Reading
—  Town & Borough  —
The Oracle, Town Hall and St Laurence's Church, Skyline from Reading West, Reading Abbey and Reading Festival
Official logo of Reading Coat of Arms of Reading Borough Council
Motto: A Deo et Regina With God and Queen
Reading shown within Berkshire
Coordinates: 51°27′15″N 0°58′23″W / 51.45417°N 0.97306°W / 51.45417; -0.97306Coordinates: 51°27′15″N 0°58′23″W / 51.45417°N 0.97306°W / 51.45417; -0.97306
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Admin HQ	Reading
Settled	871 or earlier
Town Status	1086 or earlier
Government
• Type	Unitary authorities
• Governing bodies	Reading Borough Council, but also including parts of Wokingham Borough and West Berkshire
Elevation	200 ft (61 m)
Population (2010 est.[1])
• Town & Borough	154,200 (Ranked 118th)
• Density	9,890/sq mi (3,817/km2)
• Urban	369,804 (Ranked 17th in UK)
• Ethnicity[2]	82.0% White (74.2% White British) 8.4% South Asian 4.3 % Black 2.7% Mixed Race 1.1% Chinese 1.5% Other
Demonym	Readingensian[3] Readingite[4]
Time zone	GMT (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
Postal Code	RG
Area code(s)	0118
Twin cities
• Düsseldorf	Germany (since 1988)
• Clonmel	Ireland (since 1994)
• S.Francisco Libre	Nicaragua (since 1994)
• Speightstown	Barbados (since 2003)
Grid Ref.	SU713733
ONS code	00MC
ISO 3166-2	GB-RDG
NUTS 3	UKJ11
Website	reading.gov.uk

Reading (ⁱ/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some 40 miles (64 km) west of London.

The Borough of Reading has a population of 145,700 (2008 estimate) and the town formed the largest part of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area which had a population of 369,804 (2001 census). The town is currently represented in the UK parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295. For ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon.^[5]

The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century. Reading was an important centre in the medieval period, as the site of Reading Abbey, a monastery with strong royal connections. The town was seriously impacted by the Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, and played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed growing businesses.

Today Reading is a commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The town is also a retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley, and is home to the University of Reading. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of England's biggest music festivals. Sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon.

History[link]

Reading may have existed as early as the Roman occupation of Britain, possibly as a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum.^[6] However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingum. The name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English,^[7] or less probably the Celtic Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River.^[8]

In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to winter quarters in London.^[9][10]

After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of Battle Abbey. In its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough. The presence of six mills is recorded: four on land belonging to the king and two on the land given to Battle Abbey.^[10]

Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 by Henry I, who is buried within the Abbey grounds. As part of his endowments, he gave the abbey his lands in Reading, along with land at Cholsey.^[10][11] It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death that swept through England in the 14th century, but it is known that the abbot of Reading Abbey, Henry of Appleford, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby Henley lost 60% of its population.^[12]

The earliest map of Reading, published in 1611 by John Speed

The Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church.^[13][14]

By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant John Kendrick.^{[12] [15]}

Reading played an important role during the English Civil War. Despite its fortifications, it had a Royalist garrison imposed on it in 1642. The subsequent Siege of Reading by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643. The town's cloth trade was especially badly damaged, and the town's economy did not fully recover until the 20th century.^[10][16] Reading played a significant role during the Revolution of 1688: the second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign.^[10][17]

View of Reading from Caversham by Joseph Farington in 1793

The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous.^[18] Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country. In 1723, despite considerable local opposition, the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury. Opposition stopped when it became apparent that the new route benefited the town. After the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810, one could go by barge from Reading to the Bristol Channel.^[19] From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of county town of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon.^[20]

During the 19th century, the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre. The Great Western Railway arrived in 1841,^[21] followed by the South Eastern Railway in 1849 and the London and South Western Railway in 1856.^[22][23]

