The 1535 Progress: Reading Abbey, Berkshire

The Abbey is situated on a gravelly eminence, hanging over the river Kennet on the south, and on the north commanding a view of the Thames and Caversham in Oxfordshire. The outer wall now encloses a green, called the Forbury.
Observations made by Sir Henry Englefield in 1779.

On 8 July 1535, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn left Windsor Castle bound for Reading Abbey. The twelfth-century monastery, founded by William the Conqueror’s youngest son, Henry I, was the first stop on the 1535 summer progress. Only a day’s ride from Windsor, it was a convenient staging post often used by Tudor royalty. Henry VIII often stayed at monastic houses during his travels around England. Two of the seven Acts of Mercy and fundamental Christian obligations were providing hospitality to travellers, feeding the hungry and sheltering wayfarers. Thus, monasteries fulfilled this role for the rich and poor alike.

Reading Abbey: A Royal Favourite

During Henry’s reign, Reading Abbey was one of the sixth wealthiest monasteries in England and one of Henry’s favourites, featuring regularly on his itinerary. This was not the first time Anne had visited either; she had accompanied the king and court in July 1529 and August 1532, when they lodged at the abbey on their way to Woodstock (1529) and Windsor (1532).

Hugh Faringdon was the Abbot of Reading during Anne’s visits. His responsibilities varied greatly. Apart from looking after the spiritual and material needs of the monks, they included maintaining the monastery buildings, running the town, collecting taxes, and administering justice. Another responsibility of the abbot was offering hospitality to the monarch and his retinue.

Important guests who visited the abbey were lodged in the abbot’s house. This stood beside the inner gateway at Reading, which is still extant today. The lodgings lay within the monastic ‘inner sanctum’ to which the general public was not admitted. In 1535, Anne would have been housed in one of the sumptuous guest rooms reserved for the King and Queen. Members of the court who could not be accommodated at the abbey would have stayed in the town.

Today, the once-splendid abbey church lies in ruins—a distant echo of its magnificent former self. At only fifty feet shorter than the present-day St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the abbey church was a vast structure, taking up most of the southeast corner of today’s Forbury Gardens. We can imagine that during Anne’s visits, her gaze would have been drawn to the eight massive round pillars that supported the roof on either side of the nave and the richly decorated altars that lined the walls. The summer light would have trickled through the stained glass windows and caressed the flagstone floors, as flickering candles made shadows dance on the painted walls and the smell of incense filled the air.

The Brutal End of Reading Abbey

The monks of Reading Abbey spent most of their time in the church, tending to their religious devotions. This included attending eight services every day, each up to two hours long and composed mainly of singing. When not in the church, daily life centred on the cloisters and consisted of private prayer, meditation, reading, and writing.

In 1539, this tranquil existence was brought to a brutal end; the last abbot, Hugh Faringdon, despite having had a good relationship with Henry, was executed for treason in front of the Abbey Gate. Subsequently, the majority of the abbey was dismantled. Among the few buildings left standing was the abbot’s house, which was converted into a royal residence and used by Henry as early as 1540 (suggesting that the alterations required at the time were minimal).

Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth I all stayed at Reading. During Elizabeth’s reign, the principal buildings were noted as the great gate, the hall (probably the former refectory), the kitchen, the great chamber, the presence chamber, the privy chamber, the bed-chamber, the viewing chamber, and the gallery.

The Remains of Reading Abbey

Unfortunately, the exact position of the abbot’s house where Anne stayed is now uncertain. It survived the Dissolution but was destroyed in 1642, at the end of the Civil War. A survey of the property in 1650 suggests that the house lay on the west side of the former cloisters, inside the existing abbey gateway, with the adjoining refectory serving as a great hall after the Dissolution.

Today, the romantic ruins are in the Forbury Gardens and are looked after by Reading Borough Council. This area was formerly known as ‘The Forbury’ and was located within the main abbey walls. In Anne’s day, it was an ample open space that the public was permitted to access. It was often the site of markets, fairs or religious celebrations, where the monks and the townspeople could interact. Today, it is a public park. The abbey gateway and the main building of the hospitium (a guesthouse used mainly by pilgrims) survive, albeit in a heavily restored state.

Before touring the site of the ruins, visitors today should commence their stay with a trip to the Museum of Reading, accommodated within Reading Town Hall, where objects from excavations in the area are displayed in the People and Place Gallery and in The Window Gallery. When the abbey was dissolved, it was stripped of its stone facing, and thus, the remains lack any of their former decorative embellishments. However, several beautifully carved fragments taken from the abbey survive are housed at the museum. They give a sense of the richness of the buildings that Anne would have seen.

At the foot of the main staircase, in the People and Place Gallery, in the Bayeux Gallery and on the first floor of the Town Hall, you will also find displayed a set of twentieth-century paintings commissioned by Dr Jamieson Boyd Hurry, a local doctor with an interest in Reading. These depict important events in the Abbey’s history. Although Henry and Anne’s visit is not among them, there is a painting of interest to the history enthusiast, one that records another important royal visit by a couple whose marriage caused a storm of controversy, not unlike the one that raged around Henry and Anne’s nascent relationship.

On St. Michael’s Day, 29 September 1464, King Edward IV introduced his new bride, Elizabeth Woodville, to a surprised Royal Council. Tradition states that Edward had married his bride secretly on 1 May 1464. All present had to publicly acknowledge her as Queen of England, although this ruffled many feathers, including those of Warwick, the Kingmaker. His disquiet and hatred of the Woodvilles would eventually lead to bloodshed.

Another painting in the collection shows the execution of Hugh Faringdon, the last Abbot of Reading, by the west front of the abbey church. His “trial” is believed to have occurred in a room above the inner gateway. 

While in town, a visit to St Laurence’s Church is also suggested; situated alongside the site of the Abbey, it was initially constructed in the early twelfth century to serve the people of the town. Today, it houses some interesting historic items, including a font said to have been made in 1522 by a master mason from Hampton Court Palace. It is an exciting blend of the ancient and very modern, a rare survivor from the original abbey complex and certainly a building Anne would have seen. However, Anne was not the only royal visitor. Elizabeth I paid several visits to the church, and the novelist Jane Austen worshipped there daily when she attended the Abbey School For Girls, housed in the abbey gateway.

There is much to see and explore in this historic town, where ancient monastic ruins still remind us of its glory days.

To listen to the podcast episode associated with this blog, click here.

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Visitor Information

There are tours of Reading Abbey Quarter – keep an eye out on the What’s On? page of Reading Museum’s website for details.

For information on how to reach St Laurence’s Church, visit the church’s website here or call + 44 (0) 1189 571293.

Postcode for Valpy Street Car Park: RG1 1AF; for Reading Train Station: RG1 1LZ; and for Forbury Gardens: RG1 3EH.

Other Nearby Tudor Locations of Interest

Ockwells Manor (15 miles)
The Vyne (14 miles)
Shaw House (20 miles)