Kellys_Berks_Bucks&Oxon_1911_0152.jpg

150

RADLEY.

B E R K S H IR E .

C H AN D LIN G S, form erly extra-parochial, is 3 miles
north:from Abingdon and 3 south from Oxford, adjoining
Bagley Wood, on the road from Abingdon to Oxford :
it consists of one sm all farm, which belongs to Christ
C hurch, Oxford, and is now occupied by Mr. Dennis
PRIVATE RESIDENTS.

(Marked thus * receive letters through
Oxford.)
♦Brook's W alter T yrrell M .A ., M B.
Bagley wood
♦Collier W illiam M .A ., M.D. Bagley
wood
Cousins Dennis Chas. Park cottage
Dockar-Drysdale Mrs. W ick hall
Dockar-Drysdale W illiam M .A., J.P.
W ick hall
♦Green Ernest Hy. Sunningwell ho
Haines John M .A. East cottage
♦Kennett-Kingsford Jeken, Bagley wd
Longland Rev. Charles Boxali M.A.
Vicarage
Norton James Lees, Braeside
♦Spender E. Bagley house

[ k e l l y ’s

Dene, of Sunningwell. In May, 1900, by Local. Govern­
ment Board Order No. 40,662, Ghandlmgs was joined
to Radley, and now forms part of the north ward of th a t
parish

Bryans Ernest M.A
Cox Thomas (steward)
Davies Rev. A rthur William M.A
Field Rev. Thomas D.D. (warden)
Freeman P. B., B.A
Goldspink F. W ., B.A
Hales A . J. S. H ., B.A
K irkby Rev.Jn.H y. M .A.(sub-warden)
Lowe Henry A ., M.A
Porter H. E. L ., B.A
Price Benjamin H
Pughe A rth u r Owen M.A
Simpkinson Edward Franklin M.A
Slomain H. N. P., B.A
Stone Rev. Francis Joseph M.A
Vidal L. A ., B.A
Walker G. W. H., B.A
Wharton Rev. George M.A. assistant
Residents in St. Peter’s college.
m aster & precentor
Barm by Francis James M.A
Wilson-Green W ., M.A
B irt Rev.RoderickHarold Capper M.A Wood-Hill Bernard M.A
C O M M ER CIA L.

Badcock Geo. Hy. frm r. Nuneham vw
Betteridge Francis Frederick, farmer,
Walsh & Minchins farm
Hooper Richard, farm er,Pum ney fim
Oxford University Golf Club (Joseph
W alter Gynes, sec.), Club house
Silvester Jethro, Bowyer Arm s P.H
Stone W illiam , farm er, Park farm
Taylor Fredk. Chas.frm r.Church frm
Topp Thomas, farm bailiff to Mrs.
Dockar-Drysdale
W alker James George Fruin, farmer,
Neathome farm
Welford W illiam Vernon, baker, &
post office
Weetman Fras. farmer, Sugworth frm