The statue of George Palmer in Broad Street, c. 1890 by Henry Taunt

The Summer Assizes were moved from Abingdon to Reading in 1867, effectively making Reading the sole county town of Berkshire, a decision that was officially approved by the Privy Council in 1869.^[24] The town became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888.^[25][26] The town has been famous for the Three Bs of beer (1785–2010, Simonds' Brewery),^[27][28] bulbs (1837–1974, Suttons Seeds),^[27][29] and biscuits (1822–1976, Huntley and Palmers).^[27][30][31]

The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing Caversham across the River Thames in Oxfordshire in 1911. Compared to many other English towns and cities, Reading suffered little physical damage during either of the two World Wars that afflicted the 20th century, although many citizens were killed or injured in the conflicts. One significant air raid occurred on 10 February 1943, when a single Luftwaffe plane machine-gunned and bombed the town centre, resulting in 41 deaths and over 100 injuries.^[32]

The Lower Earley development, built in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe.^[33][34] It extended the urban area of Reading as far as the M4 motorway, which acts as the southern boundary of the town. Further housing developments have increased the number of modern houses and hypermarkets in the outskirts of Reading. A major town-centre shopping centre, The Oracle, opened in 1999, is named after the 17th century Oracle workhouse, which once occupied a small part of the site. It provides three storeys of shopping space and boosted the local economy by providing 4,000 jobs.^[35][36]

As one of the largest urban areas in the United Kingdom to be without city status, Reading has bid for city status on three recent occasions — in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium; in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II; and 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. All three bids were unsuccessful.^{[37][38][39][40][41]}

Government[link]

Reading Crown Court

Local government for the town of Reading is principally provided by the Borough of Reading, a single level unitary authority without civil parishes. However some of the town's outer suburbs are in West Berkshire and Wokingham unitary authorities. These outer suburbs belong to civil parishes, in some cases with their own town status.

Reading has elected at least one Member of Parliament to every Parliament since 1295.^[42] Historically, Reading was represented by the members for the Parliamentary Borough of Reading, and the parliamentary constituencies of Reading, Reading North, and Reading South. Since the 2010 general election, Reading and its surrounding area has been divided between the parliamentary constituencies of Reading East and Reading West.^[43] The whole of the town is within the multi-member South East England European constituency.^[44]

Reading is the site of both a Crown Court,^[45] administering criminal justice, and a County Court,^[46] responsible for civil cases. Lesser matters are dealt with in a local Magistrates' Court.^[47]

Borough of Reading[link]

Reading has had some degree of local government autonomy since 1253, when the local merchant guild was granted a royal charter. Since then, the town has been run by a borough corporation, as a county borough, and as a district of Berkshire. The Borough of Reading became a unitary authority area in 1998, when Berkshire County Council was abolished under the Banham Review, and is now responsible for all aspects of local government within the borough.^[48]

Reading Civic Centre

Prior to the 16th century, civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in the Yield Hall, a guild hall situated by the River Kennet near today's Yield Hall Lane.^[49] After a brief stay in what later became Greyfriars Church, the town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of the Hospitium of St John, the former hospitium of Reading Abbey.^[49] For some 400 years up to the 1970s, this was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration through the successive rebuilds that eventually created today's Town Hall.^[50] In 1976, Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre.^[51]

The government of the Borough of Reading follows the leader and cabinet model. Following the 2011 local elections, a Labour minority administration replaced the previous Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition on the casting vote of the mayor.^[52] The borough also has a (largely ceremonial) mayor. In 2011–12 this position is held by Councillor Deborah Edwards.^[52]

Boundaries[link]

Current boundaries of the Borough of Reading

Since 1887, the borough has included the former villages of Southcote and Whitley and small parts of Earley and Tilehurst.^[53] By 1911, it also encompassed the Oxfordshire village of Caversham and still more of Tilehurst.^[54] A small area of Mapledurham parish was added in 1977. An attempt to take over a small area of Eye and Dunsden parish in Oxfordshire was rejected because of strong local opposition in 1997.^[54] Today the borough itself is unparished, and the wards used to elect the borough councillors generally ignore the accepted suburbs and use invented ward names.^[55]

