History of Reading Society

THE subject of the October talk was the Forbury at Reading.

The speaker was Joy Pibworth, a member of the society’s committee.

Today, the public open space opposite St Laurence’s churchyard in Reading is known as the Forbury Gardens.

But in the year 843 it was the stage for a fierce battle between the Anglo-Saxons and the invading Danish forces who chose it as the vanguard for their invasion of Wessex.

After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 the land became the property of the Crown and was for 418 years within the precincts of the Benedictine Abbey that was founded by Henry I in 1121.

It was the abbey’s outer court and served as a market and meeting place between monks and townspeople.

The Forbury means “the land before the town”.

In 1536, with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey site reverted to common land and was used by the town for agricultural fairs and for grazing livestock.

The fabric of the building was subjected to much pillaging by the locals.

In 1539, the final ignominy was the execution for treason of the last abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon. This took place opposite the abbey, the spectacle being witnessed by the monks and townsfolk.

In 1642 the Forbury would again be the setting for bloodshed. In the siege of Reading, during the Civil War, the occupying Royalist army, commanded by Sir Arthur Aston, turned the town into a fortress.

Aston ordered the inhabitants to assist with the construction of the defences. An important bulwark was the mound, a hillock at the centre of the site that was raised higher and cannon positioned on it. The siege would cause yet more damage to the remaining fabric of the abbey.

During the 19th century, with the rapid expansion of Reading, the Forbury was no longer the edge of the town.

In 1831 the abbey, then a picturesque ruin, faced a new danger as a building scheme proposed the complete demolition of the ruins.

Fortunately, the public outrage that ensued caused the Reading Corporation to act. A sum of £500 was raised through subscription and most of the site was saved.

In the 1840s, however, some of the ruins were demolished to make room for St James’s Church and a new prison. In 1854, to prevent further encroachment at the site, the corporation purchased the remaining undeveloped land from the owner, James Joseph Wheble, for £1,200.

A new public park, the Forbury Gardens, was laid out and it opened on Easter Sunday 1856.

The Forbury Lion. its best known landmark, was erected as the Maiwand War Memorial in 1884 to commemorate those who died in the Afghan war.

Today, the gardens are a well-used public amenity and a vital green lung in the town centre.

Most recently, the abbey ruins have undergone further restoration work to ensure their survival.

The future use of the former prison, which closed in 2013, is uncertain.

The subject of the next talk will be “The architectural history of Caversham” by Dr Megan Aldrich. This will take place at the Abbey Baptist Church in Abbey Square, Reading, on Wednesday, November 21 at 7.30pm. All are welcome (£2 to non-members).