task A new and larger engine in place of the old and a cistern in Broad Street ensured a reasonable if not a continuous supply to those prepared to pay of the filthy water of the Kennet The network of elmwood pipes laid down enabled plugs to be placed in the principal streets to provide water for fire fighting gO But complaints over pressures on amenities were still limited to the specific as distinct from the general criticisms of the next generation

Early in the 18th century it was recorded that Reading contains about 900 houses large streets but ordinary

7 Both Orcle and Piazza were demolished in the mid-19th century The stocks and ducking stool were kept in the Piazza Previously the stocks seem to have been kept in the Market Place and probablv the pillory was there also For the origin of much at the Blagrave estate see note 92

80 Reading Charters 6H 81 P Heylin Cyprianus Anglicanus i 46 bull 2 Taylor 1636 quoted in VCH Berks iv 356 R3 See map for the Civil War defences 04 Cal State Papers Dam 1644middot5 163 364 For further detail of the impact of the Civil Vars on Reading see Coates op cit 23middot45 VCH Berks iv 356middot60 S5 Archacologia vi 65-where dmost certainly a mine was sprung Blocks of masonry are visible by St James RC church just to the north of the former abbey church Een middothen there was no possibilitv of a royalist return Parliamentary forces were still treating Reading as a captured town In December 1644 a petition was made

against this plundering Corp Diary ed Guilding iv 129 A copy of the petition is among the Reading Corporation MSS 87 Corp Diary ed Guilding iv passim Coates Reading 46-7 For the firemiddotfighting arrangements see VCH Berks h 362 89 d Speeds map of 1610 It was not until after the Napoleonic wars that expansion occurred slowly at first then dramatically from the linOs 90 J Man The History and Antiquities of the Borough of Reading (1816) 134-5

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buildings wherein is the greatest market for corn in England 91 On 22 May 1714 the discerning eye of Thomas Hearne led him to record that the town of Reading is very pleasantly situated is large but nothing near so famous now for Cloathing as it was formerly The houses are very mean and the streets though pretty large unpaved The reason for the houses being so mean is this The greatest part of them belong to Mr Blagrave and his interest in them being only for lives there is no likelihood of them being rebuilt as yet92 However during the course of the century a number of dwellings were rebuilt so much so that it was said in 1813 the houses are chiefly of brick well~built and commodious 3 This description was supported by one of the contemporary historians of Reading who added the information that they were intermixed with a few lathe and plaster ones the remains of the sixteenth century These are in general low and ill~constructed and were probably originally covered with thatch 94 In practice many of these large brick buildings were mercrowded and dilapidated slums and conversely some of those of an earlier day en~ hanced the appearance of the town Major building work by the corporation occurred only towards the end of the century the new town hall in 1786 High Bridge rebuilt in 1787 the new covered market in 1800 which together cost well over pound70009 No significant improement was made to the streets but in 1785 against some local opposition the Reading Improvement Act for the paving cleansing and lighting of the streets was passed The commissioners appointed under the act who were all members of the corporation succeeded in getting the footways of the main streets paed with York stone within six years 96 but the frequent repairs needed suggest a modest standard of workmanship and the unevenness of the paving and the continuing filth of pavements and streets came in for sharp criticism97 By 1801 no fewer than 174 street lamps were under the control of the commissioners and functioning through the dark hours of the winter months resulting in the opinion that among the luxuries and comforts of the present age this of lighting the streets by means of lamps is not the least 98

The rebuilding of the late 18th century extended to other but by no means to all of the public buildings of the town There yere many ephemeral private schools but of the three main schools the Green Girls School-so called from the colour of the pupils dresses-had removed in 1790 to a substantial house in Broad Street eight years after its foundation in St Marys Butts the Blue~coat School founded in 1656 by the will of the pious and wealthy Richard Aldworth had recentlv been rebuilt on the south side of London Road the oldest foundation in the town the Free School-now largelv fee~paying-had since 1786 had its main school~room under the new town hall and under the birch and enthusiasm of the Red Dr Valpy was building its reputation The three old churches still stood but now there were dissenting chapels the Anabaptists in Hosier Lane the Quakers in Church Lane and the Independents whose charel yas rebuilt at the turn of the century in Broad Street The old Presbyterian meeting~ house in Minster Street rerhaps disused in 1800 awaited a revival by Independents in 1807 In 1798 there appeared in Castle Street the classical faltade of what was later known as the Episcopal Chapel of St Mary whose rise was due to secession from among the congregation of St Giles and which was built on the site of the old gaoL Perhaps this replaced the Countess of Huntingdons chapel north of Castle Street and the old chapel in St Marys Butts a second congregation of Baptists used a chapel in London Street in 1802 the first Roman Catholic chapel the Resurrection Charel in 7estern Lane was built in 1812 and between 1796 and 1802 refugee French priests were accommodated in the Kings Arms Inn with others in the tmvn John a Larders almshouses had been altered and rebuilt since their foundation in the mid~15th century and the last rebuilding had occurred in 1775 but the other two main almshouses Vachells in Castle Street and Halls in Chain Lane still occupied old property that required constant repair During the course of the 18th century each of the three parishes disdaining co~operation after a short experiment from 1726 when the Oracle as jointly used had built its own workhouse and within the borough on the east side of the Forbury had risen in 1793 the new county gaol

The economic bases of the towns existence manufacture and distribution remained but their forms changed99