R i: A D I N G
READ IN G , an ancient and very considerable market Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth and James I. ; further
and assize town and a parliam entary and county and charters were granted by Charles I. which were con­
m unicipal borough with separate jurisdiction, the county firmed in 1649, and also by Charles II. The Corpora­
town of Berkshire, the head of a poor law union, inland tion was finally reformed under the “ Municipal Cor­
revenue collection, petty sessional division and county porations Act, 1835.” The borough has a commission
court district, in the Southern division of the county, in of the Peace and separate Court of Quarter Sessions.
the rural deanery of Reading, archdeaconry of Berks and The Public Health Acts have been adopted by the
diocese o f Oxford; it is bounded on the north by the Corporation.
Reading is a borough by prescription,
Tham es, separating it from Caversham in Oxfordshire, having sent members to Parliament from the tim e of
and is 8 miles south-west from Henley-on-Thames, 26 the earliest record s: by the “ Redistribution of Seats
south-east from Abingdon, 68 from Bath, 13 south-west A ct, 1885 ” (48 and *9 Viet. c. 23), the boundary of the
from Maidenhead, 17 east from Newbury, 26 south-east parliam entary borough was extended on the east to th e
from W antage, 16 west from Windsor, 16 north from South Eastern railway, and on the south to Christ­
Basingstoke, 45 from Southampton, 15 south-east from church and Junction Toads, and by the same A ct the
W allingford, 28 south-east from Oxford and 36 by rail representation was reduced from two members to one.
or 39 by road from London, and is situated on two Under the provisions of the “ Local Government A ct,
small eminences whose declivities fall into a pleasant 1888,” the borough becomes a “ County borough” for
vale, through which flow tw o branches of the Kennet, certain purposes.
°
uniting with the Thames at the extrem ity of the town :
Reading is called in Domesday “ Radynges,” and
on the banks of the Kennet, which is navigable to New­ according to the description therein contained at that
bury and F r ox field, are some excellent w harves: four date (1086) 28 houses, all belonging to the King, 29
bridges cross this river, and there is also an iron bridge others in ruins, one held by Henry Ferrars, a church,
over the Thames, and a foot bridge at CaveTsham Weir, two mills, and fisheries, not having then recovered from
constructed in 1885. The Kennet and Avon canal opens recent disasters. Stephen visited the town in 1140,
up a communication with the Severn.
and in 1141 came the Em press Maud, who was received
Reading is an im portant station on the Great Western with m uch honour: in 1153 the castle was surrendered
railw ay (some of the trains running from hence to Pad­ to Henry, Duke of Normandy, afterwards Henry II.
dington— and vice versa— without stoppage), and is the who frequently visited Reading between the years 1163junction of the Berks and Hants branch to Newbury, 85: Richard I. held a Parliam ent here in 119 1: K in g
Hungerford and Basingstoke with the m ain line. In John in 1213, and Henry III. in 1241; he also visited
1897-1899 the station was very m uch enlarged at con­ it in subsequent y e a rs ; Edward II. was here in 1314,
siderable cost. Reading is also a term inus of the South and Richard II. in 1384; parliam ents weTe again held
Eastern and Chatham (Reading, Guildford and Reigate here in 1440 and 1451, and in 1432 the parliament was
branch) and South Western railw ays, which oocupy a adjourned from W estminster to Reading on account of
jo in t station im m ediately south of the G reat Western a plague.
station.
Reading Abbey was founded in A.D. 1121 by K in g
The town is well built and has several good streets, Henry I. ; it was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, SS.
which are well paved and lighted with gas from works Mary, John the Evangelist and James, and was intended
the property of the Reading Gas Com pany, and also by for 200 monks of the Benedictine order, with an abbot
electric light, and the inhabitants have a constant (m itred), prior and sub-prior: this com m unity was
supply of water from the Kennet works in the Bath endowed with ample revenues and invested w ith almost
road, belonging to the Corporation; the houses are regal p ow er; their possessions were very extensive and
m ostly built of red brick.
their privileges scarcely le s s ; they were also the
Tram ways, the property of the Corporation, are laid ! guardians of a precious relic— the hand of St. James
down throughout the town and have been provided I the Apostle— which brought to them a continuous
w ith electric power since 1903 from a generating station 1 stream of wealth;
the Abbot ranked next to those of
in M ill lane.
1 Glastonbury and St. Alban’s, and retained his seat in
The borough, formerly in three wards, under the Parliam ent till the Dissolution; the buildings of the
“ Borough Extension A ct, 1887,” has been divided into abbey were completed in 1124, and the great church
ten wards, respectively, Abbey, Battle, Castle, Church, was not finished until 1164, when it was consecrated by
East, K atesgrove, Minster, Redlands, V ictoria and West, Becket in the presence of Henry II. and m any of the
and the Corporation consists of a high steward, a nobility: here in 1359, John of G aunt, fourth son o f
mayor, ten aldermen and thirty town councillors. The K in g Edward III. was married to Blanche, eventual
Corporation of Reading was originally a guild, said to heiress of Henry Plantagenet of
Gresm ont, Duke of
have been chartered by Edward the Confessor: the L a n ca ster; Henry I. its founder,
was buried here in
members of this guild were styled burgesses as early Dec. 1135, with his second queen, Adeliza, daughter of
as 1254, in a charter granted by Henry III. and con­ Godfrey of Louvaine, Duke of Brabant, as well as the
firm ed by Richard II. and Henry IV ., VI. and VIII. Empress Maud, wife of Henry V. of Germ any, and
and in 1351 the m aster was called m ayo r: Henry VII. afterwards wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou,
in 1487 enlarged their authority, and Henry V III. in who died 10th Sept. 1167; and here also were interred
J543 granted a new charter, m aking the mayor and W illiam , eldest son of Henry II. d. 1156; Reginald,
burgesses a body corporate, and this was confirmed by Earl of Cornwall, his natural son; Richard, Earl of