Origins '' by
Joseph Farington in 1793 Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the
Roman period, possibly in the form of a trading port for
Calleva Atrebatum. However, the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as
Readingas. 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 their winter quarters in
London. Following the
Norman conquest of England,
William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of
Battle Abbey. In
Domesday Book, 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.
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. The town grew around a crossing of the River Kennet, about upstream from its confluence with the River Thames. In 1312, King
Edward II directed that its bridges should be kept in good order. 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,
Henry of Appleford, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby
Henley lost 60% of its population. The
Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during
Henry VIII's
dissolution of the monasteries. The last
abbot,
Hugh Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and
hanged, drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in
Berkshire and the tenth largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth reported in tax returns. By 1611, it had a population of over 5,000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant
John Kendrick. Reading played a 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. Reading played a significant role during the
Glorious Revolution: the
second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign. 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. 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. From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of
county town of Berkshire was shared between Reading and
Abingdon. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was one of the southern termini of the
Hatfield and Reading Turnpike that allowed travellers from the north to continue their journey to the west without going through the congestion of London. During the 19th century, the town grew rapidly as a
manufacturing centre. The
Great Western Railway arrived in 1841, followed by the
South Eastern Railway in 1849 and the
London and South Western Railway in 1856. After the Summer
Assizes (courts of assize) were moved from Abingdon to Reading in 1867, the
privy council made Reading the sole county town of Berkshire in 1869. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the town's three largest industries were known as the
Three Bs: beer (1785–2010,
H & G Simonds), bulbs (1837–1974,
Suttons Seeds), and biscuits (1822–1976,
Huntley and Palmers).
20th century The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing
Caversham across the
River Thames in
Oxfordshire in 1911, as well as most of
Tilehurst to the west at the same time. Reading suffered much less physical damage than many other English towns and cities during the two
world wars of the 20th century, although many citizens were killed or injured. In one significant
air raid on 10 February 1943 a single
Luftwaffe plane strafed and bombed the town centre, causing 41 deaths and over 100 injuries. The
Lower Earley development, begun in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe, extending the urban area of Reading as far as the
M4 Motorway. 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.
21st century As one of the largest
urban areas in the United Kingdom without
city status, Reading has unsuccessfully bid for city status four times – in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium; in 2002 to celebrate the
Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II; in 2012 for
the Diamond Jubilee; and in 2022 to mark
the Platinum Jubilee. ==Governance==