The change was due in part to a marked improvement in communications During the course of the 18th century the major roads to the town became turnpikes and river navigation was greatly improved In 1725 the line of the Kennet between Reading and Newbury was canalized and by 1800 there was a navigation of 54 miles from the centre of Wiltshire to Reading although the full advantage of this development was not reaped until the completion of the Kennet and Aon canal in 1810 linked Reading by water to Bristol In 1772 and subsequent years the navigation of the Thames was improved and it was linked by canal to the Midlands and south Wales Imports into Reading consisted of manufactures and raw materials mainly from London and the Midlands exports predominantly of agricultural produce from its hinterland and some local manufactures The olume of trade was estimated at some 50000 tons a year coming mainly by vater~ This was apart from the trade done at the four fairs all of national standing especially St Jamess Fair on 25 July for cattle and horses and the Michaelmas Cheese Fair In 1795 this produced an estimated 1200 tons of cheese brought to the town 3 The other two were the Candlemas Fair of 2 February and the May Fair of 1 May In September each year the Saturday corn market attracted dealers from far

91 Bodleian MS Browne xillis xlviii p 226 The mention of c 900 houses indicates that the 460 given in the Hearth Tax returns of 1662-3 is not a safe figure to use for calculation of population etc

Bodleian MSS_ Hearne L pp 105-6 William Grey received a ast quantity of abbey property in Reading and around at the Dissolution This descended via his widow to the Blagrave family_

93 W F Mavor General View of the AgTiwltHre of Berkshire (1813) 463 9 Man op cit 122 9 Reading Corp MSS Corp_ Diary bull Corp MSS Jdinute Books Paving Commissioners 97 The Stranger in Reading (IS10) 17-59 98 1an op cit 127 This appreciation was merited as for over a century-since 1688-Reading had had some three street lamps The Corporation Accounts regularly

mention payment for the crying of lanterns and candles-illuminations occupants had to place before their houses 99 There is an interesting list in the unpublished Corporation Diary for Januarv 1714 Petition by many who have served seven years apprenticeship within this Borough

to be admitted to the freedom of the Borough The transition between old and new is shown in the 57 trades mentioned They are apothecary baker barber and periwig maker bargemaster blacksmith boatbuilder bodice maker bookbinder bricklayer broadweaver butcher cardmaker carpenter clockmaker clothier clothshyworker coachmaker cO1ch harness maker cooper cordvainer currier cutler der drugget weaver edge tool maker farrier feltmaker flaxdresser gardener glazier glover and fellmonger grocer hemp-dresser hoop and lathe maker joiner linen weaver mason parchment-maker patten sole maker pike-maker pinmaker plushshyweaver plumber rug-weaer sailcloth eaver salter serge-weaver stay-maker stuff-wea-er tailor tallow-chandler tanner tobacco pipe-maker watchmaker weaver wheeler wheelwright woolcomber

1 Coates Reading 457 2 Man op cit 162 3 Reading Mercury 28 September 1795

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afield4 although for most of the year it acted as one of the two local markets the other being held on Wednesdays The decrease in the clothing industry noted by Hearne at the beginning of the century continued and by its end was no longer worth noting among the towns industries In 1800 gauze silk and sailcloth were made on a considerable scale the last swollen by wartime demands j two older industries tanning and brick and tile-making had markedly expanded there were five breweries producing commercially j and a number of iron-works Among lesser industries were pin-making coach-building ribbon and ropemaking and printing

Reading in 1800 was thus a quietly prosperous town with its day schools albeit for the few its Sunday schools its places of worship its theatre its workhouses and its almshouses It was within easy reach of London and respectable priate families from outside were settling in increasing numberss It had at least its share of professional men shylawyers bankers doctors-its literary circle and its wellestablished newspaper Its economy was diversified and strong It was essentially a town of brick made from local clay with many of its buildings in good taste although the many courts perpetuated and intensified the tenement conditions of an older day its streets were generally wide if not especially clean That it formed a bottleneck on lines of communication may have been advantageous in en couraging service industries and three inns the Bear the Crown and the Kings Arms catered especially for the through traffic The very quantity of stagecoaches on the new roads gave the first faint suggestion of what was later to become a vast flood of commuter traffic for it enabled the Reading man who leaves his home in the morning to transact what business he may have to do in London and to return the same evening7 And a growing awareness of the need for accurate timekeeping in an increasingly complex world was recognized in 1804 when it was agreed that a workman should be appointed to keep the three church clocks of the borough together and to true time8

bull Man op cit 167 bull The Stranger in Reading 78 bull Reading Mercury first published in 1723 as The Reading MerCHr) and Weekly Entertainer bull The Stranger in Reading 78 bull Berks Record Office DP9682

In compiling the maps and plans reference has been made to documentary sources to archaeological and other printed articles to 18th and 19th century prints and to the following map sources-Map of Reading by John Speed The Theatre of the Empire of Oreat Britaine 1611 Map of Civil X1ar Defences Co 1643 Plafl of the Town of Reading by Charles Tomkins 1797 Local Board of Health Plan 1853 A number of manuscript plans of small areas within the BorouC(h of Reading 18th and early 19th centuries New and Correct English Atlas by John Cary London 1793 Ordnance SUfey Plans covering the Borough of Reading scale 25 inches to 1 mile 1st Editions 1879 Ordnance Survey Roman Britain series I inch to 16 miles scale

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