Reading in Berks County England History and Geography

READING, a borough and market town, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of Reading, county of BERKS, 26 miles (S.E. by S.) from Abingdon, and 39 (W. by S.) from London, on the road to Bath, containing, according to the last census, 13,264 inhabitants, since which period the population has increased to upwards of 16,000. This place, which is unquestionably of very great antiquity, is supposed to have derived its name, either from the British word Redin. signifying fern, with which the soil abounded, or from Rhyd, a ford, and Ing, a meadow, which, from its situation on a tract of land intersected by the river Kennel, appears to be the more probable. It is noticed, in 871, by Asser, the biographer of Alfred, as a fortified town taken from the Saxons by the Danes, to which, after their defeat at Englefield, by Earl Ethelwolf, they retired, and were pursued by that Saxon nobleman, who was killed in attempting to take the town, in a sally of the besieged inhabitants. During the reign of Alfred, and occasionally in that of his successors, the Danes appear to have held possession of the town, which, on the invasion of Sweyn, King of Denmark, to revenge the massacre of his countrymen, in the reign of Ethelred, was burnt to the ground, in 1006, together with the nunnery founded there by Elfrida, in expiation of the murder of her step-son, Edward the Martyr. From this calamity it appears to have recovered prior to the Conquest, for in the Norman survey it is noticed as forming part of the royal demesne. In 1121. Henry I. founded a magnificent monastery, for monks of the Benedictine order, which he endowed with an ample revenue, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and St. John the Evangelist. He invested it with the dignity of a mitred abbey, bestowed on the abbots the privilege of coining money, of conferring the honour of knighthood, and many other important privileges. Henry was a frequent visitor at the abbey during his life, and after his death was interred in the abbey church, as was also his consort, Adeliza. Stephen, his successor, erected a strong castle here, which, after having been one of his garrisons during his contest with Matilda, was, in 1153. given up to her son Henry, who, on his accession to the throne, ordered it, together with several other fortresses which had been erected in the preceding reign, to be demolished. This monarch, in 1163, presided at a judicial combat which took place here, on an island to the east of Caversham bridge, between Henry de Essex, the royal standard-bearer, and Robert de Montfort, who accused his antagonist of treasonable cowardice in a battle with the Welch near Chester. Essex being vanquished, his estates were forfeited to the crown, but his life being spared, he became a monk in this abbey. Henry II. visited the town on several other occasions, and in 1185 had an interview here with Ilerodius, patriarch of Jerusalem, who presented to him the keys of the holy sepulchre, and the royal banner of Jerusalem, and endeavoured, but without success, to induce him to undertake an expedition to recover Palestine from the Saracens. In 1209, the professors and students of Oxford, disgusted with the severity with which they had been treated by the king's officer, in a dispute with the townspeople, retired hither, where they continued to prosccute their studies, till, on expition being made, they returned to their ancient sears. In 1212, a council was held by the legate of the Pope, for the purpose of effecting a reconciliation between King John and the bishops, whom he had driven into exile; and various civil and ecclesiasticul councils were also held here in this and the following reign. Edward III. held a grand tournament here in 1346, and in 1359, his son, John of Gaunt, was married, in the abbey church, to Blanche, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Plantageuet, Duke of Lancaster. In 1389, a reconciliation was effected between Richard II. and his barons, through the mediation of John of Gaunt, who assembled here a great council for that purpose: in 1440, and 1451, parliaments were held in this town; and in 1452, and 1466, the grand parliament adjourned to this place from Westminster, on account of the plague. Ilenry VIII. frequently visited Reading, and in 1541 took up his residence for some time at the abbey. Edward VI., and the queens Mary and Elizabeth, were frequent visitors, and the latter had a canopied pew appropriated to her use in the parish church of St. Lawrence. In the beginning of the reign of Charles I., the courts of Chancery, King's Bench, and Common Pleas, with the court of Exchequer, and the courts of Wards and Liveries, were held at Reading, in Michaelmas term, in the year 1625, and again in 1635, in consequence of the prevalence of the plague, which was then raging in the metropolis, and a commission under the great seal, for putting in force the laws against the Popish recusants, was read in the courts here. At the commencement of the parliamentary war in this reign, the town was garrisoned for the parliament, but was abandoned by the governor on the approach of the royal forces in 1642; after which it was held by the king's troops, till taken for the parliament by the Earl of Essex, in the following year, after a siege of eight days. After the battle of Newbury, Essex marched to Reading, where he remained for two days; on his departure, it was again garrisoned for the king, who, on his visit in 1644, ordered the military works which had been erected, to be demolished: there are still many extensive remains of the outworks in the Forbury. The inhabitants suffered severely from the contributions levied by both parties, who had alternate possession of the town. In 1688, some Irish and Scottish troops belonging to the army of James II. were posted at Reading, from which they fled on the approach of the Dutch troops under the Prince of Orange; but returning soon after, a skirmish took place in the town, in which the only officer in the prince's army who lost his life in the expedition, was killed: the anniversary of this battle, which was called 'Reading Fight,' was annually commemorated till about the year 1788, when it was discontinued.

