Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/309

Rh RAYNHAM. 297 READING. Braiiitree, hund. of Hiuckford, oo. Essex, 1 J mile W. of Braintree. RAYNHAM. See RAINHAM, cos. Essex and Norfolk. REA, two streams of this name, one rises near Stanton Long, in co. Salop, and joins the Teme at Rochford ; the other rises under the Clent hills in co. Worcester, and passing under the Grand Junction via- duct, which ia here carried across the valley on 28 arches, joins the Teme near Castle Bromwich. REACH, a chplry. in the par. of Leighton-Buzzard, hund. of Manshead, co. Bedford, 2 miles N.E. of Leigh- ton-Buzzard. It is in conjunction with the hamlet of Heath. The village is situated near the Grand Junction canal and the river Ouzel. REACH, or HECHE, a hmlt. in the pars, of Burwell and Swaffham Prior, hunds. of Staploe and Staine, co. Cambridge, 1 mile from Swaffham Prior, and 6 miles N.W. of Newmarket. It was formerly a market town. The Independents have a place of worship. READ, a tnshp. in the par. of Whalley, higher div. of the hund. of Blackburn, co. Lancaster, 4 miles N.W. of Burnley, 5 S.E. of Clitheroe, and 2 E. of the Whalley railway station. It is situate on the road from Padiham to Whalley. The soil consists of loam and clay, with a subsoil of shale. There is a National school. Dean Nowell, composer of the Church Catechism, was born hero in 1506, and died in 1602. READ'S ISLAND, a shoal in the river Humber, co. Lincoln, near Whittonness. Until recently it formed part of the Pudding-Pie Sand, but has been reclaimed, and now affords good pasturage. READING, a hund. in the co. of Berks, contains the borough of Reading and the pars, of Beenham-Vallence, Bucklebury, Cholsey, Pangbourne, Sulhampstead Abbots, Tilehurst, and parts of Blewberry, St. Giles, St. Mary, Stnttfield Saye, and Thatcham, comprising an area of 37,510 acres, exclusive of Reading. READING, a market town, municipal and parliamen- tary borough, and county town, co. Berks, locally in the hund. of Reading, but exercising separate jurisdic- tion, 39 miles S.W. of London by road, and 36* by the Great Western railway, on which it is a principal station. There are also branch lines of the Great Western to Hungerford and Basingstoke, and of the South-Eastern to Reigate, by which last the main lines of the Great Western, South- Western, and South-Eastern are con- nected. There is also water communication with most of the chief ports of England by means of the Kennet and Avon canal and the river Kennet, which last is navigable from Reading for vessels of 120 tons burden, and has commodious wharves on its banks. The town, which is of great antiquity, is situated in a richly cultivated country on the banks of the river Kennet, just above its junction with the Thames. It was called by the Saxons Eedinges and subsequently Reddynge, as is supposed from the overflowing of the meadows in the vicinity, Rhea signifying "a river," and ing "a meadow," though other antiquaries derive it from the British word rhyd, " a ford." It is first noticed in history about 871, when it was taken from the Saxons by the Danes, who retired hither after their defeat at Englefield by Earl Ethelwolf, and were pursued by that Saxon nobleman, who was slain in attempting to take the town of Reading. On the inva- of England by Sweyn, King of Denmark, in 1006, to revenge the massacre of bis countrymen in the reign of Ethelred, this town was again stormed by the Danes, who burnt it to the ground, together with the nunnery founded by Elfrida, in expiation of the murder of her atep-son, Edward the Martyr. From this calamity it appears to have only partially recovered, for in the iisday Survey it is noticed as containing only 28 houses, and at that time formed part of the royal In 1121 llunry I. founded, on the site of the u fort, an abbey for monks of the Benedictine order, which t he endowed with an ample revenue and dedicated In tin- I Inly Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and St. John the elist, in expiation for his having put out his ibert's eyes. This monastery ranked among the most wealthy in the kingdom, the abbots being mitred and enjoying the privileges of coining money, conferring the honour of knighthood, and many other immunities. It subsequently became one of the favourite abodes of Henry, who died and was buried here in 1135, as were also his queen Adeliza and his eldest sou William. In the succeeding reign a strong castle was built at the top of Castle-street, which changed hands several times during the civil war of Stephen and the Empress Maud, but was demolished by Henry II. on his ascending the throne, together with other fortresses erected in the preceding reign. This monarch, in 1163, presided at a judicial combat which took place here, on an island to the E. of Caversham Bridge, between Robert de Montford and Henry de Essex, the royal standard-bearer, who was accused by his antagonist of treasonable cowardice in a battle with the Welsh near Chester. Victory having declared for the former, Essex's lands were forfeited to the crown, but his life being spared, he became a monk in the abbey. Another cere- mony took place here in 1185, when the same monarch received from the hands of Herodius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, the keys of the Holy Sepulchre and the royal bannerof Jerusalem, but Herodius failed in his endeavours to induce the king to undertake an expedition for the re- covery of the Holy Land. In the following reigns the kings frequently resided at Reading, where a tournament was held by Edward III. in 1346, and in 1359 a grand ceremonial took place on the occasion of his son John of Gaunt's marriage with Blanche, co-heiress of Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, the ceremony being performed in the abbey church. In the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV. four parliaments were held here, the meetings being mostly convened in the great hall of the abbey, where also the latter monarch received his queen Elizabeth Woodville, as portrayed in the illumi- nated missal in the British Museum. On tha dissolution of monasteries the abbey buildings were appropriated as a royal palace, and Henry VIII. took up his residence here for some time after Abbot Farringdon had been hanged for not giving up the abbey. It continued to be a resort of succeeding sovereigns, and Elizabeth had a canopied pew appropriated to her use in the parochial church of St. Lawrence, the floor of which was strewn with flowers and rushes for her reception. In the beginning of the reign of Charles I. the law courts were twice adjourned from Westminster to Reading, viz. in 1625 and 1635, in consequence of the prevalence of the plague which was then raging in the metropolis. At the commencement of the Civil War, the town was gar- risoned for the parliament, but was abandoned by the governor on the approach of the royal forces in 1642, after which, being strongly fortified, it was held by the king's troops till 1643, when it sustained a siege of eight days by the parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex. The King and Prince Rupert attempting to relieve the town were defeated on Caversham Bridge, and the town was eventually surrendered, but not until it had suffered severely from the cannon of the parliamentarians placed on Caversham Hill. After the battle of Newbury, the town was abandoned by the parliamentarians and gar- risoned for the king, but on Charles I.'s visit here in 1644 he ordered the military works, of which consider- able remains are still traceable in the Forbury, to be de- molished. The only other event of historical interest connected with the town was the skirmish which took place in 1688 between some of the Irish and Scotch troops belonging to the army of James II. and the Dutch troops under the Prince of Orange, the anniver- sary of which, called the " Reading Fight," was annually commemorated till about the year 1788. From having been so long a garrison town, Reading suffered severely, and eventually the once flourishing trade of cloth-work- ing entirely decayed. It has, however, long since re- covered its prosperity. The houses are mostly of red brick, and the more modern of Bath stone. Within the last quarter of a century the town has been considerably extended, and great improvements have recently been effected. The parish of St. Lawrence, lying to the N. of the Kennet, and occupying the point of laud at the