Kellys_Berks_Bucks&Oxon_1911_0154.jpg

152

h e a d in g .

B E R K S H IR E .

a m ural m onum ent to Richard Fynnemore ob. 1664:
and brasses to Edward Butler, gent, five tim es mayo
ox Reading, ob. 1584, and Alice bis w ife, 1583; Joh.
Kent, burgess, and Joan his wife, with half-effigies, c
1 4 I5 1 and W alter Barton, gent. 1538, churchwarden i
1509; th e last is a palim psest brass, having on th
reverse the efligy of Sir John Popharn knt. a distin
guished soldier of the reign of Henry V . . opposite th.
pulpit, on the floor, is a brass to W illia m ’Hunt, mayor
ob. 1463, and his wives Alice and Isabella, and thert
are several deposited stones; 011 the south side of the
chancel are m em orial windows to Charles Lamb, the
essayist and poet, d. 27 Dec. 1834; and to Henry and
Rachel, the children of the Hon. Mr. Justice Talfourd.
dated 1848; the west window under the tower is a
memorial to Archbishop Laud, a native of the parish
and great benefactor to the town, containing also figures
of H enry I. founder of the ab bey; Henry V II. founder
of the G ram m ar School; Sir Thomas W hite, founder of
St. John’s, Oxford • and Charles I. the giver of the
principal charter to the tow n; on the south side of
the tower arch, placed in a niche, is a statue of
Richard Valpy D.D. many years m aster of the Gramm ar
School, who died 28th March, 1836; on the south side
is an ancient sun-dial: there are 750 sittings. The
register dates from the year 1605, but the church­
wardens’ accounts commence as early as 1430. The
livin g is a vicarage, net yearly value ¿259, with resi­
dence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held
since 1898 by the Rev. Robert Perceval Newhouse M.A.
of W orcester College, Oxford, rural dean of Reading
and surrogate.
The church estate produces ¿200
yearly.
"
St. Mary’s church, a structure faced with flint and
ashlar, in chequers, stands at the end of Minster street,
on a spot once occupied by a nunnery, founded by
E lfrida, m other-in-law of Edward th e’ M a rty r; the
church, originally that of the nunnery, retains a reputed
Saxon doorway, but was rebuilt in 1551, from materials
obtained from the ruins of the ab bey; and in 1594 the
tow er was rebuilt, after having been destroyed, with
its spire, in a gale : the church now consists of chancel,
nave of four bays, aisles, transepts, south ehantrv,
south porch, vestry, and an em battled western tower
90 feet high, with pinnacles at the angles, and contain­
in g 8 bells and a clock : the chancel has a Perpendicular
open tim ber roof and the nave is of an early ch aracter;
the Perpendicular font was given by the Vachell family
in 1616 and has a pyram idal erocketed cover, provided
at a cost of ¿ 1 3 0 ; the arcade dividing the nave and
south aisle has sem icircular arches springing from
circular colum ns; on the north side of the chancel is
an E aster sepulchre of early work, and a m onum ent of
black and gold, with effigies, to William Kendrick and
his wife, 1635 : the steps to the rood loft are built up
in the south wall of the chancel a r c h ; all the windows,
in cluding the triplet at the east end, are stained; in
th e chancel hang the old colours of th e 66th (Princess
Charlotte of Wales’s Royal Berkshire) regim ent, and a
window has been erected to those of the officers and
men who fell in the battle of Maiwand, in Afghanistan,
27th July, 1880, as well as two large brass tablets in
th e north aisle giving the names of the officers and
m en ; there is also a tablet inscribed to those of the
49th or 1st Battalion of th at regim ent, who fell in the
cam paigns in Egypt, 1882-3; the Soudan, 1885: and
the Nile Expedition. 1885-6; the vestry contains some
brasses, including a cross fleury and several scrolls to
W illiam Baron, 1416, and an inscription to John Boorne,
who died in hi9 third m ayoralty, 1558, and Alice
his w ife ; in the north aisle hangs the old altar piece,
attributed to Ludovico Caracci, 1555-1619, and there is
an alm s-box, dated 1627; and at the western entrance
a carved oak screen, dating from 1631: the church was
restored in 1863-4, ar>d the chancel enlarged and nearly
rebu ilt in 1872; and in October, 1883, an episcopal
chair of English oak and walnut was provid ed : there
are 1,000 sittings, 450 being free. The register dates
from the year 1538? anr there are also church documents
datin g from the 13th centu’-y. The livin g is a vicarage,
net yearly value ¿4 4 o, with residence, in the gift of
the Bishop of Oxford, and held since 7896 bv the Rev.
W illiam N eville M .A. of Magdalen College, Oxford, and
a surrogate. The list of rectors and vicars dates from
1173. Masonry, supposed to be Roman, exists beneath
the rectory, and Saxon coins of the oth centnrv have
been discovered in the churchyard, viz. of Pu^gbred,
K in g of M erc a (853-874) and Ciu’noth (probably Ceolnoth), Archbishop of Canterbury 833-70.
St. Saviour’s church, Wolseley street, is a building of
red brick, erected in 1887-8, at a cost of ¿5,8 91, and
consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of three bavs.
?de chapel, west porch and one bell in the western