The town is pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Kennet, which, after passing through it, divides into two branches, uniting again previously to its confluence with the Thames. It is in the form of an equilateral triangle, and consists of four principal streets intersected by several smaller: the houses are in general well built of brick, and many of them are spacious and handsome; but there are several constructed of lath and plaster, with high gables, most of which are of the date of the fifteenth century, and were formerly roofed with thatch. The town is well paved, and lighted with gas by a company established by an act obtained in 1825, and amply supplied with water by a joint stock company, originally established in 1694, for the distribution of the water from the Kennet, by machinery, which has been greatly improved since the beginning of the present century, when a lofty brick tower was erected on the bank of the Kennet, and a large reservoir constructed at the upper end of Castle-street, for supplying that part of the town. In addition to the bridges over the different branches of the river, a handsome stone bridge of one arch, ornamented with balustrades, has been erected over the main stream in Duke-street, at the expense of the corporation; and at a small distance to the north-cast of the town is another, called Blake's bridge. A public library is supported by subscription among the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood, under the designation of the Reading Institution, comprising a library, reading-rooms, and a residence for the librarian: there is also a subscription news-room in High-street; and a Philosophical Institution is about to be established: there are commodious baths in London-street. The theatre, a small inconvenient building, erected a few years since, is open for a month or six weeks, annually, but is not well supported.

From its situation near the confluence of two navigable rivers, Reading has from an early period been a place of commercial importance. The manufacture of woollen cloth was introduced in the reign of Edward I.; and in the legendary history of the town, Thomas Cole, called Thomas of Reading, a rich clothier, is said to have obtained from that monarch a standard measure for cloth, the yard being fixed to the precise length of his Majesty's arm. Mr. John Kendrick, alias John ? Larder, another eminent elothier in the town, to which he was a great benefactor, in 1624, bequeathed £7500 in trust to the mayor and burgesses, for building a house for the employment of the poor, which was soon afterwards carried into effect, at an expense of £2000: it forms a quadrangle, with a handsome gateway entrance, and the whole edifice, which was a great ornament to the town, obtained from some unknown cause the appellation of the 'Oracle.' In this establishment the woollen manufacture was carried on, for a considerable period, with success; but during the parliamentary war the building was converted into a dep?t for military stores, and the property was lost, with the exception of £500, which Mr. Kendrick had appropriated to be distributed in loans, without interest, to young tradesmen beginning business. After the rnanufacture of woollen cloth had declined, varions other branches were carried on at the Oracle; among these were pin-making, the weaving of sheeting, sail-cloth, and sacking, and the manufacture of floor-cloth. The weaving of coarse linen is carried on here to a small extent; and there are manufactories for silk ribands and galloons, which afford employment to from two to three hundred persons, and for floor and sail-cloth: there are also ironfoundries, breweries, and several yards for building boats. The trade of the town, however, is principally in flour, of which twenty thousand sacks are annually sent to London; wheat, oats, beans, peas, and various kinds of seeds; malt, the business in which has been for some time declining; and oak-bark, timber, hoops, wool, cheese, and beer, &c. The river is navigable for barges of one hundred and twenty tons' burden, and on its banks are wharfs for landing goods, &c. A new wharf and dock were constructed in 1828, on the bank of the Kennet; over which river, in 1830, an iron bridge was completed, on the line of the great western road. The river Kennet, and the Kennet and Avon canal, open a navigable communication with the principal parts of the kingdom. In 1800, a canal was designed by Mr. Rennie, in consequence of the difficult navigation of the Kennet, in part of its course, to the west of the town; but it has not been yet so far completed as to afford all the advantages anticipated. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday, the former for fruit, vegetables, butter, and poultry, and the latter for corn and provisions, which is very numerously attended. The corn market is held in the market-place, a convenient area, of which three sides are occupied by shops, and the fourth by the church of St. Lawrence: these shops are kept in repair by the corporation, who are entitled to the toll of one pint out of each sack of corn sold in the market. The market for provisions is held in a quadrangular building, with a portico, including shambles, shops, and stalls, and a residence for the clerk of the market, who is generally one of the serjeants at mace: there is also, on Saturday, a market for cattle and store pigs; and a market every Monday for fat cattle, at Loddon bridge, about four miles distant, on the road to Wokingham. The fairs are on February 2nd, May 1st, July 25th, and September 21st: the three first, principally for horses and cows, and the last, which is also a statute fair, for cattle and cheese, the latter chiefly from Gloucestershire and North Wiltshire, of which, at the fair in 1830, seven hundred tons were pitched for sale; the cheese fair is held in that part of the Forbury which faees the grammar school.

The town, which is a borough by prescription, has received a succession of charters, from the reign of Henry III. to that of Charles I., the whole of which are in excellent preservation, and the seals nearly perfect: the charter of Henry VII. is splendidly illuminated and emblazoned, the initial letter containing a portrait of that monarch. Under the last of these charters, as modified in the last year of the reign of George IV., the government is vested in a mayor, high steward, recorder, and thirteen aldermen, including the mayor and common council, consisting of nine capital and sixteen inferior burgesses, assisted by a town clerk, two chamberlains, three serjeants at mace, and subordinate officers. The mayor is elected annually, on the first Monday after St. Bartholomew's day, by the aldermen and burgesses, from three candidates nominated by the former body: the mayor, his deputy, the senior alderman, the Bishop of Salisbury, and his chancellor, are justices of the peace for the borough. The corporation formerly held quarterly courts of session for the trial of all but capital offenders; they at present hold a court of record every Wednesday, under the charter of Charles I., for the recovery of debts under £10. The inhabitants are exempt from serving on juries at the assizes and sessions for the county, and from the payment of county rates. The borough has continued to return two members to parliament from the 23rd of Edward I, to the present time: the right of election is vested in the freemen paying scot and lot, and in the inhabitants not receiving alms, of whom the number is about one thousand two hundred and fifty; the mayor is the returning officer. The old town hall was taken down in 1786, and a handsome building erected over part of the free grammar school: adjoining it is the council chamber, a handsome room in which the borough courts are held, and which is decorated with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, a bust of Archbishop Land, finely painted, and portraits of Sir Thomas White and Mr. Kendrick. The portrait of Elizabeth is considered, by Mr. Hanshall, who is now preparing a History of Reading for the press, to be by Hans Holbein, and the painting of Laud is esteemed an admirable production; but these, and indeed all the portraits, are in a very dirty state. The petty sessions for the division are held here every Saturday; the spring assizes and the Epiphany sessions for the county are regularly held in the town; and the Michaelmas sessions are held alternately here and at Abingdon, at the discretion of the magistrates. The gaol and house of correction for the county, adapted to the reception of one hundred and sixty prisoners, contains a good house for the keeper, a room for the meeting of the magistrates, a chapel, and an infirmary, and comprises five day rooms and airing-yards for male prisoners in the gaol and bridewell, and five day-rooms and airing-yards for females; a tread-mill with four wheels, and a large shop for employing prisoners not committed to hard labour, who receive on their discharge one-fifth of their carnings: prisoners committed for offences within the borough are now confined in this gaol.

