Kellys_Berks_Bucks&Oxon_1915_0167.jpg

DIRECTORY.]

B ER K SH IK E .

Tram w ays, the property of the Corporation, are laid
down throu ghout the town and have been provided
w ith electric power since 1903 from a gen eratin g station
in M ill lane.
The borough, form erly in three w ards, under the
“ Borough Extension A ct, 1887,” was divided into
ten wards, respectively, A bbey, Battle, C astle, C hurch,
E ast, K atesgrove, M inster, Redlands, V icto ria and W est.
By the R eading (Extension) Order, 1911, which came
into operation 9th Novem ber, 1911, the county borough
was extended to include parts of Theale and T ileh urst
c iv il parishes and Caversham Urban D istrict and civil
parish, O xon, and three new wards form ed, viz. :—
C aversham E ast, Caversham W est and' T ileh u rst, and
th e Corporation now consists of a high steward, m ayor,
thirteen alderm en and thirty-n in e town councillors. By
the same Order Caversham was transferred from Oxford
A d m in istrative county to Berkshire A dm in istrative
cou n ty and from Henley union to Reading union.
The Corporation of Reading was originally' a guild,
said to have been chartered by Edward the C o n fesso r:
the m em bers of this guild were styled burgesses as early
as 1254, in a charter granted by H enry III. and con­
firm ed by Richard II. and H enry IV ., VI. and V III.
and in 1351 the m aster was called m ayo r: Henry V II.
in 1487 enlarged th eir authority, and H enry V III. in
1543 granted a new ch arter, m akin g the m ayor and
burgesses a body corporate, and this was confirm ed by
E dw ard V I. Queen E lizabeth and Jam es I. ; further
charters were granted by Charles I. w hich w ere con­
firm ed in 1649, and also by Charles II. Th e Corpora­
tion was finally reform ed under the “ M unicipal C or­
porations A ct, 1835.” The borough has a commission
of the Peace and separate C ourt of Q uarter Sessions.
T h e Public H ealth A cts have been adopted b y the
C orporation.
R eading is a borough by prescription,
having sent m em bers to P arliam en t from the tim e of
the earliest rec o rd s: by the “ Redistribution of Seats
A ct, 1855 ” (48 and 49 V iet. c. 23), the boundary of the
p arliam en tary borough was extended on the east to the
S outh Eastern railw ay, and on th e south to C h rist­
ch u rch and Junction roads, and by the same A ct the
representation was reduced from two m em bers to one.
U nder the provisions of the “ Local G overnm ent A ct,
1888,” the borough becomes a “ C oun ty b o ro u g h ” for
certain purposes.
R eading is called in Dom esday “ R adyn ges,” and
according to the description therein contained at that
d a te (1086) 28 houses, all belonging to th e K in g, 29
others in ruins, one held by H enry F errars, a church,
tw o m ills, and fisheries, not having then recovered from
recent disasters. Stephen visited the town in 1140,
and in 1141 cam e the E m press M aud, who was received
w ith m uch honour: in 1153 the castle was surrendered
to Henry, Duke of N orm andy, afterw ards Henry II.
who frequently visited Reading between the years 116385: Richard 1. held a Parliam en t here in 11 9 1: K in g
John in 1213, and H enry III. in 1241; he also visited
i t in subsequent y e a r s ; E dw ard II. was here in i 3 J4 ’
and Richard II. in 1384; parliam ents were again held
here in 1440 and 1451, and in 1432 the parliam ent was
adjourned from W estm inster to R eadin g on account of
a plague.
R eading A bbey was founded in A.D . 1121 by K in g
H enry I. ; it was dedicated to the H oly T rin ity, SS.
M ary, John the E van gelist and Jam es, and was intended
fo r 200 m onks of the Benedictine order, w ith an abbot
(m itre d ), prior and su b -p rio r: this Com m unity was
endowed w ith am ple revenues and invested w ith alm ost
regal p o w er; their possessions w ere very extensive and
th e ir p rivileges scarcely le s s ; th ey w ere also the
guardians of a precious relic— the hand of St. James
th e Apostle— which b rought to them a continuous
stream of w e a lth ; the A bbot ranked next to those of
G lastonbury and S t. Albans, and retained his seat in
P arliam ent' till the D issolu tion ; th e buildings of the
ab b ey were com pleted in 1124, and the great church
w as not finished until 1164, when i t was consecrated by
B ecket in the presence of H enry II. and m any of the
n o b ility : here in 1359, John of G aun t, fourth son of
K in g E dw ard III. was m arried to Blanche, eventual
heiress of H enry Plantagenet of G resm on t, Duke of
L a n ca ster; H enry I. its founder, was buried here in
Dec. X135, w ith his second queen, A deliza, dau gh ter of
G odfrey of Louvaine, Duke of B rabant, as well as the
E m p ress M aud, w ife of H enry V . of G erm any, and
afterw ards w ife of G eoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou,
who died 10th Sept. 1167; and here also were interred
W illiam , eldest son of H enry II. d. 1156 ; Reginald,
E arl of Cornwall, his n atu ral s o n ; R ichard, E arl of
P oitou and Cornwall, brother of H enry III. d. 2nd

READING.

151

A p ril, 1272; Constance, daugh ter of E dm und P lan ­
tagenet, of L an gley, Duke of Y o rk , and wife of Thom as
Despencer, E arl of G lo u ceste r; and Anne, Countess of
W a rw ic k : at the tim e of its dissolution its revenues
were not less than ¿1,938 13s- 3hd - y e a rly : of its
buildings, w ith the exception of the g atew ay, hardly
m ore than enormous and shapeless m asses of flin t and
rubble now re m a in ; the chapter house is now alm ost
the only ap artm en t rem ain in g to a certain exten t entire,
although masses of w alls denuded of their stone facing
and now covered w ith ivy, extend in various directions
and one or tw o bases of the piers of the g rea t church
are yet in s itu ; the garden of the m onastery stretched
from th e present county police courts nearly to the
M arket place, and the stables, w hich weTe very exten ­
s ile , occupied a site adjoining Holy B ro o k : the con­
ventual church was a Norm an stru ctu re : the w ainscoting
of the refectory is now in the hall of M agdalen College,
O xford : the catalogue of the lib ra ry in the reign of
H eury III. is still ex ta n t; it then com prised 100
volum es, 38 of w hich contained the H oly S criptures
or portions thereof. H ugh Faringdon, 31st and last
abbot of R eading, stu rd ily refu sin g to acknowledge the
suprem acy of H enry V III. or to surrender his house,
was, w ith two of his m onks, R u g g and Onyon, hung,
draw n and q uartered w ithin sig h t of his own g atew ay,
Nov. 14th, X539: th e g rea t gatew ay, which origin ally
gave access to the inner oourt of the abbey, was some
years since very carefu lly restored, and is a rectan gular
structure of two stages, con structed of flint w ith stone
d ressin g s; a wide pointed archw ay pierces the lower
s t a g e ; in the upper are sm all trefoil-headed windows,
surm ounted by a plain parapet, and a t the angles are
octagonal tu rrets rising above the whole. Two m ural
tablets to the m em ories of the first and la st abbots
were placed on the walls of the chapter house in June,
1911.
Of other m onastic establishm ents once ex istin g here,
the m ost im p ortan t was th at of the Franciscans or G rey
F riars, who established them selves in R eadin g in i 233>
by perm ission of Pope G reg ory IX . and in 1285 m oved
to a new site, upon which, w ith the help of E dw ard I.
who furnished them w ith tim ber, they erected th eir
c o n v e n t: its church , com pleted, as is supposed, about
1311, is one of the finest exam ples of this period extan t,
and has been restored : this house was surrendered to
H enrv V III. 13th Sept. 1539, by the w arden, P eter
Schefford S .T .P . and ten fr ia r s: in 1540 the dom estic
buildings w ere granted to Robert Stanshaw, a retain er
of the K in g, and in 1543 the Corporation obtained
possession of the church , which th ey converted into a
town h a ll; in 1560 it becam e a workhouse, and in 1613
a prison, which purpose it continued to serve u n til it
was purchased in 1863 by th e la te Ven. Archdeacon
Phelps, and by him restored to its origin al uses.
H u°h , who becam e eigh th abbot about 1180, founded
another hospital, dedicated to S t. John the B ap tist, for
the relief of strangers and p ilgrim s, near St. Lauren ce’s
church, and conducted by a sisterhood of 13 w idow s:
Abbot Thorne, in the reign of E dw ard IV. suppressed
this hospital and converted it into a gra m m a r school,
A.D. 1485.
In 1212 the Pope’s L eg ate held a council here, and
in the follow ing year K in g John m et the leg ate and
barons at R eading and held a parliam en t. H enry III.
after several visits also held parliam ents here in 1241
and 1263; E dw ard II. was at R eadin g in 1314, and
Edward in. passed Christm as in the town and held a
grand tournam ent in 1346; h ith er also, in 1380, cam e
Richard II. to punish su ch of the townsfolk as had lent
help to th e rebel, W a t T y le r : in 1415 H enry V . and in
1440 Henry V I. who then m e t his p arliam e n t: th e
m arriage of E dw ard IV. w ith E lizabeth W oodville was
first openly acknowledged at R eading in 1464, when
she m ade her p ublic appearance at the abbey, being
conducted th ith er b y th e D uke of G loucester and th e
E arl of W arwick. P arliam en ts w ere held here in 146667 in the great hall of the abbey. H enry V II. was at
R eading in 1487: H enry V III. on several occasions, and
in 1552 E dw ard V I. visited it and was received w ith
m uch cerem ony by the authorities, as afterw ards in
1^54, were Philip and M ary. Queen E lizabeth visited
R eading in 1568, i 5 7 2> *57 5, *59*> i6o2> and, “ *6o3
shortly before her d e a th : the law courts w ere held here
in M ichaelm as T erm 1625, on account of the Pla gue
rag in g iu London, the ju d ges sittin g in th e g rea t hall
of the abbey, the town hall and council cham ber. In
1643 the town sustained a v ery severe siege of ten days
from the P arliam en tary forces, under the com m and of
the E arl of E s s e x : the town itself was strongly fortified,
and E ssex having sum m oned it to surrender, received