READING. 



fertainly too mean to l)e fiippofod to have been llie grand 

 entrance to tliia fuperb mon.iftery. On the right-hand of the 

 pafTageisa door-way, Icadnigto a range of apartments, and 

 witliin is a circular llaircafe, which condiifts to the upper 

 part of the building. This divifion of the abbey is con- 

 jedlured to have been appropriated as offices for fervants and 

 others, as, underneath it, is a feries of arched cellars, and at 

 its foutheni extremity was the kitchen. The great hall, or 

 confillory, was entered from the cloillers by three large en- 

 trance doors. It meafured 80 feet in length, 40 in width, 

 and the fame in height, to the centre of the ceiling, which 

 was conftruftcd of \lone, and fupported by arches fpringing 

 from fo\ir pilailers, 20 feet high, placed againll each of the 

 fide walls. Thefe walls, and probably alfo the outer ones 

 in every part of the building, meafure twelve feet thick from 

 the foundation to the fet-ott", and fix feet thick from thence 

 to the lop, and are compofed of flints and rubbifti of various 

 kinds, bedded in mortar, and indurated in the higheft de- 

 gree. The abbey-church appears to have extended 260 

 feet in length, and to liave been built in the form of a crofs, 

 with a tower and fpire in the centre. The nave was 40 feet 

 wide, and was divided from the fide-aifles by alternate piers 

 and arches. From the mallive charafter of this ilru&ure, in 

 general, and from the circular form of the windows in the 

 dormitory, it is conjectured that its windows alfo had circu- 

 lar arches. In the ground to the eaft of the church, many 

 fkeletons have been difcovered, a circumfl;ance which points 

 It out as the probable burial-place of the monks. The 

 above-mentioned buildings conllituted the body of the abbey, 

 hut there were likewife many others, both connetted with 

 and detached from them. Among thefe were the infirmary, 

 the (lables, and the mill. This lall is yet itanding, and ap- 

 propriated to its original purpofe. It is a lubftantial edi- 

 fice, built of flint and Itone, and is probably coeval with 

 the abbey-church. 



Reading monallery was indubitably among the moft dif- 

 tinguiflied in England. The monks were of the Benediftine 

 order, and were endowed with many privileges and immuni- 

 ties, not only by the founder, but by feveral of his fuccef- 

 fors, and by fome of the popes. They had the right of 

 coining granted to them by king Edward III., alfo the 

 right of holding three annual fairs, and a market every Sun- 

 day at Thatcham. The abbot was among thofe entitled 

 mitred, and took precedency in the houfe of peers, next 

 after the abbots of Glallonbury and St. Alban's. He was 

 lord of the manor of Reading, and poflcfled otherwife much 

 influence in the government of the borough. Many of the 

 monks were diftinguidied for their talents and their acquire- 

 ments in the learning of their refpedlive ages. Robert of 

 Reading, one of the firft monks, was particularly famous, as 

 being, with Adelard of Bath, the only Englifhmen of their 

 time who were mailers of the Arabic language. The abbey- 

 church was the place of fepulture of many royal and noble 

 perfons, among whom were Henry I., and his fecond queen, 

 Adeliza, and probably alfo his firil queen, Matilda ; the cm- 

 prefsMaud,andWilIiam, eldeft ion of Henry XL ; Conllance, 

 grand-daughter to Edward III.; Ann, countefs of War- 

 wick ; Richard, earl of Cornwall, and kmg of the Ro- 

 mans ; and Richard de Curtenea, natural fon of Henry II. 

 At the diffolution, the revenues of this monaftery were elli- 

 mated at 2 1 16/. 3.?. 9^. annually, above 20,000/. according to 

 the prefent value of money. The lands, of courfe, were fei/.ed 

 upon by king Henry, who parcelled them off, either in gilts 

 or inleale, to different individuals ; but the monaitery itfelf 

 xvas converted into a royal palace, and continued to be occa- 

 fionally occupied by our kings till its deflruftion during the 

 grand rebellion, in the reigns of Charlesl. and II. 