The town comprises the parishes of St. Giles, St. Lawrence, and St. Mary, in the archdeaconry of Berks, and diocese of Salisbury. The living of St. Giles' is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £14. 17. 3½., and in the patronage of the Crown: the church, an ancient structure, having been much damaged during the parliamentary war, was subsequently repaired, and the tower, which had been destroyed, was rebuilt, with the addition of a slender spire of wood cased with copper: in 1829 it underwent a thorough repair, and received an addition of six hundred and eighty-five sittings, of which four hundred and twenty-four are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels having granted £500 towards defraying the expense. The living of St. Lawrence's is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the President and Fellows of St. John's College, Oxford: the church, which was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, is a spacious structure, in the later style of English architecture, with a beautiful tower of chequered flints: the interior, which is well arranged, contains a mural monument with a bust of John Blagrave, an eminent mathematician, who died in 1611. The living of St. Mary's is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £11. 12. 3½., and in the patronage of the Crown: the church was rebuilt about the year 1550, chiefly with the materials of the abbey, which was demolished about that time; it is a plain massive structure, in the later style of English architecture, with a square tesselated tower of flint and stone: two hundred and ten additional sittings have been crected, of which one hundred are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels having coutributed £60 towards defraying the expense. In the parish of St. Lawrence was formerly a chapel, founded and endowed, in 1284, by Lawrence Burgess, bailiff of the borough, and dedicated to St. Edmund; having been desecrated previously to the year 1479, it was used as a barn, and during the parliamentary war turned into a fort; in 1750, it was taken down, and rebuilt at Battle farm, but was destroyed by fire within about twenty years since. A chapel of case to the vicarage of St. Mary's has been erected, by the Rev. George Hulme, on the north side of the road to Oxford. There are three places of worship for Baptists, two for Independents, and one each for the Society of Friends and Wesleyan Methodists, also a Roman Catholic chapel; and in Castle-street is a chapel, erected, in 1798, by the congregntion formerly under the pastoral care of the Hon. and Rev. Bromley Cadogan, now supplied by a minister in the Connexion of the late Countess of Huntingdon. The free grammar school was founded by Abbot Thorne, in the reign of Henry VII., and endowed with the revenue of the decayed hospital of St. John, from which, at the dissolution, a grant of £10 per annum was given for the support of the school, which, since the charter of Elizabeth, has been paid by the corporation. Archbishop Laud gave £20 per annum for augmenting the master's salary, and a house for his residence was, in 1785, purchased by subscription: two fellowships in St. John's College, Oxford, were founded and endowed by Sir Thomas White, for persons educated in this school. The Blue-coat school, for the maintenance, clothing, and education of boys, was founded, in 1646, by Richard Aldworth, Esq., who endowed it with £4000; in addition to which, Sir Thomas Rich, Bart, gave £1000, in 1666, for six additional boys, of which three were to be from the parish of Sonning. Mr. John Hall gave lands for the instruction of three boys; John West, Esq. gave £1000, in 1720, for educating and apprenticing two boys; W. Malthus, Esq., a rent-charge of £91, for eleven boys; and Mr. John Pottenger, £15 per annum, for two boys: the whole income at present exceeds £1000 per annum: there are forty-seven boys on the foundation, who, with the exception of the three under Sir Thomas Rich's endowment, who are appointed by the landholders in the parish of Sonning, are nominated by the corporation, who appoint the master, with a salary of £50 per annum, and maintenance for himself, his wife, and one servant, for whose wages he is allowed £6 more. The girls' green school, in the parish of St. Lawrence, was founded, and is supported, by subscription, for the maintenance, clothing, and education of girls, of whom twenty-one are now in the school: this establishment has an income of £132 per annum, arising from property in the funds: the mistress has a salary of £63. 10. per annum. A school for teaching very young children to read was founded, in 1714, by Mr. Joseph Neale, who endowed it with £11 per annum. A Sunday school, founded in 1810, by Edward Simecn, Esq., who endowed it with £2500, is under the control of the corporation: in this establishment one hundred and fifty-one boys and one hundred and ninety-seven girls are instructed, and partly clothed every alternate year. A school of industry was instituted under the patronage of Mrs. Cadogan; a National school, held in what was formerly the great hall of the abbey, in which is preserved part of a sarcophagus, supposed to be that of the founder, Henry I.; and a Lancasterian school, in Southampton-street, are supported by subscription: in the former, three hundred and eighty boys and one hundred and eighty girls; and in the latter, one hundred and sixty boys and one hundred and twenty girls, receive instruction.