[ k e l l y ’s

gable: it has 400 sittings, and is served by the clergy
»f St. Mary’s.
The iron church of St; Mark, in Cranbury road, is a
hapel of ease to St. Mary’s, and has 350 sittings.
A ll Saints’ church, in Downshire square, erected at a
•osfc of about ¿9,000, and enlarged in 1874 at a cost of
¿3*63°, is a building of Bristol stone, w ith Bath stone
Iressings, in the Decorated style, consisting of apsidal
:hancel, nave of five bays, aisles, transept, galilee porch,
and an eastern tu rret containing one bell: there are
097 sittings. This church is also attached to St. Mary’s.
Christ Church is an ecclesiastical parish formed Jan.
16, 1863; the church, in Christ Church road, in the
ham let of W hitley, is a building of stone in the Early
English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, tran ­
septs, and a tower on the north-west with angle
buttresses risin g into pinnacles, from which short flying
buttresses support a graceful octagonal sp ire ; the tower
contains one b e ll: all the windows are stain ed : the
church was enlarged in 1874 at a cost of ¿4,326, and
affords 749 sittings. Th e register dates from the year
1863. The livin g is a vicarage, net yearly value ¿250.
with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and
held since 1896 by the Rev. John Francis Warren M.A.
of Keble College, Oxford.
Grey Friars is an ecclesiastical parish, formed August
30th, 1864, out of the parishes of St. Mary and St.
Laurence: the church, bu ilt of flint, and standing at
the corner of Caversham road, was re-constructed in
1863 from the ancient church of the monastery of the
Grey Friars, the north transept being new from the
foundations, and the w est and south walls of the south
transept, with the two eastern columns of the south
arcade, re b u ilt: it now consists of a very wide nave of
five bays, aisles and transepts, but has at present no
chancel, it having been found impossible to acquire the
ground upon which it should stand: the aisles are
separated from the nave by Pointed arches supported by
clustered columns, and the west window, a portion of
the ancient structure, is one of the largest and finest
examples of reticulated tracery in existence: in its
grooves fragm ents of stained glass of great thickness
were m et with, and a few old tiles of peculiar design,
discovered in the flooring, have been relaid: under the
north pier of the chancel arch, a perfect skeleton was
found without any coffin, evidently laid in the founda­
tions when the church was first built, and arched over
with m asonry: the church was reopened Dec. 5th, 1863,
by the late Bishop Wilberforce, of Oxford: the restora­
tion was accomplished at a cost of ¿12,000 by the sole
efforts of the late Ven. W. W. Phelps, archdeacon of
Carlisle, under the direction of the late Mr. Woodman,
architect, of Reading: there are sittings for about 760
persons, 400 being free. The register dates from the
year 1864. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value
¿265, with residence, in the gift of trustees, and held
since 1905 by the Rev. Hugh Edmund Boultbee M.A. of
Durham University. The boundary of the ecclesiastical
parish was altered Sept. 6th, 1892, to include parts of
Holy Trinity and St. Mary.
In North street is an iron Mission room in connection
with Grey Friars’ church, erected in 1876-7 at a cost of
¿1,900, which has 600 sittings.
The Memorial H ill, Sackville street, was erected in
7902, in m emory of the late Martin Hope Sutton esq.
(d. 1901), and is used for meetings in connection with
Grev Friars’ parish.
Holy T rinity is an ecclesiastical parish, formed Oct.
29th, 1875, from St. Mary’s: th e church, erected in
1826, endowed by the Rev. George Hulme M .A. of Shinfield, and rebuilt in 1888 at a cost of ¿2,100, stands on
the north side of Oxford road, and is a plain quad­
rangular edifice of brick, consisting of nave and chancel,
with a stone front, in which are three lancet-headed
windows: 011 the western gable is a small tu rret con­
taining one b e ll: there are 700 sittings. The register
dates from the year 1875. The livin g is a vicarage, net
yearly value ¿218 , in the g ift of the vicar of St. Mary’s,
and held since 1902 by the Rev. Harford Elton Lury
M. A. of Hertford College, Oxford, and surrogate.
St. Bartholomew’s is an ecclesiastical parish formed
July 17th, 1877, out of the parish of St. Peter, Earlev,
and is in Sonning rural deanery: the church, partially
erected and consecrated in 1879 at a cost of ¿3,526, is a
structure of red and grey tm ck, in the E arly English
style, and consists of clerestoried nave, aisles and a
small western turret containing 2 b e lls : the church was
completed in 1903 at a total cost of about ¿7,000: there
are 400 sittings. The register dates from the year 1877.
The living is a vicarage, net yearly value ¿232, with
residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held
since 7 8 0 0 by the Rev. Edward John N orris M.A. of
Trinity College, Cambridge.