Reading is an ancient and populous borough and market town, pleasantly situated on the river Kennet which joins the Thames, a little below the town. Camden supposes the name to be derived from the Saxon word Rhea, river, or the British Redin, fern; which grew here in great plenty.

The town consists of three very considerable parishes, viz. St. Mary’s, St. Laurence’s, and St. Giles, separately maintaining their own poor. The principal streets are extensive, well paved, and lighted; and the buildings in general remarkably handsome. According to the returns under the population act, in 1801, there were then 1755 houses and 9770 inhabitants.

The municipal government of the town is vested by the charter of Charles II. in a mayor, recorder, twelve aldermen, and as many burgesses, from whom the vacancies in the list of aldermen are supplied. The corporation, who possess the ancient manor and rights attached to it, hold four quarterly sessions for the trial of felonies, and a court every Wednesday for the consideration of smaller offences against the peace.

Reading sends two members to parliament, which it has done ever since the 23 Edward I. though we do not find any charter of incorporation older than Henry VII. The right of election is in the inhabitants paying scot and lot, the mayor being the returning officer; the number of voters is somewhat more than 600.

Reading has two markets weekly, held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The latter is chiefly for corn. A cattle market is also held every Monday morning, where there is a considerable shew of neat cattle, from the western parts of the county on their way to Smithfield. For the convenience of the inhabitants, and to prevent forestalling, the mayor regulates the market hours, which begin at eight in the summer and nine in the winter season.

The market on Wednesday is well supplied with all sorts of provisions, particularly poultry, butter, and eggs, and sea and Thames fish. There are four fairs held here on the days inserted in our list.

There are several manufactories in Reading which afford employment to a great number of its poorer inhabitants. Among them are to be mentioned an extensive gauze and ribbon manufactory, the sail-cloth and sacking manufactory, and the pin manufactory.

The river Kennet runs through the town, and in its passage forms several excellent wharfs. The river is navigable westward to Newbury, a distance of 17 miles, and the completion of the Kennet and Avon Canal opens a communication, by the junction of those rivers, from the Severn to the Thames. The principal articles sent from Reading by water-carriage are timber, hoops, bark, corn, wool, malt and flour. Upwards of 20,000 quarters of the latter commodity are annually sent from hence to the metropolis. The articles brought in return are grocery, iron, deals, &c. to a great amount.

Reading is a place of considerable antiquity, and its origin unknown, nor has it been determined whether at the time of the Roman invasion it was a British settlement, or whether it then became first inhabited. Dr. Salmon, indeed, has asserted, that Reading is the Spinae of the itinerary, but has failed in the evidence adduced to support his opinion.

The earliest mention of this town, in history, is in the year 871, when it is described to be a fortified town, belonging to the Saxons, but then in the possession of the Danes, who had retreated hither after their unsuccessful battle at Englefield, with Earl Ethelwolf.

In 1006 the town was burnt by the Danes, and a convent of nuns, then existing under the government of an abbess, destroyed. The town, however, appears to have soon recovered from this calamity, and in the reign of King Stephen held out against the Empress Maud, which induced her son Henry II. to demolish the castle, which he did so effectually that there is not a single vestige of it now to be seen.

Leland imagined it might stand at the west end of the street now called Castle Street, perhaps only because it seems probable that a street built on, or near the site of the castle, should be so called. There are the traces of two bastions near the ruins of the abbey, but they are known by their figure to be modern; and were probably constructed during the Civil War in Charles I. time, and destroyed at the Revolution.

In 1121 Henry I. laid the foundation of a magnificent abbey on the site of that destroyed, which he completed in 1124. The charter of establishment recites that, "The abbeys of Reading, Chelsey, and Leominster, having been destroyed for their sins, and their possessions fallen into the hands of the laity, the king with the advice of his prelates, &c. had built a new monastery at Reading, and endowed it with the monasteries of Reading, Chelsey, and Leominster, together with, their appurtenances of woods, fields, pastures, &c. with exemption from all tolls, duties, customs, and contributions."

Besides these privileges the abbot and the monks were invested with the power of trying criminals, and entrusted generally with the conservation of the peace within the town and neighbourhood. In return for these extensive grants, their charter provided that the monks should hospitably entertain the poor and all travellers, which part of their duty was so well performed, that, according to William of Malmsbury, there was always more expended upon strangers than upon themselves.

Although this famous abbey was completed in four years, the church was either not consecrated till the reign of Henry II. or else that ceremony was a second time performed, in the year 1163 or 1164, by Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury; the king and many of the nobility being present.

It was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the blessed Virgin Mary, and St. John the Evangelist; but commonly called the Abbey of St. Mary, at Reading; probably from the extraordinary veneration paid in those days to the Holy Virgin. It was endowed for 200 monks of the Benedictine order. It was a mitred abbey, the abbot having the privilege of sitting in parliament.

Henry I. was so delighted with this establishment that he continued heaping favours upon it, until the time of his decease, when he left orders for his body to be interred in the chancel, which was accordingly complied with.

Adeliza, Henry’s second queen, was likewise interred, as were also William, the eldest son of Henry II. and a great number of other persons of rank and distinction.

Henry II. confirmed all the grants of his predecessors.

Notwithstanding the obligation contained in their charter it appears that the necessities of the poor were not always attended to. Hugh, the eighth abbot, in his deed for the foundation of a new hospital observes, "that whereas King Henry had appointed all persons to be entertained there, yet he found that the same was performed in a decent manner towards the rich, but not according to the king’s intention towards the poor, which miscarriage he, as the ward to that noble charity, was resolved to correct." He accordingly built an hospital without the abbey gate, that those persons who were not admitted to the upper house might be entertained there. By the above-mentioned deed he gave the church of St. Laurence to this hospital, for ever, for the maintenance of 13 poor persons, in diet, clothes, and other necessaries, and allowed sufficient for the support of thirteen others out of the usual alms.

This abbey continued to flourish till the reign of Henry VIII. when Hugh Farringdon, the then abbot, refusing to deliver an account to the visitors of the revenues and treasures belonging to the foundation, was, with two of his monks named Rugg and Onion, attainted of high treason, and being condemned to death, were in the month of November, 1539, all three hung, drawn, and quartered, at Reading. This happened on the same day that the abbot of Glastonbury suffered the like sentence, for a similar provocation. Immediate possession being taken of the abbey, immense quantities of jewels, and other articles of great value were found, besides the revenues, which amounted to 1,938l. 14s. 3d.

The greatest part of this stately edifice, which appears to have occupied a space nearly half a mile in circumference, remained till the Civil Wars in the reign of Charles I. when the army of the parliament pulled down the upper part of the walls, considering it as a relic of Popish idolatry, however there are some ruins still remaining; from a view of which a tolerable idea may be formed of its original grandeur.

The walls are nearly eight feet thick, and faced with free-stone, but the interior part is composed of flints, cemented with mortar of a dry hard texture.

Towards the east end is a large room of a semicircular form, having five narrow windows, and three doors. It is arched over, and seems to have supported a chapel, in which it is imagined mass was daily said for the souls of the great personages who are here interred.

The hospital for the poor knights at Windsor, was built, soon after the Dissolution, with the materials from the ruins. Queen Elizabeth in her charter grants the corporation liberty to take away 200 loads of fine stone from the abbey, and a considerable quantity was carried away by the late General Conway, for the erection of that singular bridge at Park riace, which is thrown across the high road leading from Henley to Wargrave.

Fuller, in his Church History, has the following anecdote of one of the prelates of this abbey, which he stiles a pleasant and true story, and which we shall relate in his own words, "As King Henry VIII. was hunting in Windsor Forest, he either casually lost, or more probably willfully losing himself, struck down, about dinner time to the abbey of Reading, where disguising himself (much for delight, more for discovery unseen), he was invited to the abbot’s table, and passed for one of the king’s guard; a place to which the proportion of his person might properly entitle him. A sirloin of beef was set before him (so knighted, saith tradition, by this Henry), on which the king laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for whom he was mistaken. "Well fare thy heart (quoth the abbot), and here in a cup of sack I remember the health of his grace your master. I would give an hundred pounds on the condition I could feed so lustily on beef as you do. Alas! my weak and squeezie stomach will hardly digest the wing of a small rabbit or chicken." The king pleasantly pledged him, and heartily thanked him for his good cheer; after which he departed as undiscovered as he came thither. Some weeks after the abbot was sent for by a pursuivant, brought up to London, kept in the tower, kept close prisoner, and fed, for a short time, with bread and water; yet not so empty his body of food as his mind was filled with fears, creating many suspicions to himself, when and how he had incurred the king’s displeasure. At last a sirloin of beef was set before him, on which the abbot fed as the farmer of his grange, and verified the proverb that two hungry meals make the third a glutton. In springs King Henry, out of a private lobby, where he had placed himself, the invisible spectator of the abbot’s behavior. "My Lord, quoth the king) presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the daies of your life. I have been your physician to cure you of your squeezie stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand my fee for the same." The abbot down with his dust, and, glad he had escaped so, returned to Reading, as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more merry in heart than when he came thence."

Near the abbey church there was an hospital for lepers, founded by Ausgerus or Aucherius, the second abbot, and dedicated to Mary Magdalen. There were also several other religious foundations in Reading, particularly a priory or house of grey-friars, which in 1560, was converted into an hospital or work-house, and afterwards, in 1613, into a house of correction. This part was the south transept of the church of the grey-friars: the walls of which are still entire.

The Grammar School, which Leland mentions to have been founded out of the produce of the estates of a suppressed Almshouse of Poor Sisters, on the north-west of Saint Lawrence’s Church, is situated on the east side of the Forbury, and is now in great reputation under the care of the Rev. Dr. Valpy. The vice chancellor of Oxford, the president of St. John’s college, and the warden of All Souls, hold a triennial visitation, and the senior scholars annually make public speeches in the town-hall. Sir Thomas White, who was born at Reading, founded at St. John’s College, two scholarships for natives of Reading educated at this school.

Among the public buildings of the town the first to be noticed are the three parish churches, which although very respectable structures have nothing sufficiently remarkable, either in their architecture or antiquity, to require a very particular description.

St. Lawrence’s Church appears to have been rebuilt in 1434. In 1517 it possessed some curious relies, among which was, "a gridiron of silver, gilt, with a bone of St. Lawrence thereon, weighing three quarters of an ounce, the gift of Thomas Lynd, Esq." In this church lies interred John Blagrave, the celebrated mathematician; his monument has his effigies, a half length, under an arch, habited in a cloak and ruff, holding a globe in one hand, and a quadrant in the other, underneath is the following inscription:

"Johannes Blagravus,

Totus Mathematicus,

Cum Matre Sepultus."

There are also some indifferent English verses. The church contains no other monument worthy of notice.

The chapel of St. Edmund, in this parish, near the west end of Friar Street, was-built in 1204, by Lawrence Burgess, bailiff of Reading, by permission of the abbot, on condition of his giving an endowment for its support; the founder built an hermitage near it, in which he died. The chapel has long since been pulled down.

St, Mary’s Church was rebuilt about the year 1551, of materials purchased for the purpose from the abbey church, which was then pulled down. The only monument worthy of notice in this church is that of "William Kenrick, or Kendrick, said to be descended from the Saxon kings.

St. Giles’s Church contains little that is remarkable, the spire which is 70 feet high, is made of wood, covered with copper, and was erected in 1790, at the expence of 573l. 19s.

In the year 1560, the upper part of the ancient hospital of St. John, was converted into a Town-hall. In 1672 it was repaired at the expence of John Blagrave, Esq. In 1785 it was rebuilt, and is now a very handsome room, 108 feet in length, 32 in width, and 24 in height, Adjoining to it is a spacious council-chamber, in which are, among others, the portraits of Sir Thomas White, founder of St. John’s College, Oxford, Archbishop Laud, and Mr. John Kendrick, all natives of Reading, and great benefactors to the town, as we shall hereafter mention. Here are also portraits of Richard Aldworth, Esq. ancestor of Lord Braybrooke, who was founder of the blue-coat school, and Sir Thomas Rich, Bart. a benefactor to that charity.

The present County Gaol was erected about the year 1793, on the site of some of the old abbey buildings. It is a handsome structure, 163 feet in front and 137 feet in depth. It contains a commodious house for the keeper, a room for the reception of the magistrates, a neat chapel, and an infirmary. The male and female prisoners are confined in separate wings of the building, each of them divided into several courts, day rooms for labour, and other apartments. There are a few cells for the refractory, and some for the purpose of solitary confinement.

The income arising from the various benefactions, legacies, &c. bequeathed or given to this town for charitable purposes amounts to upwards of 3000l. annually; the following is a brief account of the principal charities, and the mode of their application.

Sir Thomas White, a native of this town, and lord mayor of London, in the year 1553, placed Reading the fourth in his list of 24 cities and towns which were to receive 1041. in yearly rotation for ever from lands vested in the corporation of Bristol. This sum, as often as it is paid, is to be lent to four necessitous young men, clothiers, 25l. to each, for ten years, without interest.

In 1658 Mr. Richard Aldworth, bequeathed 4000l. to found a blue-coat school, and maintain a master, lecturer, and 20 boys. This charity has been increased by various subsequent donations, and the school is now a very respectable establishment, the funds being sufficient to support and educate from 30 to 43 children.

Mr. John Hall, of London, apothecary, by will, in December 1696, provided a house for a school-master. He has five pounds a year, a cloak once in two years about two pounds value, eighteen pounds a year, and one pound a year for shoes and stockings, to be paid him, to enable him to teach three boys, one out of each parish, of the age of fourteen, or fifteen years to read, write, and cast accounts, and to maintain them; and he also gave six pounds, and a bible, to each boy to put him out apprentice. The school-house is situated in Chain-lane. The parents of these children must have been parishioners of one of the parishes at the time of their birth, and they are elected into it by the mayor and aldermen. The same benefactor also gave five messuages adjoining to the school, for five poor single persons, of good reputation, of the town of Reading; and endowed them with eighteen-pence a week, twelve shillings a year for fuel, and once in two years a cloth gown.

In the year 1782 the three vicars of Reading instituted a Charity-school for six girls, now augmented to twelve, supported by public contributions. On St. Thomas’s day, when Mr. West’s charity-sermon is alternately preached in three parish churches, an annual collection is made at the church doors, in aid of this institution by the trustees.

John West, Esq. by will, made an endowment for the maintenance and education of three boys, between the ages of seven and eleven years, in the charity-school of Christchurch, London, to be elected by the minister, church-wardens, and payers to the poor-rates, out of each parish alternately on every vacancy; with each of whom an apprentice- fee of 20 pounds is given by the donor, and the children are apprenticed out to such masters and trades as their parents approve. The same donor, and Frances his wife, gave to the cloth-workers company, houses and grounds, let at 39l. 13s. 4d. a year, in trust, to pay the rents and profits thereof to blind men and women, five pounds a year each for life. The poor blind in Newbury and Reading to be preferred before others.

Archbishop, Laud, a native of this borough, by deed in his life-time, gave 120l. a year for ever, to be employed two years successively in apprenticing ten boys born in Reading, one belonging to the parish of Bray, and one belonging to the parish of Wokingham, Berks; and every third year to be divided into 20l. shares, and given to five such maid-servants born in Reading, with one other maidservant born in the parish of Bray or Wokingham, alternately, who have respectively lived three years in one service, in Reading, Bray, or Wokingham, as the mayor and aldermen shall direct, to promote them in marriage.

Mr. John Allen, late of Harfield, in the county of Middlesex, who was educated in the blue-coat charity-school in this borough, gave, by will, the sum of 10001. to be laid out in the purchase of lands, nine tenths of the clear yearly value of which for the putting out three boys, not under 15 years, one out of each parish in the town of Reading, apprentices in London, every year, by the ministers of the three parishes, and the other tenth to be equally divided between the said three ministers. He likewise gave ten pounds to be distributed by the church-wardens to the poor of the parish of St. Mary. His monument and rails, in St. Mary’s church-yard, to be painted and repaired, as often as there shall be occasion, by the three ministers, out of the nine-tenths of the estates above-mentioned.

Mr. John Kendrick, by will, December 29, 1624, gave 50l. one third part of which he directed to be distributed to the poor of each parish separately, by the church-wardens and overseers at Christmas, yearly, for ever, which is regularly done. He also gave 101. yearly, issuing out of lands at Mattingly, and of a farm in North-street, in the parish of Tilehurst, Berks, purchased by the corporation in trust, towards the maintenance of morning prayers at St. Mary’s Church. The same gentleman also gave by will to the town of Reading, two other very considerable gifts, one of 75001. and the other of 5001. Out of the first gift the corporation purchased lands in North-street, in the parish of Tilehurst, and a tenement in Minster Street, in Reading, which cost 19001. There was bought of Anthony Blagrave, Esq. a plot of ground adjoining to the said tenement, which cost 321. and in building the new part and altering the old, to make it fit for carrying on the trade of cloathing, there was laid out the sum of 1846l. There was likewise laid out in shop-stuff 122l. and the remainder was, by the mayor and aldermen, lent to such persons as had the best interests with them, but upon slender securities. The people of the town, being apprehensive that there might be great losses accrue to the charity through negligence and partiality, petitioned the king, in council, to diect them what course to take to preserve that great charity. Upon which it was left to the archbishop of Canterbury, to give his opinion in what manner the said charity should be applied for the use and good of the poor of Reading, which was, that the money should be secured by the purchase of lands, and the profits and produce thereof to be employed in lending to young tradesmen, that could give good security for the repayment in a limited time, without interest; to bind out poor fatherless and motherless boys to handicraft trades; and to give to poor maids, that had lived with one master or dame a limited time, and behaved well in her place, and had no friends to give her any portion in marriage, the several sums specified in the decree, which are limited, and not to exceed the sums therein mentioned.

This adjudication of the archbishop, was soon after exhibited into the court of Exchequer; and in trinity term, in the 14th of King Charles I anno 1639, a decree passed in that court that the sum of 36001. left, being part of the sum of 75001. of Mr. John Kendrick’s first gift, should be laid out in lands and the income and produce of the same to be employed to the uses above-mentioned. By virtue of which decree, soon after there was bought with part of the said money, of Ralph Yerney, Esq. and Mary his wife, a farm at Greenmer-hill, in South Stoke, and Goring, in the county of Oxon, which cost 1050l. There was also bought, with a farther part of the said money, another farm called Brazenhead, or Parr’s Land, at Sulhamstead Abbots and Banisters, which cost 8071. 11s. 7d. bought of William Parr and son. With a farther part of the said money was purchased of Richard Knollys. Esq. certain lands called by the name of the Crown-fields, in Reading, which cost 11001. All which said purchases cost 2957l. 11s. 7d. so that there remained to lay out in land, according to the decree, the sum of 642l. 5s. 5d. Out of this sum, eight several sums of 801. each were lent out upon security for ten years gratis, without interest, and at the end of that time, pursuant to the decree, to be lent to other persons for the like time, and so to continue, from ten years to ten years, for ever. Yet, by the accounts of the said charity, the money was not received back and lent again in twenty years, and some a much longer time, and some of them quite lost: some of the aldermen themselves, though to their dishonour, formerly made use of the same; some without giving any security, and others upon very slender ones; so that this branch of Mr. Kendrick’s charity is so much diminished, that one half, if not more, of the said eight sums of eighty pounds, are sunk and lost, to the great hurt of the trading people in Heading. The second gift, as before observed, was 500l. to be lent gratis, after his first nomination, to ten trading men, from three years to three years, they giving security for the repayment of 501. each. But, for want of due care, both the time and conditions were altered, so that in time it came into the hands of Mr. Joseph or John Wigg, where it rested till his death; and then, about the year 1718 or 1719, was paid into the hands of a certain alderman, as chamberlain of the hall-revenues, where it did not belong, it being for a charitable use, he having acknowledged the same in one of his chamberlain’s accounts: so (hat this, part of Mr. Kendrick’s charity is not employed for the benefit of those for whom it was intended, either by negligence or misapplication of the managers of the said charity, who, by a printed publication, were clearly proved debtors to this charity in the sum of 18,439l. 10s.

The building which was originally erected for a clothing manufactory, in pursuance of Mr. Kendrick’s will, is now called the Oracle; and is at present occupied by sacking manufacturers, sail cloth, weavers, pin-makers, &c. who are allowed the use of the building gratis.

On Good Friday, in every year, three maid servants, who have lived in one service rive years, are appointed by the corporation, who throw lots in the council-chamber for twenty nobles, the gift of Mr. John Blagrave, June 10, Hill. At the nomination of the mayor elect, on the last Monday in August in every year, three other maid-servants, appointed at last mentioned, also throw lots in the council- chamber for eight pounds, the gift of the late aldermen, Mr. John Deane and Mr. John Richards; and the sum of five pounds has of late years been given by Martin Annesley, Esq. brother to the member. And the late Awberry Flory, Esq. also gave by will the interest of 100l. for ever, to be added to Mr. Annesley’s gift, and equally divided between the two unfortunate maids.

Sir Thomas Vatchell, Knt. in 1634, founded almshouses for six poor men, and endowed them with forty pounds per annum for ever.—John Leche, otherwise John A’Larder, Esq. in 1477, founded five alms-houses for five poor men; and endowed them with twenty-pence a week, and three others adjoining for three poor women, with the same endowment: rebuilt by the corporation 1775.— John Webb, Esq. in 1633, founded four alms-houses, and endowed them with two shillings a week, which were rebuilt by the corporation in 1790. Mr. Richard Keys founded four alms-houses for four poor w omen, and endowed them with lands of 10l. a year.—There are several charily-houses in Hosiers-lane, and the persons enjoying them are elected by the minister of the parish of St. Mary's for the time being.

The celebrated William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, was the son of an eminent clothier of Reading, where he was born at an ancient house, now standing in Broad-Street, in the year 1683. He was first educated in the free-school here, from whence he was removed to St. John’s College, Oxford, where he took his degrees, and was chosen one of the fellows of that society. He was also chosen university reader of grammar, in which profession he was greatly followed, being admired for his extensive knowledge of the learned languages.

Laud obtained several considerable preferments, but remained fellow of the college, till he was elected master in 1611. This election, however, was warmly contested, and the king (James I.) hearing of the dispute, sent for both partes to Titchbourn in Hampshire, where he examined the matter and gave his opinion in favour of Laud. He was soon after appointed one of the royal chaplains, and in 1616 promoted to the deanery of Gloucester. In 1621 he was advanced to the bishopric of St. David’s, when he resigned his mastership of the college, and at the coronation of Charles I. officiated as Dean of Windsor.

We have hitherto considered Laud as a scholar and churchman, rising from one degree of preferment to another; but from the period last mentioned of Charles’s accession to the throne he was called forth to public action, both in church and state, which ended in the ruin of himself and his royal master.

In 1626 he was promoted to the see of Bath and Wells, made dean of the chapel royal, sworn of the privy council, and next year translated to the bishopric of London.

In proportion as he possessed the royal favour, he became the object of envy, both to the nobility and churchmen; and Sir James Whitelock one of the judges, and a man of great experience, used to say, that "Laud was too full of fire, though a just and good man, and that his want of experience in state matters, and his too much zeal for the church ceremonies, if he proceeded in the way he was then in, would set the nation on fire !"

In 1633 he was appointed archbishop of Canterbury, and the same year accompanied the king to Scotland, where being offended with the simplicity of their worship, he projected the scheme of imposing on that church the English liturgy, which the people considered as little better than the mass book. His conduct in that affair, with his cruelty to those whom he prosecuted in the court of star-chamber, so alienated the affections of the people from the sovereign, that they found themselves under the necessity of taking up arms in the defence of their injured rights and privileges.

In 1640, when the long parliament met, he was accused by the Scotch commissioners as an incendiary, and next day the commons impeached him of high treason, which was carried up to the bar of the house of lords by Daniel Holies, son of the Earl of Clare, whereupon he was taken into custody of the usher of the black rod, and afterwards committed to the tower, where he remained above three years.

At first the parliament resolved to try him at common law, but it was considered as unsafe to trust a matter of such importance with a jury; and therefore a bill of attainder was carried up from the commons to the lords, where it passed without much opposition, and a warrant was made out for his execution, on the 10th of January 1644. He was attended to the scaffold by Dr Sterne, his chaplain, where after some time spent in devotion, his head was cut of at one blow, in the 72nd year of his age.

Were we bigoted high churchmen, we should represent Laud as a martyr; were we rigid dissenters, we should consider him as a merciless inhuman persecutor. But without the least attachment to any party farther than is consistent with reason and truth, we shall not omit his virtues, while we consider his failings.

That he was a man of great learning is evident: not only from his learned answer to Fisher the Jesuit, but also from his judicious collections of manuscripts, which he left to the university of Oxford. His assiduity in the discharge of his episcopal duty was equal to his abilities as a scholar; and his piety in private as a Christian appears from his diary, published after his death. But such is the contaminating nature of pride, especially in churchmen, and so infatuating is the love of power, that when trusted with a person unacquainted with the world, and destitute of prudence, it frequently carries him to such unwarrantable heights, as seldom fail to procure his destruction. Laud was brought up in all the unfeeling apathy of a collegiate life, and when called to act in a public character was utterly unacquainted with the world. He imbibed high notions of episcopal authority, and was so fondly attached to the exteriors of religion, that he forgot that saying of his divine master—"I will have mercy and not sacrifice." To this may be ascribed all those miseries, which his infatuated conduct brought upon the nation, by deluging it in the blood of its inhabitants, and overturning the established form of government, both in church and state. He had gone so far towards Rome, that even the papists had hopes of him, and (as he says himself) actually offered him a cardinal’s hat. But we are of opinion, with Burnet and some others, that his chief intention was, to establish all the ridiculous ceremonies of popery, without acknowledging the papal power; or in other words to make the archbishop of Canterbury pope in England.

During the Civil Wars in the reign of Charles I. the inhabitants of Reading nobly defended the place against the army of the parliament, under the command of the Earl of Essex. That nobleman having advanced with his forces consisting of 16000 foot and 3000 horse, immediately began the siege in form, the garrison under Sir Arthur Aston, consisting only of 3000 foot and 300 horse. At the beginning of the siege, Sir Arthur received a wound in his head, and being unable to attend his duty, the command devolved on Colonel Fielding. Information being given to the king that the place was invested, his majesty considered it of too much importance to lose, and therefore detached Commissary Wilmot with a body of horse, who managed the affair with so much prudence that he assisted the town with 500 auxiliary forces, besides a considerable quantity of ammunition. Fielding, however, did not think this supply sufficient, and therefore agreed to capitulate; but before he had time to deliver up the place, the king marched with his army from Oxford, and detached the Earl of Bath, with 1000 musqueteers to relieve the place, who being ignorant of the capitulation, attacked with great vigour, the regiments of Lords Roberts and Buckley, who defended Coversham bridge, expecting to be assisted by the garrison; but finding that the governor did not make any sally upon the besiegers, he retreated to the royal army, and Fielding having found means to escape from the town, went to the king, and represented the place was unable to hold out any longer; upon which he obtained his majesty’s leave to capitulate, and the garrison marched out with all the honours of war.

In the year 1688, an alarm began at Reading, which instantaneously spread through the whole kingdom, that the Irish disbanded soldiers of king James’s army, were ravaging and murdering where ever they came. Every town believed the next to it was actually in flames; and such a panic was raised, that every one was up in arms to defend himself. It was soon, however, found to be a false report, but, from the singularity of the circumstance and the consequence that ensued, it was afterwards distinguished by the name of the Irish cry.

About the same time there happened a skirmish between a party belonging to the prince of Orange, and another of King James’s troops, in which the latter were repulsed. This skirmish gave rise to the famous ballad of Lilliburlero, and the day on which it happened is still commemorated by the inhabitants.

We have already noticed the fossil oyster shells, found at Catsgrove, near Reading, in a small hill, called Bob’s Mount. Some of then are of a very large size, with the valves closed; there are also found numbers of small bones, like the teeth of fish: these fossils are found in a bed of green sand, of one foot six inches to two feet thick, lying upon chalk, the next stratum over this sand is a soft loamy earth, of about twenty inches thick; over this another stratum of green sand, five feet to five feet six inches thick; and over this is a stratum of fuller’s earth, two feet nine inches to three feet thick; and to the top of the hill clay of about seventy or eighty feet thick, from which they make bricks. The oyster shells are only found in a direction from north to south; and it is supposed this stratum does not extend more than half a mile in length.

Near Reading, on the opposite side of the Thames, is Caversham, the seat of Major Marsac. The house was erected by the Earl of Cadogan, who was created baron of Reading in the year 1716. This was a most magnificent building, but was reduced by his successor, and again altered by the present proprietor. It is situated on an eminence, commanding a very extensive and diversified view of the county of Berks and the adjacent counties. The grounds are beautifully laid out, and the park, though not large, is remarkably picturesque.

There was a priory of Black Canons at Caversham cell to Nuttley Abbey, in Buckinghamshire; famous for the story of the angel with one wing, who brought hither the spear that pierced our Saviour’s side on the cross.

About two miles south-east from Reading is White Knights, the seat of the Marquis of Blandford. The house is a plain white building, situated in the centre of the grounds, which are remarkable for their combining, in an eminent degree, the agreeable with the useful. White Knights was one of the earliest examples of the FermeOrnee.

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READING, an ancient and very considerable market and assize town and a parliamentary and county and municipal borough with separate jurisdiction, the county town of Berkshire, the head of a poor law union, inland revenue collection, petty sessional division and county court district, in the Southern division of the county, in the rural deanery of Reading, archdeaconry of Berks and diocese of Oxford; it is bounded on the north by the Thames, separating it from Caversham in Oxfordshire, and is 8 miles south-west from Henley-on-Thames, 26 south-east from Abingdon, 68 from Bath, 13 south-west from Maiden, head, 17 east from Newbury, 26 south-east from Wantage, 16 west from Windsor, 16 north from Basingstoke, 45 from Southampton, 15 south-east from Wallingford, 28 south-east from Oxford and 36 by rail or 39 by road from London, and is situated on two small eminences whose declivities fall into a pleasant vale, through which flow two branches of the Kennet, uniting with the Thames at the extremity of the town: on the banks of the Kennet, which is navigable to Newbury and Froxfield, are some excellent wharves: four bridges cross this river, and there is also an iron bridge over the Thames, and a foot bridge at Caversham Weir, constructed in 1885. The Kennet and Avon canal opens up a communication with the Severn.

Reading is an important station on the Great Western railway (some of the trains running from hence to Paddington-and vice versa-without stoppage), and is the junction of the Berks and Hants branch to Newbury, Hungerford and Basingstoke with the main line; in 1897 extensive alterations and additions to the Great Western Railway station were begun and are now (1899) nearing completion; the whole of the work, when finished, is estimated to cost £170,000; Reading is also a terminus of the South Eastern (Reading, Guildford and Reigate branch) and South Western railways, which occupy a joint station immediately south of the Great Western station.

The town is well built and has several good streets, which are well paved and lighted with gas from works the property of the Reading Gas Company, and the inhabitants have a constant supply of water from the Kennet works in the Bath road, belonging to the Corporation; the houses are mostly built of red brick.

The borough, formerly in three wards, under the”Borough Extension Act, 1887,” has been divided into ten wards, respectively. Abbey, Battle, Castle, Church, East, Katesgrove, Minster, Redlands, Victoria and West, and the Corporation consists of a high steward, a mayor, ten alderman and thirty town councillors. The Corporation of Reading was originally a guild, said to have been chartered by Edward the Confessor: the members of this guild were styled burgesses as early as 1254, and in 1551 the master was called mayor: Henry VII. in 1487 enlarged their authority, and Henry VIII. granted a new charter, making the mayor and burgesses a body corporate; further charters were granted by Queen Elizabeth, Charles I. and Charles II. The borough has a commission of the Peace and separate Court of Quarter Sessions. The Public Health Acts have been adopted by the Corporation. Reading is a borough by prescription, having sent members to Parliament from the time of the earliest records: by the “Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23),” the boundary of the parliamentary borough was extended on the east to the South Eastern railway, and on the south to Christchurch and Junction roads, and by the same Act the representation was reduced from two members to one. Under the provisions of the “Local Government Act, 1888,” the borough becomes a “County borough” for certain purposes.

Reading is called in Domesday” Radynges,” and according to the description therein contained at that date (1086) 28 houses, all belonging to the King, 29 others in ruins, one held by Henry Ferrars, a church, two mills, and fisheries, not having then recovered from recent disasters. Stephen visited the town in 1140, and in 1141 came the Empress Maud, who was received with much, honour: in 1153 the castle was surrendered to Henry, Duke of Normandy, afterwards Henry II. who frequently visited Reading between the years 1163—85: Richard I. held a Parliament here in 1191: King John, in 1213, and Henry III. in 1241; he also visited it in subsequent years; Edward II. was here in 1314, and Richard II. in 1384; parliaments were again held here in 1440 and 1451, and in 1432 the parliament was adjourned from Westminster to Reading on account of a plague.

Reading Abbey was founded in A.D. 1121 by King Henry I.: it was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, SS. Mary, John the Evangelist and James, and was intended for 200 monks of the Benedictine order, with an abbot (mitred), prior and sub-prior: this community was endowed with ample revenues and invested with almost regal power; their possessions were very extensive and their privileges scarcely less; they were also the guardians of a precious relic-the hand of St. James the Apostle-which brought to them a continuous stream of wealth; the Abbot ranked next to those of Glastonbury and St. Alban’s, and retained his seat in Parliament till the Dissolution: the buildings of the abbey were completed in 1124, but the great church was not finished until 1164, when it was consecrated by Becket in the presence of Henry II. and many of the nobility: here in 1359, John of Gaunt, fourth son of King Edward III. was married to Blanche, eventual heiress of Henry Plantagenet of Gresmont, Duke of Lancaster; Henry I. its founder, was buried here in Dec. 1135, with his second queen, Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey of Louvaine, Duke of Brabant, as well as the Empress Maud, wife of Henry V. of Germany, and afterwards wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, who died 10th Sept. 1167; and here also were interred William, eldest son of Henry II., d. 1156; Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, his natural son; Richard, Earl of Poitou and Cornwall, brother of Henry III. d. 2nd April, 1272; Constance, daughter of Edmund Plantagenet, of Langley, Duke of York, and wife of Thomas Despencer, Earl of Gloucester, and Anne, Countess of Warwick: at the time of its dissolution its revenues were not less than £1,938 13s. 3 ½d. yearly: of its buildings, with the exception of the gateway, only enormous and shapeless masses of flint and rubble now remain; the chapter house is now almost the only existing apartment which can be certainly identified; the garden of the monastery stretched from the present county police courts nearly to the Market Place, and the stables, which were very extensive, occupied a site adjoining Holy Brook: the conventual church was a Norman structure: the wainscoting of the refectory is now in the hall of Magdalen College, Oxford: the catalogue of the library in the reign of Henry III. is still extant; it then comprised 100 volumes, 38 of which contained the Holy Scriptures or portions thereof. Hugh Faringdon, 31st and last abbot of Reading, sturdily refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of Henry VIII. or to surrender his house, was, with two of his monks, Rugg and Onyon, hung, drawn and quartered within sight of his own gateway, Nov. 14th, 1539: the great gateway, which originally gave access to the inner court of the abbey, was some years since very carefully restored and is a rectangular structure of two stages, constructed of flint with stone dressings; a wide pointed archway pierces the lower stage; in the upper are small trefoil-headed windows, surmounted by a plain parapet and at the angles are octagonal turrets rising above the whole.

Of other monastic establishments once existing here, the most important was that of the Franciscans or Grey Friars, who established themselves in Reading in 1233, by permission of Pope Gregory IX. and in 1285 moved to a new site, upon which, with the help of Edward I. who furnished them with timber, they erected their convent: its church, completed, as is supposed, about 1311, is one of the finest examples of this period extant, and has been restored: this house was surrendered to Henry VIII. 13th Sept. 1539, by the warden, Peter Schefford S.T.P. and ten friars: in 1540 the domestic buildings were granted to Robert Stanshaw, a retainer of the King, and in 1543 the Corporation obtained possession of the church, which they converted into a town hall; in 1560 it became a workhouse, and in 1613 a prison, which purpose it continued to serve until it was purchased in 1863 by the late Ven. Archdeacon Phelps, and by him restored to its original uses.

Hugh, who became eighth abbot about 1180, founded another hospital, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, for the relief of strangers and pilgrims, near St. Lawrence’s church, and conducted by a sisterhood of 13 widows: Abbot Thorne, in the reign of Edward IV. suppressed this hospital and converted it into a grammar school, A.D. 1485.

In 1212 the Pope’s Legate held a council here, and in the following year King John met the legate and barons at Reading and held a parliament. Henry III. after several visits, also held parliaments here in 1241 and 1263; Edward II. was at Reading in 1314, and Edward III. passed Christmas in the town and held a grand tournament in 1346; hither also, in 1380, came Richard II. to punish such of the townsfolk as had lent help to the rebel, Wat Tyler: in 1415 Henry V. and in 1440 Henry VI. who then met his parliament: the marriage of Edward IV. with Elizabeth Woodville was first openly acknowledged at Reading in 1464, when she made her public appearance at the abbey, being conducted thither by the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Warwick. Parliaments were held here in 1466—67 in the great hall of the abbey. Henry VII. was at Reading in 1487; Henry VIII. on several occasions, and in 1552 Edward VI. visited it and was received with much ceremony by the authorities, as afterwards in 1554 were Philip and Mary. Queen Elizabeth visited Reading in 1568, 1572, 1575, 1592, 1602 and in 1603 shortly before her death: the law courts were held here in Michaelmas Term 1625, on account of the plague raging in London; the judges sitting in the great hall of the abbey, the town hall and council chamber. In 1643 the town sustained a very severe siege of ten days from the Parliamentary forces, under the command of the Earl of Essex: the town itself was strongly fortified, and Essex having summoned the town to surrender, received an answer from Sir Arthur Aston that “he would starve or die in it:” operations were then commenced, and Essex having taken a fortification at Mapledurham and another at Caversham Hill, which gave him the command of the town, it was much battered by the shot; it however held out, but the governor, having sustained severe injury by the falling of a brick, the command was transferred to Colonel Fielding, and the garrison having at length exhausted their ammunition, held out a flag of truce, at which juncture Prince Rupert and the King, who had marched from Oxford to their relief, engaged the besiegers on Caversham Bridge, but after a severe struggle were defeated; the King then retired to Caversham House, and the town surrendered upon the terms of the garrison being permitted to march out with their colours, arms and baggage to join the King’s troops at Oxford. The town continued afterwards to be garrisoned at intervals by both the contending parties. In 1663, when Charles II. passed through Reading, the Corporation presented the King, Queen and their servants with sums of money: in 1688 a skirmish took place in the streets between the Scots and Irish of James II. and the troops of the Prince of Orange, known as the “Reading fight,” in which the former were beaten, and left the town in the hands of the Dutch troops: this affair is still celebrated annually by the ringing of bells on Dec. 21st. Queen Anne visited the town in 1702 and received from the municipality 40 pieces of gold.

The church of St Giles, standing on the east side of Southampton street, is a building of flint and stone, in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and a battlemented western tower surmounted by a slender stone spire, and containing a clock and 8 bells; there are 10 stained windows, and a brass to John Bowyer, tanner, 1521 and Joan bis wife: the church suffered much from the artillery of the besiegers during the Civil War, and until a few years since was somewhat inconvenient and unsightly, but was completely restored and enlarged in 1873 at a total cost of £10,660, and now affords 1,200 sittings. The register dates from the year 1564. There is a fund of about £250 yearly from house property for the maintenance of the fabric of the church. The living is a rectory and vicarage, net income £150, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held since 1894 by the Rev. William Methven Gordon Ducat M.A. of Balliol College, Oxford, and hon. canon of Christ Church.

St. Luke’s church, on the Redlands estate, attached to St. Giles’s and built in 1885 at a cost of £9,070, is a structure of red brick in the Italian style, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, vestry, transepts, aisles and an eastern bell-cot containing one bell; it is served by the clergy of St. Giles’s.

The church of St. Lawrence, on the north-east side of the market place, is a building of flint and stone, in the Early English and Perpendicular styles: it was partially rebuilt in 1434, and consists of chancel, nave of five bays, north aisle, with chantry chapel, south porch, and a fine western tower of flint and stone 89ft. high and containing 10 bells, the largest weighing 4,109 lbs.; the tenor bell was re-cast on Jan. 10, 1882, and the weight was then increased from 23 to 24 cwts.: the tower is Perpendicular, and has octagonal turrets at the angles, rising into spirelets above the parapet, which is battlemented: the north aisle, called also St. John’s chapel, from its haring been used by the sisters of the hospital of that name, retains its original roof; this aisle and the chancel were restored in 1848, and most of the windows filled with stained glass; the remainder of the church was restored in 1867—8, when the church walk or piazza, built by J. Kendrick, on the south side in 1619, was removed, the interior reseated, and two stained windows inserted, at a total cost of £4,000, and further in 1882, at a cost of £4,580; in the south aisle lies buried John Blagrave, author of “the Mathematical Jewell,” who died 9 Aug. 1611, and on the wall above is a curious painted monument, with his demi-effigy, in cloak and ruff, holding a skull in one hand and at quadrant in the other, with the inscription:

“Johannes Blagravus,

Totus mathematicus,

Cum matre sepultus:”

a figure in ruff and hat, kneeling at a desk, commemorates Martha, wife of Charles Hamley, ob. 1636; there are a few memorials for the Hungerfords of Wilts; a mural monument to Richard Fynnemore, ob. 1664; and brasses to Edward Butler, gent, five times mayor of Reading, ob. 1584, and Alice his wife, 1583; John Kent, burgess, and Joan his wife, with half-effigies, c. 1415; and Walter Barton, gent. 1538, churchwarden in 1509; the last is a palimpsest brass, having on the reverse the effigy of Sir John Popham knt. a distinguished soldier of the reign of Henry V.; opposite the pulpit, on the floor, is a brass to William Hunt, mayor, ob. 1463, and his wives Alice and Isabella, and there are several deposited stones; on the south side of the chancel are memorial 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 Henry I. founder of the abbey; Henry VII. founder of the Grammar School; Sir Thomas White, founder of St. John’s, Oxford; and Charles I. the giver of the principal charter to the town; on the south side of the tower arch, placed in a niche, is a statue of Richard Valpy D.D. many years master of the Grammar school, who died 28 March, 1836; on the south side is an ancient sundial: there are 800 sittings, 500 of which are free. The register dates from the year 1605, but the churchwardens’ accounts commence as early as 1430. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £200, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held since 1898 by the Rev. Robert Perceval Newhouse M.A. of Worcester College, Oxford, and a 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 Elfrida, mother-in-law of Edward the Martyr; 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 abbey; and in 1594 the tower 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 chantry, south porch, vestry and an embattled western tower 90 feet high, with pinnacles at the angles, and containing 8 bells and a clock: the chancel has a Perpendicular open timber roof and the nave a good roof of early character; the Perpendicular font was given by the Vachell family in 1616 and has a pyramidal crocketed cover, provided at a cost of £130; the arcade dividing the nave and south aisle has semicircular arches springing from circular columns; on the north side of the chancel is an Easter sepulchre of early work, and a monument in 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 arch; all the windows, including the triplet at the east end, are stained; in the chancel hang the old colours of the 66th (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s Royal Berkshire) regiment, and a window has been erected to those of the officers and men who fell at the battle of Maiwand, in Afghanistan, 27th July, 1880, as well as two large brass tablets in the north aisle giving the names of the officers and men; there is also a tablet inscribed to those of the 49th or 1st Batt. of that regiment, who fell in the campaigns in Egypt, 1882—3; Soudan, 1885; and the Nile Expedition, 1885—6; the vestry contains some brasses, including a cross fleury and several scrolls to William Baron, 1416, and an inscription to John Boorne, who died in his third mayoralty, ob. 1558, and Alice his wife; in the north aisle hangs the old altar piece, attributed to Ludovico Caracci, 1555—1619, and there is an alms-box, dated 1627; and at the western entrance a carved oak screen, dating from 1631: the church was restored in 1863—4, and the chancel enlarged and nearly rebuilt in 1872; and in October, 1883, an episcopal chair of English oak and walnut was provided: there are 1,000 sittings, 450 being free. The register dates from the year 1538 and there are also church documents dating from the 13th cent. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £440, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held since 1896 by the Rev. William Neville 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 9th century have been discovered in the churchyard, viz. of Burghred, King of Mercia (853—874) and Ciulnoth (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 £5,891, and consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of three bays, side chapel, west porch and one bell in the western gable: it has 400 sittings and is served by the clergy of St. Mary’s.

The iron church of St. Mark, in Cranbury road, is a chapel of ease to St. Mary's, and has 350 sittings.

All Saints church, in Downshire square, erected at a cost of about £9,000 and enlarged in 1874 at a cost of £3,630, is a building of Bristol stone, with Bath stone dressings, in the Decorated style, consisting of apsidal chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, transept, galilee porch, and an eastern turret containing one bell: there are 697 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 hamlet of Whitley, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, and a tower on the north-west with angle buttresses rising into pinnacles, from which short flying buttresses support a graceful octagonal spire; the tower contains one bell: all the windows but one are stained: the church was enlarged in 1874 at a cost of £4,326 and affords 749 sittings. The register dates from the year 1863. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £230, 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 30, 1864, out of the parishes of St. Mary and St. Lawrence: the church, built 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 west and south walls of the south transept, with the two eastern columns of the south arcade, rebuilt: 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 fragments of stained glass of great thickness were met 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 foundations when the church was first built, and arched over with masonry: the church was reopened Dec. 5, 1863, by the late Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford; the restoration 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 £335, in the gift of trustees, and held since 1874 by the Rev. Seymour Henry Soole M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge. The boundary of the ecclesiastical parish was altered Sept. 6, 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 700 sittings.

Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastical parish, formed Oct. 29, 1875, from St. Mary’s: the 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 quadrangular edifice of brick, consisting of nave and chancel, with a stone front, in which are three lancet-headed windows; on the western gable is a small turret containing one bell: there are 610 sittings, 350 being free. The register dates from the year 1875. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £210, in the gift of the vicar of St. Mary's, and held since 1894 by the Rev. Henry Last M.A. of Selwyn College, Cambridge and surrogate.

St. Bartholomew’s is an ecclesiastical parish formed July 17th, 1877, out of the parish of St. Peter, Earley, and is in Sonning rural deanery; the church, erected and consecrated in 1879 at a cost of £3,526, is a structure of red and grey brick, in the Early English style, and consists of clerestoried nave, aisles and a small western turret containing 2 bells: the organ was erected at a cost of about £200: there are 400 sittings. The register dates from the year 1877. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £264, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held since 1890 by the Rev. Edward John Norris M.A. of Trinity College. Cambridge.

St. John the Evangelist’s is an ecclesiastical parish formed out of the parish of St. Giles December 18, 1874: the church, in Watlington street, erected in 1837 and rebuilt in 1872 and 1873, at a cost of £11,098, from the designs of Mr. W. A. Dixon, is a structure of Kentish rag stone, with dressings of Bath and Mansfield stone, and consists of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, transepts, north porch and a western tower with spire, 150 feet in height, containing a clock and one bell: there are about 920 sittings, of which 390 are free. The register dates from the year 1875. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value, £346, with residence in the gift of three trustees, and held since 1892 by the Rev. Francis Tovey Colson M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

St. Stephen’s church, in Orts road. New Town, erected in 1866 and enlarged in 1886, at a cost of £1,500, is a building of dark red brick relieved with bands of white and grey, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, side chapel, south porch and a turret on the western gable containing two bells: this church is attached to that of St. John the Evangelist and affords 530 sittings.

St. Mary’s episcopal chapel, a structure of brick, situated on the north side of Castle street, and erected in 1799 as a dissenting chapel by seceders from the church of St. Giles, was afterwards conveyed to the Church of England and reopened in 1836, after various alterations, including the erection of a portico with five Corinthian columns supporting a pediment and a rectangular pedimented bell tower above it, containing one bell, and will now seat 1,000 persons. The living is a perpetual curacy, net yearly value £400, in the gift of trustees, and held since 1895 by the Rev. James Consterdine M.A. of Lincoln College, Oxford.

The ecclesiastical parish of Tilehurst St. George was formed from the parish of Tilehurst by Order in Council 29th June, 1882, and incorporated in the borough of Reading Mich. 1887: the church, in St. George’s road, west of the barracks, and erected at a cost of £3,040, is a structure of red brick in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle and a turret containing one bell: the east end of the nave is raised and serves as a chancel: there is an inscribed brass to Major-General A. G. Huyshe C.B. commanding 1st Battalion Princess Charlotte’s Royal Berkshire Regiment, who died 6th Aug. 1886: the west window is filled with stained glass, erected by Capt. Turner of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, in memory of his wife; and in 1892 two stained windows, were inserted in the north aisle by officers of the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, to Major F. B. B. Hemphill, who was killed by an accident at Malta whilst playing polo, June 8th, 1891: the chancel was enlarged in 1893 at the cost of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Palmer; a handsome wrought iron chancel screen with gates, erected by the vicar and his wife in memory of Lieut. Robert A. Stewart R.H.A. who died at Umballa, India, January 22, 1889; there is also a brass to Private Charles Andrews, d. March 22, 1889: this is the military church for the regiments quartered here: there are sittings for 433 persons. The register dates from the year 1881. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £128, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held since 1897 by the Rev. Walter Hugo Harper M.A. of University College, Oxford.

The Catholic church, dedicated to St. James and situated near the Forbury gardens, in North Forbury road, was built in 1840 at the expense of the late J. Wheble esq. of Bulmershe Court, from the designs of Mr. E. Welby Pugin, architect, and is an edifice in the Norman style, consisting of apsidal chancel, nave and a western gable bell-cote with one bell: the font is formed from a square block of oolitic limestone, found within the limits of the Forbury, in 1835, the upper part of which forms a square of 27 inches, and has a deeply-cut chain-like pattern of stems and foliage running continuously along its four sides; below this, and at each corner, are remains of carved capitals, exquisitely wrought with wreaths and intertwining knots; in the presbytery are preserved a seal belonging to one of the abbots, and a massive iron key, found in the abbey grounds: in 1883 the sanctuary was decorated in colour, under the direction of Mr. Philip Westlake, of London: the church has about 250 sittings.

There are four Congregational, five Baptist, three Wesleyan, one Presbyterian, one Unitarian, and five Primitive Methodist chapels, a Friends’ meeting house, a room where the Brethren meet, and Salvation Army Barracks; a non-sectarian service is also held every Sunday at the Abbey Hall, King’s road.

Trinity Congregational chapel, an edifice in the Lancet style, was built in 1848 by seceders from Broad Street chapel, which is the oldest in the town, dating from 1680: the General Baptist chapel, in King’s road, claims, as a meeting-placs for Nonconformists, some antiquity; it was first founded in Curzon street in 1640, removed to Hozier street in 1752 and to its present site in 1834 and was enlarged in 1858 and 1890; the principal Wesleyan chapel is in Queen’s road. Grovelands Free church, in Grovelands road east, is an iron structure, and will seat 200 persons. The Primitive Methodist chapel, in London street, was built in 1866, and will seat 800 persons.

The Young Men’s Christian Association has premises-in Friar street.; there were in 1899 about 500 members.

Reading Cemetery, opposite the junction of the London and Wokingham roads, established in 1842, under the provisions of the Act 5 and 6 Vict. c. 19, occupies 10 acres of land, 6 of which are consecrated, and the remainder appropriated to dissenters; it has two mortuary chapels and a residence for the curator.

The municipal buildings, which include the Town Hall, Council chamber, Free Library and Museums and the Art Gallery, are situated in Friar street and Blagrave street, and form a pile of black and red brick, with a clock tower, in the Gothic style, the municipal buildings proper having been erected in 1875, from designs by Alfred Waterhouse esq. R.A. and the remaining portion (begun in 1879) completed and opened May 31, 1882, from the designs of Thomas Lainson esq. of Brighton. The niche in the gable over the library is filled with a marble statue of H.M. Queen Victoria, presented by the late William Isaac Palmer esq. of Grazeley Court, The principal entrance in Blagrave street leads to the main corridor or vestibule, 15ft. wide by 79ft. long, at the north end of which is a memorial stone, recording on an attached brass plate the foundation of the structure.

The Great Hall, 60ft. wide, 97ft. long and 50ft. high, is entered on the west side by five large doorways, and will hold 1,500 persons. The orchestra is placed at the east end of the hall and contains an organ presented by the Reading Philharmonic Society. The hall has balconies round the north, south and west sides, and its walls are divided into panels by fluted pilasters, with moulded bases and gilt capitals; over this is an enriched frieze, and above a heavy cornice, from which spring the ornamental ribs of the ceiling; beneath the hall is a supper room with retiring rooms. At the end of the corridor leading to the library is placed a marble bust of the late Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid bart. some time M.P. for Reading, by William Theed. On the right are the library; a news and reading room 25ft. by 30ft. 6in.; lending library, 21ft. by 30ft. 6in.; and a reference library, 48ft. by 42ft.; comprising also a general reading and students’ room and librarian’s room. On the walls of the Council chamber and in other parts of the buildings are portraits of Mr. Richard Aldworth, founder of the Blue coat school; Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London in 1553, born at Reading in 1492; Sir Thomas Rich bart. of Sunning, ob. 15 Oct. 1667: Archbishop Laud, executed 10 Jan. 1645; W. Stephens esq. High Sheriff; Mr. John Kendrick, a local benefactor, ob. 1624; and Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd kt, some time M.P. for Reading, and Justice of the Common Pleas, who died on the Bench at Stafford, 13 March, 1854, while delivering his charge to the Grand Jury; Mr. Isaac Harrison, surgeon, late of Reading; and the late William Isaac Palmer, well known as a temperance advocate and philanthropist, who contributed about £25,000 towards the new public buildings. Over the new wing of the Public Library and Museum buildings is a sculptured frieze, representing the arts, manufactures and customs of different periods. The library consists of a reference library and juvenile department comprising about 30,000 volumes; it also includes spacious reading and news rooms, a students' room and a reading room for young people. The Museum, under the will of the late Mr. Horatio Bland, has become possessed of the whole of his magnificent natural history collection. It also contains the collection of Roman antiquities recovered during the recent excavations at Silchester, and which are still proceeding. The Art Gallery contains a good collection of water colour and oil paintings.

The Assize courts, in the Forbury, immediately adjoining the abbey gateway, are in the Italian style and were built in 1861; they occupy the site of a hospital for poor pilgrims, founded in connection with the abbey, and form a block of buildings consisting of a facade with a colonnade along its lower stage and projecting wings; the whole is built of freestone and is rusticated in both stages; the central portion terminating above in a stone balustrading. The building contains a lofty hall conveniently arranged as a waiting hall to the Crown and Nisi Prius courts and Grand Jury room, with all of which it communicates, and also by a passage with the county police station. The assizes and sessions are both held here; formerly the summer assizes were held at Abingdon, but by an Order in Council, dated September 14th, 1868, both are now held in this town. Courts of quarter sessions for the county are held in January, April, June and October. The quarter sessions for the borough are generally held at the Assize Courts in the same month as the sessions for the county. The County Council holds all its meetings at the Assize courts.

The Corn Exchange, built in 1854, is about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide and has a glass roof; it is approached by a narrow covered way from the Market place, and over the entrance is a small tower with clock; the same covered way gives access to the Market house, a narrow, confined structure in Broad street, erected in 1854. The market days are-Saturday for corn and stock cattle, and Monday for fat cattle. Fairs are held on February 2, May 1 for cattle, July 25 for cattle, Sept. 21 for cheese and cattle.

The Cattle market and abattoirs are on the west side of the Caversham road and close to the stations of the Great Western, the South Eastern and the South Western railways.

There are six banks-Stephens, Blandy and Co. J. and C. Simonds and Co. a branch of the London and County Bank Limited, the Capital and Counties Bank Limited, the Metropolitan Bank (of England and Wales) Limited, and Ashurst, Martyn, Cooper, Thorpe & Co. and a Savings Bank founded in 1817, Her Majesty’s Prison, on the east side of the abbey ruins in North Forbury road, was erected in 1833, and is a castellated building of red brick, with white stone dressings, arranged to hold 224 prisoners; it was one of the first prisons built on the separate system.

The Borough Police Station is at Highbridge, London street.

The head quarters of the county constabulary are at Reading, the station being in Abbey street.

The Masonic Hall, in Greyfriars road, is a structure of brick and stone, relieved with emblematic designs, and is used for the meeting of the Union, Greyfriars and Kendrick lodges.

The Baths are in King's Meadow road, Vastern road.

The Royal County Theatre, which was rebuilt and considerably enlarged in 1887, and the interior entirely remodelled, was destroyed by fire in 1894.

The New Royal County Theatre, formerly the Royal Assembly Room, in Friar street, near the railway stations, is a very spacious and elegantly decorated building, 114ft. long, 38 wide and 40ft. in height; the means of exit are well arranged and the building will hold an audience of 1,200 persons; it is under the management of Mr. Milton. Bode, of Reading.

In Friar street a building with a frontage of 122ft. of red and grey bricks and terra cotta, with columns of Aberdeen and Cornish granite, has been constructed for offices and shops, with a fine arcade in the rear, opening into the covered-in market and giving a right of way from Friar street to Broad street. On one side of the entrance to the arcade are the county court offices. The whole of the buildings (except the County Court offices) are the property of Mr. Joseph Charles, Fidler, seed merchant.

The Reading Rowing Club has its boat-house at Caversham Bridge, with head quarters at the Queen’s hotel.

The Reading Amateur Regatta usually takes place about the end of July.

The Reading and District Angling Association was formed for the protection and improvement of that portion of the Thames which lies between Goring and Shiplake locks. Annual subscription, 10s. 6d. The Association has a trout nursery at Caversham.

Reading was formerly dependent on the country around for its trade, and being situated in the midst of an agricultural district, the supplies of the neighbouring population are still chiefly drawn from the town. As a manufacturing place its chief business is to be found in biscuit making, iron foundries and engine works; and in seed growing, malting and brewing; the sale of corn, cattle and flour is also carried on upon an extensive scale; there are boat building establishments and pottery and brick works.

The large biscuit factory of Messrs. Huntley and Palmers Limited, in the King’s road, covers many acres, and is the most extensive establishment of the kind in the kingdom; here more than 5,000 hands meet with continuous employment in making the celebrated “Reading biscuits” and preparing and packing them for the home trade and for exportation; attached to the factory are reading-rooms with a well-stocked library. The Royal Seed establishment of Messrs. Sutton and Sons, whose head quarters are here, occupies more than 10,000 acres of land in various parts of the United Kingdom and on the continent, wherever the soil and circumstances are most favourable to seed-farming; there is an experimental farm of 50 acres on the London road, and flower seed grounds within a short distance of the town; the principal entrance to the business premises is in the Market place; here a large home and foreign trade is carried on by a staff of nearly 500 clerks and warehousemen; a reading-room and library, for the use of the members of the establishment, also form part of the premises. At the top of London street are the tin works of Messrs. Huntley, Boorne and Stevens, where plain and ornamental tin boxes of all descriptions are made by over 800 workpeople. Among the breweries those of Messrs. H. and G. Simonds Limited, Messrs. James Dymore Brown and Son, and Messrs. Blandy, Hawkins & Co. are, perhaps, the most extensive; and the oldest and not least famous of Reading manufactures is its well-known “sauce,” made by Messrs. Cocks for nearly a century.

The Forbury, fronting the ancient gateway of the Abbey, is an open space on the north-east side of the town, laid out as a pleasure garden, with, a fountain and ornamental works; it has been considered the pleasure-ground of the Reading townsfolk by prescriptive right, but this claim is not allowed by the Government, who regard it as a freehold and have demised it to private individuals; a Russian gun, presented by the Government to the authorities of the town, occupies an elevated position in the grounds; here also is a colossal lion, of cast iron, on a terra-cotta pedestal, erected in 1886 as a memorial to 11 officers and 317 non-commissioned officers and men of the 2nd Battalion, 66th Berkshire Regiment, who fell in the battle of Maiwand, 27th July, 1880, and during the Afghan war, 1879—80: the pedestal, placed in 1884 on a foundation of concrete, is 23ft. 2 ½in. in length, 8ft. 7in. in breadth and 12ft. 6in. high: the lion, which was not erected until 1886, is said to be the largest erect-statue of the kind in the world, it being three times the size of life and weighing 16 tons: from the forepaw to the top of the mane it measures 13ft. the forearm is 5ft.; and from the nose to the end of the tail it is over 31ft. in length; the total cost was £900: the view from this spot is very extensive, commanding a beautiful prospect over part of Oxfordshire: the Horticultural Society’s shows are held in these grounds.

The Royal Berkshire Hospital, in London road, opened May 27th, 1839, is an extensive building of stone in the Domestic Classic style, with a noble projecting portico of six Ionic columns, supporting a pediment, adorned with the Royal Arms; two wings, added in 1882, comprise operating room, library, museum, chapel, with stained windows, laundry, servants’ dormitories and dwellings for private nurses. There is a Convalescent Fund for discharged patients, administered by the Board of Management: the hospital is supported by voluntary contributions raised in the county and has 160 beds: the average number of in-patients is about 140 and of outpatients 500.

The Provident Dispensary, in Chain street, was established in 1802, and has considerable funded property; out-patients receive attendance and medicine for four months on the nomination of any governor: it had in 1899 18,397 members, 559 of these being admitted free.

The different almshouses in Reading were some time since consolidated under the approval of the Charity Commissioners, the old houses were then vacated and the almspeople removed to new buildings of red brick with stone dressings in the Gothic style, on the south side of Castle street, erected in 1864—65 from designs by Mr. William Henry Woodman, architect; these consist of two rows of houses on either side of a roadway, each tow being divided into four separate blocks; and they are available in all for 32 inmates, either men or women, viz.:—16 for the general charities and 16 for the church charities; the total income is stated at £919 18s. 2d.

The charities for distribution in St. Giles’ parish are £45 6s. 4d. yearly; St. Lawrence, £230 9s. 3d. yearly; St. Mary, £56 os. 11d.

There are besides, in the three parishes, sums amounting to £18 9s. 7d. yearly for education; £102 3s. 6d. for apprenticing; £170 10s. 4d. for endowment of the clergy and £30 for public uses. The general municipal charities amount to £3,166 4s. 10d. including Simeon’s charity of £4,000 £2 ¾ per Cent. Consols, the interest of which, now £111 yearly, is applied in clothing children of Sunday schools.

The late George Palmer esq. of the firm of Huntley and Palmers, presented 21 acres of land in the eastern suburb of the borough to be used as a public recreation ground.

At Bob’s Mount, overlooking the Katesgrove clay-pit, a Roman amphora was found, and on the same spot flint instruments were disinterred by the late Lieut.-Col. C. Cooper King F.G.S. During the construction of the sewage works, bones of an enormous wild ox, standing 16 hands high, other remains of smaller animals, fragments of fossil oysters and pieces of ancient ware and glass were discovered along Piummery Ditch.

The soil here principally consists of alternate layers of clays and sands of many colors, with flint pebbles; the clays are made into tiles and drain-pipes, and the sands are mixed with the clays in brick making.

The area and rateable value is-St. Giles, with Whitley, acreage 3,515 of land and 39 of water, rateable value £134,218; St. Lawrence, acreage 306 of land and 22 of water, rateable value £77,986; St. Marys, with Southcot, acreage, 2,153 of land and 43 of water, rateable value £105,117.

Under the provisions of the “Divided Parishes Act,” by Local Government Board Order 23,869, dated March 24, 1889, 2,157 persons were transferred from Tilehurst to St. Mary, Reading, and those portions of Burghfield, Earley and Shinfield civil parishes within the borough added to St. Giles, Reading.

* Including 185 in the Royal Berks Hospital.

+ Including 145 in H.M. Prison.

++ Including 341 officers and inmates in the Workhouse and 344 in the Barracks.

The population of the Municipal wards in 1891 was: —Abbey, 4,534; Battle, 7,632; Castle, 5,610; Church, 6,399; East, 6,162; Katesgrove, 7,184; Minster, 4,751; Redlands, 5,537; Victoria, 6,358; and West, 5,887-total, 60,054.

The population of the ecclesiastical parishes in 1891 was:-St. Mary, 13,488; St. Giles’ with St. Luke, 14,567; St. Lawrence, 3,249; Christ Church, 4,812; Grey Friars, 3,310; Holy Trinity, 6,124; St. John the Evangelist, 6,099; St. George, Tilehurst, 2,243; St. Bartholomew, Earley, 5,113.Stolen from Fore bears

The Petty Sessions are held at the Assize Court, Forbury, every Saturday at 11 a.m. The places in the division are Aldermaston, Ashampstead, Basildon, Beechhill (Tything), Beenham, Bradfield, Burghfield, Englefield, Grazeley (Liberty), Padworth, Patagbourne, Parley, Shinfield, Stratfield Mortimer, Streatley, Sulham, Sulhampstead Abbots, Sulhampstead Bannister (Lower End), Sulhampstead (Upper End), Swallowfield (East), Swallowfield (West), Tidmarsh, Tileburst, Ufton, Wokefield (Tything).

MILITARY

Regimental District, No. 49.

Reading is the depot of the Regimental district No. 49, 1st (49th foot) & 2nd (66th. foot) Battalions of the Princess Charlotte of Wales (Royal Berkshire Regiment); it is also the head quarters of the Royal Berkshire Militia, which forms the 3rd battalion. The barracks, on the Oxford road, have ample drill grounds.

1st Battalion.

Depot, G. de la M. Faunce, major; A. H. Harvey, lieut.

2nd Battalion.

Depot, J. H. W. Southey, capt.; A. H. Buchanan Dunlop, lieut.

3rd Battalion (Royal Berkshire Militia).

Head quarters, Barracks, Hon. Col. T. J. Bowles, com.

YEOMANRY CAVALRY

1st Yeomanry Brigade.

Berkshire (Hungerford), headquarters, 13 George street.

VOLUNTEERS

1st Volunteer Battalion Princess Charlotte of Wales’ (Royal Berkshire Regiment) (comprising A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, Q & mounted companies); head quarters-of battalion & A, B, C & mounted companies, St. Mary’s butts.

READING UNION

Offices, Thorn street.

Board day Thur. at 10 a.m. at the Board room, Thorn st The Union comprises the parishes of St. Giles with Whitley, St. Lawrence & St. Mary with Southcot. The population in 1891 was 60,054; area 5,878 acres; the rateable value in 1899, £317,321.

The Workhouse, in the Oxford road, was occupied in June, 1867: it is of local red brick, in the Elizabethan style, & was erected at a total cost of about £8,100: in 1892 considerable additions were begun, & completed in 1894, consisting of a new central block & infirmary, casual & receiving wards & a porter’s lodge; the building is heated by steam pipes; these additions have been carried out at a cost of about £27,000; it will hold 500 inmates.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of services

St. Giles’ Church, Rev. Canon William Methven Gordon Ducat M.A. vicar; Rev. Walter Alexander Thackeray M.A. Rev. Walter Capel Young M.A. & Rev. Ernest George William Bence B.A. curates; Sun. 7, 8 & 11 a.m. 3 & 6.30 p.m.; daily 7.30 & 8 a.m. & 5.30 p.m.

St. John’s Church, Rev. Francis Tovey Colson M.A.; vicar; Revs. William Hume Campbell M.A. James Robert. Cassell M.A. & George Henry Lawrence M.A. curates; 8 & 11 a.m. & 3.15 & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7 p.m.; Fri. 12 noon; holy days, 12 noon.

St. Lawrence’s Church, Rev. Robert Perceval Newhouse M.A. vicar; Rev. Edgar Priestley B.A. curate; 8 & 11 a.m. & 3.15 & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 10 a.m. & 5.30 p.m.

St. Mary’s Church, Rev. William Neville M.A. vicar; Rev. Barrington Boyle Murray M.A. John Alfred Rivington M.A. Henry Arthur Sealy M.A. Hugh Pierce Brown A.K.C.L. Lionel George Brown B.A. & Cecil James Chesshire M.A. curates; 8 & 11 a.m. 3.30 & 6.30 p.m.; week day, H. C. Mon. & Fri. 8 a.m. Wed. 7 a.m. Thur. 11 a.m.; matins, Mon. Wed. & Fri. 7.45 a.m.; Tue. Thur. & Sat. 8 a.m.; saints’ days, matins 7.30 a.m.; H. C. 8 a.m.; daily 6 p.m.

St. Mary's Episcopal Chapel, Castle street, Rev. James Consterdine M.A. incumbent; Rev. Percy George Wood, curate; 11 a.m. & 3 & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Holy Trinity Church, Oxford road, Rev. Henry Last M.A. vicar; Rev. Walter E. Hogg, curate; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 7.30 & 10 a.m. & 6 & 8 p.m.

All Saints’, Downshire square, same ministers as St. Mary’s; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 8 p.m.

St Luke’s, attached to St. Giles’, Rev. Harold Robinson M.A. curate-in-charge; 8 & 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Fri. 7.30 p.m.

Christ Church, Whitley, Rev. John Francis Warren M.A. vicar; Revs. John S. Davis M.A. & Charles Thomas Campbell B.A, curates; 11 a.m. & 3 & 7 p.m.; Sun. H. C. at 8 a.m.; daily, 8 a.m. & Wed. & Fri. 10 a.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

St. George’s Church, St. George’s road, Rev. Walter Hugo Harper M.A.; 8 a.m. (holy communion); services, 11 a.m. 3.15 (children’s service) & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. at 7.30 p.m.

Grey Friars Church, Rev. Seymour Henry Soole M.A. vicar; Rev. Clement A. Worsfold M.A. curate; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Grey Friars Iron Church, North street, same ministers as Grey Friars; 11 a.m. 3 & 6.30 p.m.

St. Mark’s Iron Church, Cranbury road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7 p.m.; holy communion, 8 a.m.

St. Saviour’s Church, Wolseley street, same clergy as St. Mary’s; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. Bartholomew’s, London road, Rev. Edward John Norris M.A. vicar; Rev. Percy Noel Haines M.A. curate; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. & Fri. 5.30 p.m.

St. Stephen’s Church, Orts road, New town, same ministers as St. John’s; 8 & 11 a.m. 3 & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 12 noon; Thur. 7.30; holy days, 7.30 p.m.

St. James’ Catholic, North Forbury road, Rev. Francis L. Weale, priest; 9 & 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; daily mass, 8.30 a.m.; Thur. 8 p.m. & Sat. 7 p.m.

Presbyterian, London road, Rev. William Armstrong M.A.; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Friends’ Meeting House, Church street, 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Baptist, Carey street, Rev. William A. Findlay; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Baptist, King’s road, Rev. Forbes Jackson M.A.; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Baptist (Wycliffe), King's road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Baptist (Providence), Oxford road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Baptist (Zoar), South street; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.30 p.m.

Brethren Meeting Room, Queen’s road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Congregational, Castle street; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational Free Church, Grovelands road east; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.45 p.m.

Congregational (Trinity), Queen’s road, 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; thure. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational, Broad street. Rev. Robert Herbert Sewell B.A.; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational Methodist, Hosier street; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7 p.m.

Open Brethren, Bridge Hall, Oxford road (various); 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Beecham road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.45 p.m.

Primitive Methodist (Ebenezer), Cumberland road, Rev. Luke Stafford; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Friar street; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 8 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, London street; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Wokingham road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.30 p.m.

Unitarian Free Church, London road, Rev. Ellison Annesley Voysey B.A.; 11.15 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, Queen’s road; 11 a.m. & 6 3.30 p.m.; Wed. 7 p.m.

Wesleyan, Oxford road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, Tank road; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Salvation Army Hall, Elm Park road.

Missions Rooms:-Albert road, Pell, Orchard street; Queen’s road; St. John's, Prince’s street; St. Saviour’s, Willow street; Somerset place; Wesleyan, Spring gardens; Unsectarian (Victoria hall), Fatherson road.

SCHOOLS

Reading school, Erleigh road, was founded in 1486, in which year John Thome, Abbot of Reading, having suppressed the Hospital of St. John, was directed by Henry VII. to assign its revenues to some charitable institution, in pursuance of which command he established this school, one of his officers, William Dene, giving 200 marks in aid of its foundation. Queen Elizabeth grafted the school a charter in 1560 & in the reign of Charles I. Archbishop Laud, a native of Reading, left £20 a year to the headmaster & established a “visitation” of the school, which is still maintained. It was reconstructed under the Reading School Act, 1867, as a first grade classical & modern school. The foundation stone of the present buildings, occupying a plot of ground in Redlands, 13 acres in extent & about a mile south-west of the town, was laid by H.R.H, the Prince of Wales on July 1st, 1870, & they were formally opened by the late Lord Hatherley, then Lord Chancellor, Sept, 11th, 1871; they comprise a large central hall, 14 class-rooms, headmaster's house, with accommodation for two resident masters, a matron and 50 boys & 4 masters’ houses, holding about 120 boarders, a school chapel to hold 300 boys, also a gymnasium, chemical & physical laboratories, carpenters’ shop, large tepid swimming bath & a large detached Sanatorium, erected in 1879; adjoining are a cricket ground with pavilion & fives’ courts. There is a classical side for those boys who are preparing directly for the universities; and a modern side. The school year is divided into three terms with three vacations, which are Spring, Summer & Christmas. Cardinal Wolsey is said, on the authority of Archbishop Parker, to have been a short time master of the school, & among the eminent persons educated here may be named: Sir Thomas White kt. lord mayor & founder of St. John’s College, Oxford, d. 1566; William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded 10th Jan. 1645; Sir Constantine Phipps kt. Lord Chancellor of Ireland, d. 1723; Henry, 1st Vicount Sidmouth, Prime Minister in 1801, d. 15 Feb. 1844; Sir T. N. Talfourd kt. Justice of the Common Pleas, d. 1858; John Blagrave, the mathematician, d. 9th Aug. 1611; James Merrick, translator of the Psalms, d. 5th Jan. 1769; Rev. Charles Coates, author of “A History of Reading,” pub. 1802—9; Thos, Turner, dean of Canterbury, d. 8th Oct. 1672; William Shipley, dean of St. Asaph; Francis Annesley, first master of Downing College, founded 22nd Sept. 1800; Robert Vansittart, professor of Civil law at Oxford, d. 1789; Dr. Jeune, late bishop of Peterborough, d. 1868; Dr. Jackson, late bishop of London, & many others. The celebrated Richard Valpy D.D. was headmaster from 1781 to 1831. There are 3 or 4 scholarships for day boys of £10 each, 12 for boarders at the school-house and 6 at each of the other houses of from £20 to £40 each; there are 10 entrance scholarships and by a new scheme inaugurated in 1899 a sum of £200 will be given in additional scholarships of equivalent value to the tuition fees; there are also 2 scholarships, tenable at St. John’s College, Oxford, each of £100 a year, for 4 years, on the foundation of Sir Thomas White. Visitors, The President of St. John’s College, Oxford & the Warden of All Souls’ College, Oxford.

READING COLLEGE

Reading College, together with the British Dairy Institute in Valpy street & West Forbury road, was originally established as part of the University Extension Scheme & now has a fine block of buildings, formally opened by H.R.H, the Prince of Wales in June 1898. In addition to lecture & class rooms the College contains a student’s library, art studios and physical, chemical & biological laboratories. The regular work of the College is organized in five departments; literature, science, agriculture, art & music Arrangements are made for boarding students in houses licensed by the College; women-students may reside in the Lady Warwick Hostel.

British Dairy Institute, West Forbury road.-Chairman, W. B. Monck J.P.; Manager, Miles Benson.

The Lady Warwick Hostel, on the Bath road, opened in October 1898 by the Countess of Warwick, is for women-students at Reading College & was founded with the distinct object of training such students in the lighter branches of agriculture, such as dairying; the growing, packing & marketing of flowers & fruit; the cultivation of tomatoes & mushrooms & the keeping of bees & poultry. Here women over the age of sixteen will be enabled to obtain thorough & systematic teaching (theoretical & practical) in all the branches mentioned & the Council of Reading College have consented to provide the necessary courses of instruction, the grounds of the Hostel affording room for practical work; warden, Miss Edith Bradley.

Leighton Park School, on the Shinfield road, established 1890, with the sanction of the London yearly meeting of the Society of Friends, & under the management of members of that body, is about two miles south of the Reading railway stations: it was originally a square brick mansion, but has been adapted to school purposes & very extensive additions have been made, so that it will now hold 60 students: the school stands within a park of 45 acres of park land & a sanatorium for 12 patients has been built at some distance from the school house: there is also a fully equipped gymnasium and swimming bath.

Government Science Art Classes & School of Painting, Castle street; H. Dawson Barkas A.R.C.A. headmaster; H. T. Pugh, hon. sec.

The Kendrick Schools were founded from certain charities left by John Kendrick in 1624, & by Mary Kendrick, consisting of a portion of a freehold farm at Tilehurst, 2 freehold cottages at Waltham St. Lawrence & a sum of £626 in Consols. These charities were diverted by the Endowed Schools Commissioners to educational purposes & a Middle Class school for boys, erected in Queen’s road, a similar school for girls being established on premises belonging to the Corporation in Watlington street. These schools take an intermediate position between the National & Grammar schools; they are non-sectarian, & deserving scholars from the elementary schools, after examination, are awarded exhibitions in the form of partial or total exemption from fees, the governors having also the power to defray the educational expenses of select pupils from these schools at the Grammar school, or some place of higher education, for a term of 3 years; the boys’ school now numbers about 200 scholars & the girls’ school 170.

The Blue Coat School, Brunswick house, Bath road, was founded in 1646 by Mr. Richard Aldworth, of Ruscombe, Berks, & Milk street, London, M.P. for Reading & Auditor of the Exchequer, who gave for its endowment the sum of £4,000 augmented in 1666 with £1,000, given by Sir Thomas Rich bart. of Sonhing: in 1720, by £1,200, given by Mr. John West; & with smaller bequests by Mr. John Pottenger & Mr. John Hall. In 1723, Mr. William Malthus gave a rent-charge of £90 yearly, for the education of 10 boys, to be clother in green: there are now (1899) 36 boys on this foundation, who are clothed, fed, educated & apprenticed, besides 30 day scholars.

The Green School for Girls, in Russell street, was established in the Butts in 1779, for children of the three united parishes & was endowed by Mr. Alderman Richards, the Rev. John Spicer, Awberry Flory esq. & Mr. Frognal, with sums amounting to £2,600. The yearly income derived from rents & investments is £203 13s. 4d.; the school is superintended by a committee of six ladies, the municipal authorities & certain clergy; the vicars of the three parishes are the governors & trustees.

Berks County Council Technical Education Committee, 30 The Forbury (G. J. Hill, organising sec.)

A School Board, formed 20 March, 1872, now consists of 13 members; Samuel Preston, Blagrave street, clerk to the board.

Board Schools

Battle (mixed & infants), Cranbury road, built in 1893, for 1,132 children; average attendance, 911.

Sturge Caudle, headmaster; Miss Margaret Norria, infants’ mistress.

Silver street (infants’), built in 1871, for 241 children; average attendance, 140.

Grovelands (mixed & infants’), Oxford road, built in 1890, for 570 children; average attendance, 434.

Kates grove, Katesgrove lane (girls' & infants’), built in 1873, for 631 children; average attendance, 330 girls & 190 infants.

New Town, School terrace, built in 1874, for 1,455 children; average attendance, 1,397.

Orchard street (central) (boys), built in 1891, for 466 children; average attendance, 303.

Oxford road, built in 1881 & opened 1883, for 1,000 children; average attendance, 903.

Redlands, Lydford road, built in 1892, for 388 boys, 388 girls & 400 infants; average attendance, 320 boys, 330 girls & 295 infants.

Wolsesey street, built in 1874, for 608 children; average attendance, 556.

Swansea road (mixed & infants’), built in 1898—9, and opened 20th Feb. 1899, for 998 children.

National Schools

All Saints’ Infant, Brownlow Road, built in 1866, for 181 children; average attendance, 87.

Christ Church, Millman road, Whitley, built in 1868, & since enlarged for 550 children; average attendance, 520.

Grey Friars’, Caversham road (mixed), built in 1865, for 550 children; average attendance, 420.

St. Giles’, London road, built in 1824, & enlarged in 1885 for 230 boys & 235 girls; average attendance, 210 boys & 200 girls.

St. Giles’ (infants’), Crown street, built in 1835, for 250 children; average attendance, 163.

St. John’s, Queen’s road (mixed), built in 1860, & enlarged in 1893, for 320 children; average attendance, 261.

St. John’s (infant), Watlington street, built in 1860, for 170 children; average attendance, 139.

St. Lawrence, Abbey street, built in 1858, for 500 children; average attendance, 417.

St. Mary’s, Castle street, for 363 girls & infants; average attendance, 289.

St. Mary’s, Hosier street, built in 1851 & enlarged in 1895, for 650 children; average attendance, 550.

St. Stephen’s, Rupert street, built in 1871, for 305 children; average attendance, 293.

Trinity Church, Oxford road (mixed & infants’), built in 1837 & enlarged in 1895, for 275 children; average attendance, 252.

Lower Whitley, Basingstoke road (mixed & infants’), built for 121 children; average attendance, 76.

British, Southampton street, built in 1860, for 800 children; average attendance, 671.

St. James’s Catholic, South Forbury, built in 1876, for 217 children; average attendance, 81.