The other monaiUc inllitutions in Reading, befides thofr 

 already noticed, were two convents for Francifcan or Grey 

 friars, St. Edmond's chapel, and Colney chantry. One 

 of the convents was founded about the middle of the thir- 

 teenth century, ioon after the firll appearance of the Fran- 

 cifcan order in this country. Its original fituation was on a 

 inarlhy ground adjoinintr the Caverftiam road, and Hill 

 called the Friery Mead ; but in 1285 the friars removed to 

 their fulequent reiidcnce, at the wellern extremity of Fricr- 

 flreet. After the difl'olution this houfe was appropriated as a 

 work-heufe for the poor ; and part of tlie church now forms 

 the borough priion. Tliis building is in the sarly pointed 

 ttyle, and has at its weitern end a very beautiful lancet win- 

 dow. The other convent flood in Caille-ftreet, probably 

 on the fpot now occupied by the Methodift chapel. This 

 inllitution feems to have been on a very fmall fcale, though 

 it is mentioned by Leland as " a fayre houfe of Grey 

 freres." St. Edmond's chapel flood on the rifing ground, 

 called Chapel Hill, near the borough prifon. It was 

 founded, in 1284, by Lawrence Burgefs, then bailift' of the 

 town. In the civil war it was converted into a fort ; and 

 afterwards, about the year 1750, was demoliflied, and an- 

 otker cliapel crecled in its Head on Battle-Farm. Cohiev 

 chantry was inititutcd by one of that family in tlie rciirn 

 of Richard II., for the iouls of king Edward III., of 

 Thomas Colney,' John Colney, and William Catour. It had 

 diflinft incumbents of its own, and was under the patronage 

 of the corporation. 



Reading has given birth to feveral perfons of eminence. 

 Sir Thomas White, founder of St. .lohn's college, Oxford, 

 is faid to have been born here ; but Fuller affirms that he 

 was a native of Rickmanfworth. Archbifliop I^aud ^^^i 

 born in this town in 1573, having been the fon of \Villiam 

 Laud, then a clotliier in Broad-llreet, who, as the archbifliop 

 himfelf told lord Say, had borne all offices in the corpora- 

 tion, fave the mayoralty. John Blagrave, the mathemati- 

 cian, is alfo commonly reputed to have been a native of Read- 

 ing ; as was Jofeph Blagrave, a celebrated aitrological writer, 

 who does not feem to have been related to the mathematician. 

 The other diftinguilhed natives of Reading were, fir Thomas 

 Holt ; fir John Barnard, a noted alderman of London ; 

 James Merrick, the tranflator of the Pfalms ; William Baker, 

 a learned printer ; fir Conflantine Phipps, lord chancellor of 

 Ireland ; and Dr. Phanuel Bacon, author of feveral dramas, 

 &c. 



Tlie vicinity of. Reading prefents feveral objefts worthy 

 of notice. At a fliort diflance to the fouthward, clofe to 

 a place called Catfgrove-lane, may be feen a i-cmarkable 

 ftratum of oyfter-lhells, imbedded in a vein of fea-fand, at 

 leafl twenty fathoms beneath the furface of a hill. This 

 flratum is from one to two feet in thicknefs, and ex- 

 tends through a circumference of five or fix acres of 

 ground. Mixed with the fhells is a confiderable quantity of 

 fmall teeth, apparently of fiih. Caverfliam, formerly a 

 feat of the Craven family, and afterwards of the Cadogans, 

 is lituated nearly oppofite the town, on the north bank of 

 the river Thames. The houfe was built by the earl of 

 Cadogan, in the reign of George I., but has fince undergone 

 material alterations. In the old manfion, Anne of Denmark, 

 queen to James I., was fplendidly entertained by lord 

 Knowles, when on her journey to Bath, in 1613. At the 

 lime Charles I. was a prifoner at Windfor, the parliament, 

 through the mediation of general Fairfax, permitted him to 

 vifit Caverlham Lodge, where all his children who were in 

 Englaiuithen refidcd, in the cullody of the earl of North- 

 umberland. In the liamlet of Woodlev is a very pleafing 

 feat, belonging to lord Sidmouth ; and two miles to the 



weftward 



