Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/310

Rh READING. 298 READING. 'unction of the Kennet with the Thames, comprises the older part of the town, including the market place, and several of the best business streets ; while the pansh of St. Giles, which lies to the S. of the Kennet, contains the newer portion of the town, and is occupied by the wealthier classes. St. Mary's parish, on the W. of the other two, is chiefly occupied by the working classes. A large extension has recently taken place in the direction of the London Road, where several new streets and squares have been formed, and for several miles along which the road is skirted by detached villa residences. The population of the borough has gradually increased from 16,042 in 1831, to 25,045 in 1861. Under the old charter the inhabitants were exempt from serving on juries at the assizes and sessions for the county of Berks, and from the payment of county rates. The sanitary arrangements of the town are under the management of a local board of health, and it has an efficient and well- regulated police. The streets are well paved and lighted with gas, and there is an abundant supply of water from the tank situated on Castle Hill, which con- tains about 240,000 gallons, raised by means of a water tower 100 feet high, and which stands in Mill-lane between two branches of the river Kennet. Amongst the principal public buildings are the townhall,rebuiltin 1786, of which the upper part, forming the Council Chamber, contains portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Archbishop Laud, and other worthies, and the under part is appropriated to the use of the free grammar school. The new public hall is a modern structure situated in London-street, and com- prises spacious assembly rooms, and offices for the lite- rary and scientific society and mechanics' institute. The county gaol and house of correction is a castellated modern structure, on the summit of Forbery Hill, and is built after the plan of the model prison at 1'entonville. The Athenaeum is situated in Friar-street, nearly oppo- site the railway station. The Berkshire hospital is a modern structure, as are 'also the new cattle markets, situated near the railway station, and the new corn market, in course of construction. Among other build- ings requiring notice are the borough buildings, the new assize hall, the theatre, the union poorhouse, public baths, savings-bank, threo branch banks, a post-office, gas and waterworks, and two railway stations, the one belonging to the Great Western, and the other to the Reading, Guildford, and Reigate lines. There is also a peculiar structure founded by John Kendrick the clothier, towards the commencement of the 17th cen- tury, for the employment of poor people, and which has been used for weaving and other trades, but is now in contemplation to >>e taken down, and private houses and shops erected on the site. In the town and its immediate vicinity are several bridges over different branches of the Kennet, and one, called the High Bridge, over the Thames into Oxfordshire, also a railway viaduct for the Great Western line over the mouth of the Kennet where it joins the Thames. In the town are iron foundries, boatbuilders' yards, extensive breweries, biscuitmaking establishments, and manufactories for the celebrated Reading and other sauces. A flourishing trade is carried on in the transmission of flour and other agricultural produce, including timber, corn, seeds, bark, hops, wool, cheese, &c., to London by railway and barges. There are a few persons employed in the manufacture of silk for umbrellas, ribbons, crapes, and galloons, and some in the weaving of floor-cloth, sail-cloth, and coarse linen. The town, which is a borough by prescription, was first chartered by Henry III. in 1253, and received various immunities from subsequent sovereigns. In 1836 it was divided into three wards, and is governed under the new Municipal Reform Act by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, with the style of " mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Reading." The municipal revenue amounts to about 3,700 per annum, partly arising from the manor rents. The limits of the muni- cipal and parliamentary boroughs are co-extensive, com- prising, with the hamlets, an area of 4,870 acres. It has continued to return two members to parliament, from the 23rd of Edward I. to the present time, the mayor being the returning officer. The petty sessions for the Reading division of the county are held here every Saturday, and the borough justices hold their sittings four times a week. The borough quarter sessions, and the county quarter sessions at Easter and Michaelmas, and the spring assizes regularly occur in the town. The Berkshire county court is held here monthly, and the poor-law guardians for the union of Reading, which comprises three parishes, meet every Thursday. It is also the head of an excise collection district, a polling place for the county elections, and the headquarters of the county militia. There is a large cemetery just beyond the borough boundary. One newspaper, the Reading Mercury, is published in the town. This place gives name to a deanery in the archdeaconry of Berks and diocese of Oxford, and comprises the parishes of St. Lawrence, St. Mary, and St. Giles. The benefice of St. Lawrence is a vie.," val. 276, in the patron, of the Bishop of Oxford. The church, which is situated at the upper end of the old market-place, was rebuilt in 1435 on the site of a more ancient one dedicated to the same saint. It includes a small part of the original structure of Norman character, and has a tower at the W. end, built of chequered flint work, and containing a peal of ten bells, the largest of which weighs 4,109 Ibs. The interior contains two brasses, the earliest bearing date 1588, also monuments to John Blagrave, the ma- thematician, and to Dr. Valpy. Both the other benefices, viz. St. Mary and St. Giles, are vies.* endowed with great tithes, val. respectively 724 and 575, in the patron, of the Bishop of Oxford. The former benefice was once held by Bishops Mews and Lloyd, Archdeacon Nares, and Professor Milman. The church of St. Mary stands near the centre of the town, and was rebuilt about 1551, chiefly from the materials of the Abbey Church, then pulled down. It occupies the site of the ancient nunnery founded by Queen Elfrida, and has a tower, 90 feet high, built of flint and stone in squares, somewhat similar to that of St. Lawrence, but not equal to it in elegance of proportions. The interior contains a brass bearing date 1416. The church of St. Giles is likewise an ancient structure with a square tower sur- mounted by a slender spire, covered with copper, which last was added in 1790. During the siege of the town in the civil war of Charles I., this church was much damaged by the shot of the parliamentarians, but was subsequently repaired, and was considerably enlarged in 1827, when an E. window was added. There are be- sides four district churches, St. John's, Grey Friars, Christ Church, and Holy Trinity, and a chapel-of-ease, called St. Mary's chapel. The Roman Catholic church was built in 1840, in the early Norman or Saxon style of architecture, chiefly of flints from the abbey ruins. It contains a carved altar of stone richly gilt. The Baptists and Independents have each three chapels, the Primitive Methodists two, and the Wesleyans one. There are also a new Congregational church in the Queen's Road, called Trinity chapel, and a meeting- house for the Society of Friends. There are fifteen public schools, viz. the grammar school, Aldworth's boys' blue-coat school, Girst's green-coat school, Si- meon's endowed Sunday-school, five National schools, British schools for boys and girls, three infant schools, school of industry, and two ragged schools ; of these the most distinguished are the grammar school, founded by Henry VII. in 1486, in place of St. John's hos- pital, and which recently attained great celebrity under the late Dr. Valpy, who was for nearly fifty years head master. It has an income from endowment of about 60 per annum, besides two fellowships in St. John's College, Oxford, on the foundation of Sir Thomas White, and two recently founded scholarships. Amongst the many eminent men who have been pupils in this school were Archbishop Laud ; John Blagrave, of Tile- hurst, the eminent mathematician ; Merrick, the poet ; and Coates, author of " The History of Reading ;" and Palmer, the Protestant martyr, was once master. Aid- worth's blue-coat school has an income from endow- ment of about 1,000 per annum, and at present main-