Almshouses in St. Mary's Butts were founded, in 1477, by John ? Larder, by whom they were endowed for eight aged persons, who receive each one shilling and eightpence per week: they were rebuilt by the corporation in 1775. The almshouses in St. Giles' parish, founded in 1617, by Mr. Barnard Harrison, and lately rebuilt by the corporation, have a trifling endowment. An almshouse was founded, in 1634, by Mr. William Kendrick, for four aged men and one woman, of the parishes of St. Lawrence and St. Giles; the former have an allowance of one shilling and sixpence, and the latter of one shilling, per week, with some gratuities. Almshouses founded in the same year, by Sir Thomas Vachell, for six aged unmarried men, have an endowment of £40 per annum: those in St. Mary's parish were founded, in 1647, by Mr. Richard Jeys, who endowed them, for four aged women, with lands producing about £5 per annum: an almshouse for four aged widows of the parish of St. Lawrence was founded, in 1653, by Mr. John Webb, who endowed it with funds producing a small weekly stipend: almshouses founded by Mr. John Hall, in 1696, for five aged and unmarried women, are endowed with a rent-charge of £25; and, in 1624, Mr. Griffith Jenkins gave five houses, as rent-free dwellings, for poor persons of the parishes of St. Lawrence and St. Mary. Archbishop Laud bequeathed £100 per annum to be appropriated for two successive years to the apprenticing of ten poor boys, and every third year to be divided in marriage portions among five poor maidens, natives of Reading: there are various other bequests of a similar nature, and for other charitable uses. The dispensary was established in 1802, and is liberally supported by subscription. Of the ancient castle erected by Henry I. there is not the slightest vestige, nor can the site of it be traced; the only memorial is preserved in the name of Castle-street, near which it is supposed to have stood. Of the magnificent abbey, erected by the same founder, and which, with the conventual buildings, extended nearly half a mile in circuit, there remain only the abbey gate, a fine specimen of the early Norman style of architecture, and in tolerable preservation, and some vestiges in the abbey mill; the walls, which were eight feet in thickness, have been stripped of their casings, and present only a mass of ruins, with the exception of that part of the hall in which the National school is held: a considerable portion of the materials of the conventual church was used in building the parish church of St. Mary; the principal ornaments were removed for the decoration of Field Marshal Conway's seat, Park Place, near Henley; and a great part of the remaining materials was employed in constructing the great arch over which the Walgrave road is carried. A convent of Franciscan friars was anciently established here, of which there are no remains; and, previously to the year 1400, a convent of Grey friars was founded, on the north side of Castle-street, of which part of the church, with its beautiful west window, is still remaining, and the lavatory is preserved in the pleasure grounds of a house erected on the conventual lands, by Mr. Austwick, the late mayor. An hospital, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, for twelve leprous persons and a chaplain, was founded here, in 1134, by Aucherius, second abbot of Reading; and in 1190, Hugh, the eighth abbot, founded an hospital for twenty-six poor brethren, and for the entertainment of pilgrims and travellers, for the maintenance of which he appropriated the church of St. Lawrence. Among the eminent natives of this town were, William of Reading, Archbishop of Bourdeaux in the reign of Henry III.; and Archbishop Laud, the principal minister of Charles I., and one of the earliest victims of that period: he was beheaded on Tower Hill, in 1644.

From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale