Reading Abbey: A Royal Cluniac Religious Foundation in England
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- English, Norman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page17 sections
History
Reading Abbey is a royal Cluniac religious foundation in the United Kingdom, founded by the Norman king Henry I in 1121. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist, it was established both as a major monastic house and as a place of prayer for Henry I, his father William the Conqueror, his brother William, his wife Queen Matilda, and his ancestors and successors.
Foundation and royal endowment
Henry I endowed the abbey with lands in Reading, Cholsey, and Leominster. He also arranged the transfer of further land in Reading that William the Conqueror had previously granted to Battle Abbey. Battle received land at Appledram in Sussex as compensation. The new community was formed by monks from Cluny in Burgundy and from the Cluniac priory of St Pancras at Lewes in Sussex. Hugh of Amiens became the first abbot in 1123. He later became Archbishop of Rouen and was buried in Rouen Cathedral.
When Henry I died in Normandy in 1135, his body was brought back to Reading and buried in front of the altar of the unfinished abbey church. The foundation consequently acquired a strong dynastic association. Other royal and aristocratic burials included Henry’s daughter Matilda of England, William IX, Count of Poitiers, and Constance of York.
Medieval importance and royal connections
Royal patronage helped Reading Abbey become a pilgrimage centre and one of the wealthiest and most important religious houses in medieval England. Its possessions extended as far as Herefordshire and Scotland, and the abbey held more than 230 relics, including a hand associated with St James. A shrivelled human hand found during demolition in 1786 is now preserved at St Peter’s Catholic Church in Marlow. The original manuscript of Sumer is icumen in, first written down at the abbey around 1240, is held by the British Library.
Kings visited the abbey frequently, particularly Henry III, who often came three or four times a year and stayed for several weeks. In 1185, Reading hosted a meeting between Henry II and the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The abbey also provided the setting for the marriage of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster in 1359, the marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville in 1464, and a meeting of Parliament in 1453. Twenty-seven abbots governed the monastery between 1123 and 1539.
Dissolution and later transformation
Reading Abbey was mostly destroyed in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the Tudor king whose government suppressed England’s monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Faringdon, was convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn, and quartered outside the abbey church in 1539.
After the Dissolution, the buildings were stripped extensively of lead, glass, facing stone, and other materials for reuse elsewhere. Around 1787, Henry Seymour Conway removed a large quantity of stone from the abbey wall to build Conway’s Bridge near Park Place outside Henley. The former monastic complex was also adapted for civic and educational purposes. About twenty years after the Dissolution, Reading town council inserted an upper floor into the former refectory of the Hospitium of St John to create a town hall. Reading School continued to use the lower floor, as it had since 1486. The building served as Reading’s town hall for roughly two centuries before structural weakness led to its dismantling in 1785 and 1786.
St James’s Church and School were built on part of the abbey site between 1837 and 1840, with the church partly constructed from stone taken from the ruins. Reading Gaol was built on the eastern part of the site in 1844, replacing a small county gaol. James Wheble sold the remainder of his landholding to Reading Corporation for Forbury Gardens, which opened in 1861. St James’s Church continues some of the traditions associated with the abbey.
Conservation and archaeological investigation
The ruins and Abbey Gateway are Grade I listed, the highest level of architectural or historic importance in England, and the ruins are also a Scheduled Monument, a legally protected archaeological or historic site. Earlier piecemeal repairs contributed to deterioration, followed by the larger Reading Abbey Revealed conservation project. Parts of the site closed in 2008, and the whole site closed in May 2009 because of the danger from falling masonry. A three-dimensional survey in October 2010 helped establish the conservation requirements. Work began in September 2016, and the ruins reopened on 16 June 2018.
The Hidden Abbey Project, organized in 2014 by Philippa Langley and local historians John and Lindsay Mullaney, used non-invasive methods to investigate the site. Ground-penetrating radar surveys began in June 2016 across the Abbey Church, St James’s Church, Forbury Gardens, and the Reading Gaol car park. Initial results indicated possible graves behind the high altar and other potential archaeological targets, including features probably associated with the abbey’s construction. The possible graves lie east of the area believed to contain Henry I’s grave, but the results do not establish a direct connection with him.
The ruins have also supported site-specific performance. A large event, From the Ruins, took place there in 1994. Outdoor Shakespeare performances began in the South Transept in 1995 and moved to the Chapter House in 1996. The annual event became the Reading Abbey Ruins Open Air Festival in 2007. The festivals in 2009 and 2010 could not be held, and performances were temporarily relocated during restoration before returning to the Chapter House in July 2018.
Remains
Layout and monastic buildings
Reading Abbey occupies a gravel spur between the Rivers Kennet and Thames. The rivers provided transport, and the abbey established wharves on the Kennet. The Kennet also powered water mills, most of which stood on the Holy Brook, a watercourse whose origin is uncertain. The inner rubble cores of the walls of many major abbey buildings remain standing. South of the South Transept, the surviving remains extend in sequence from the vestry to the Chapter House, the infirmary passage, the ground floor of the monks’ dormitory, and the reredorter, or monastic toilet block.
Abbey Church and monastic range
Abbey Church
The Abbey Church survives in fragments of the central-tower piers and parts of the transepts, especially the South Transept. Ground-penetrating radar identified potential grave locations behind the high altar in an apse at the eastern end of the church, together with possible construction-related features and other archaeological targets. These remain potential findings rather than confirmed identifications.
Chapter House
The Chapter House, a monastic meeting room used for community business and readings, is the best-preserved ruin. It retains an apse, a triple entrance, and three large windows above. West of this range is the former cloister, now laid out as a private garden, while part of the refectory wall survives to the south.
Monastic service range
The surviving range south of the South Transept includes the vestry, Chapter House, infirmary passage, the ground floor of the monks’ dormitory, and the reredorter. These remains preserve the sequence of rooms and passages that formed part of the abbey’s communal and domestic organization.
Gateway and guesthouse
Abbey Gateway
The Inner Gateway, also called the Abbey Gateway, adjoins Reading Crown Court and Forbury Gardens. It is one of only two abbey buildings to survive intact. The gateway originally divided the area open to the public from the part reserved for the monks. It survived because it became the entrance to the abbots’ lodging, which was converted into a royal palace after the Dissolution. In the late eighteenth century it formed part of Reading Ladies’ Boarding School.
Sir George Gilbert Scott heavily restored the gateway after part of it collapsed during a storm in 1861. Further extensive restoration followed the fall of decorative stonework into the street in 2010. Reading Museum uses the room above the gateway for educational activities, while the arch below provides a passage for pedestrians and cyclists.
Hospitium of St John
The Hospitium of St John, an abbey guesthouse or pilgrims’ dormitory founded in 1189, survives as the principal building of a larger range that could accommodate 400 people. Much of the rest of the range stood on the site now occupied by Reading Town Hall. The surviving building adjoins the main concert hall of Reading Town Hall to the west and opens south onto the churchyard of St Laurence’s Church.
Abbey Mill and Holy Brook
Abbey Mill
The remains of the Abbey Mill stand immediately south of the abbey ruins beside the Holy Brook. Built across the watercourse, the mill marked the southern boundary of the monastic enclosure and continued grinding corn until the 1950s. Only a wall pierced by three arches survives. It is built of flint, Caen-stone ashlar dressings, and brick filling. The two side arches are round-headed, while the larger central arch over the Holy Brook is pointed.
Holy Brook
The monks are believed to have created the largely artificial Holy Brook to supply the mill, other mills, and the abbey’s fish ponds. The watercourse is approximately 6 miles, or 9.7 kilometres, long. It leaves the River Kennet near Theale, passes just south of Reading Abbey, and returns to the Kennet downstream from the Abbey Mill.
Nearby sites
