Reading for Visitors – Crib Sheet
Show Berkshire Hashers how clever you are! At each number on the trail be sure to tell a Berkshire Hasher about what it says below (it’s good for their humility!)
Earliest record of Reading (871AD) was the victory of Alfred the Great here against The Danish Viking Raiders. Alfred, King of Wessex, was born in Berkshire (Wantage) and would almost certainly have ran with Royal Berkshire Hash today.
Prehistoric Reading was founded on firm ground crossings of The River Thames among marshes. Two of the ‘marsh’ streams - Holy Brook and River Kennet go through The Oracle Centre <checkmark 2>.
Reading started to become grand when the King of England chose to be buried here. Henry I founded Reading Abbey <checkmark 3/4> in 1121 and was interred under its High Altar(1136). Abbey was larger than today’s Westminster Abbey. His nickname, Beauclerc, was given as - unusually for warrior kings then, he could read! Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1539.
The current Reading Gaol <next to Abbey ruins> was built in 1844. Perhaps most famous in-mate was Oscar Wilde who served 2 years hard labour here after losing libel action against Lonsdale’s buggery claim. Previous gaol had a tread-mill for the in-mates on full view to the public – bit like town hashing!
The mound here <checkmark 5> in Forbury Gardens was used by the Cavaliers to stand their biggest cannon on in the Roundhead’s Siege of Reading in 1643 during The Civil War. Reading was the first town in Britain to be besieged.
The Lion Statue is the Maiwand Memorial to local soldiers who died in Afghanistan (1890). Sadly the sculptor committed suicide after realising he’d got the legs wrong.
We pass near the original site of Reading School, the 7th(?) oldest school in England, founded 1486 by Henry VII where many famous men of England were educated, like Archbishop Laud <checkmark 7>.
Reading Town Hall was built in 1875 in the Victorian Gothic style. It has a splendid Concert Hall. The cellar bar, 3B’s, is named after products of Reading’s great Victorian entrepreneurs: Bulbs (Suttons Seeds), Beer (Simonds) & Biscuits (Huntley & Palmer). Martin Sutton supplied Ireland with potatoes after The Famine (1847).
Reading was first major stop out of London for Brunel’s Great Western Railway Company. Here you can see their line. The original wide gauge track was reduced to be compatible with rest of network. Brunel designed routes so straight, British Rail ran their first High Speed Trains here (these train were troubled by curves).
Salmon swim upstream in clean rivers to have babies. Thames Water Authority tell us this river is clean enough for salmon spawning and have built a salmon ladder at the F (for fish) across the lock from here <checkmark 10>. These banks were under 2 feet water last month!
Frys Island in The Thames is the site of the famous dual between Robert de Montfort and Henry of Essex in 1163. Robert accused him of cowardice while standard-bearer to the King. The claim was tested by dual in front of the King. Henry lost, was taken away as dead but recovered then lived as monk here. (Opposite is Hares’ house – his daughter’s Tibetan flags hang outside.)
The previous bridge here was iron/wood on the Berkshire side and concrete on the Oxfordshire side as the two councils could not agree. Now both sides are in Berkshire. Photos of 1850 show swans here - presumably scavenging from people then as now. They take off by walking on water - a skill shared with several hashers!
Under the railway bridge is a Jazz Club which was previously the abattoir and a long time before that the site of Franciscan Abbey. Their austere life style conflicted with the Benedictines who ran Reading then, so were granted only land on flood plain. Their ‘Grey Friars’ Church’ is now on higher land nearby.
We pass over Bath Road <check mark 14> on the original stage coach route from London to Bristol (and ships to America). Huntley & Palmer became famous for making ‘cakes’ that did not crumble (ie. biscuits) which were much favoured by passengers being buffeted by the coach trails then. They were closed down by RJR Nabisco after their ambitious leveraged buy-out.
The surrounding Berkshire Downs were famous for sheep rearing for several centuries. This was a Ministry of Agriculture site now converted to be a private hospital.
These fields flood badly, despite the drainage to Holy Brook, which we run along, and nearby Foundry Brook. The Victorians built the railway embankment here above the water level to local coal yards sidings, both now dismantled.
The Hook & Tackle is in Katesgrove, thought to be derived prehistorically from Cattle Grove. Once a year the local school children & teachers dress up to match its Victorian appearance. This pub was built 1873 as The Tanners Arms after the local leather tannery just along the canal.
Call 011 011
(22 February 2003 Version)
k
Lonely Enterprises
5 Lynmouth Court
READING RG1 8DD
07710 981 309 (mobile)
ben@ralston.bz
BERKS IN READING HASH
Hook & Tackle
23 Feb 03
Bluffer’s Guide to Historic Reading