Reading's municipal boundaries do not include all of the surrounding suburbs. However, the constricted boundaries also create more serious difficulties for the town, as it attempts to develop and grow. The diminishing amount of suitable land within the borough's boundary can bring the council into conflict its neighbours. An example of this is the planned third crossing of the Thames, which South Oxfordshire's politicians and residents oppose.^[56][57] On this subject, Rob Wilson, MP for (Reading East), said in a House of Commons debate in January 2006:^[58]

However, the process has been painfully slow and it appears that, for every two steps forwards, there are three steps backwards—mainly because of the view of South Oxfordshire district council, which is being incredibly parochial about this matter. Meanwhile, Reading borough council is adopting strategies that prioritise local traffic in Reading, obviously to the detriment of through traffic. We have now reached the point at which we desperately need direct Government intervention to break the logjam between those local authorities.

Geography[link]

The River Kennet during the 2007 floods at the riverside level of The Oracle

Reading is 41 miles (66 km) due west of central London, 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Oxford, 70 miles (110 km) east of Bristol, and 50 miles (80 km) north of the English south coast. The centre of Reading is on a low ridge between the River Thames and River Kennet, close to their confluence, reflecting the town's history as a river port. Just above the confluence, the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep-sided gap in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames floodplain. The absence of a floodplain on the Kennet in this defile enabled the development of wharves.

As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs (part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty); to the south and south-east on the south side of the Kennet; and to the north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills. Outside the central area, the floors of the valleys containing the two rivers remain largely unimproved floodplain. Apart from the M4 curving to the south there is only one road across the Kennet floodplain. All other routes between the three built-up areas are in the central area, which is a cause of road congestion there.

The floodplains adjoining Reading's two rivers are subject to occasional flooding. However, in the 2007 floods that affected much of the UK, no properties were affected by flooding from the Thames and only four properties were affected by flooding from the Kennet.^[59][60]

Definition[link]

Beansheaf Farm

Calcot

Caversham

Caversham Heights

Caversham Park Village

Coley

Coley Park

Earley

East Reading

Emmer Green

Fords Farm

Holybrook

Horncastle

Katesgrove

Little Heath

Lower Caversham

Lower Earley

Maiden Erlegh

Newtown

Purley on Thames

Southcote

Tilehurst

Norcot

West Reading

Whitley

Whitley Wood

Woodley

Kennet Island

Location of suburbs of Reading

Depending on the definition adopted, neither the town nor the urban area are necessarily coterminous with the borough. Historically, the town of Reading was smaller than the borough. Definitions include the old ecclesiastical parishes of the churches of St Mary, St Laurence and St Giles, or the even smaller pre-19th century borough.^[54]

Today, as well as the town centre Reading comprises a number of suburbs and other districts, both within the borough itself and within the surrounding urban area. The names and location of these suburbs are in general usage but, except where some of the outer suburbs correspond to civil parishes, there are no formally defined boundaries. The Reading urban area, sometimes referred to as Greater Reading, incorporates the town's eastern and western suburbs outside the borough, in the civil parishes of Earley, Woodley, Purley-on-Thames and Tilehurst. Reading has its own subregional catchment area, incorporating the suburban districts of Earley and Woodley, the nearby towns of Wokingham, Bracknell, Henley-on-Thames and Twyford and several large villages such as Pangbourne, Theale, Winnersh, Burghfield and Shiplake.

Climate[link]

Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climate, with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year. The nearest official Met Office weather station is located at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory on the Whiteknights Campus, which has recorded atmospheric measurements and meteorological observations since 1970.^[61] The local absolute maximum temperature of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) was recorded in August 1990 and the local absolute minimum temperature of −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) was recorded in January 1982.

Demography[link]

The borough has a population of 154,200 and a population density of 3,817 per square kilometre (9,886 /sq mi) (2010 est.),^[1] while the Office for National Statistics' definition of the urban sub-division of Reading is significantly larger at 232,662 people in an area of 55.35 km². This urban subdivision is itself a component of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area with a population of 369,804 (2001 census), and is the most populous town in the United Kingdom not to have city status.^[39][64]