1

THE

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES

OF THE

TOWN AND BOROUGH

OF

READING IN BERKSHIRE

WITH

SOME NOTICES OF THE MOST CONSIDERABLE
PLACES IN THE SAME COUNTY.

BY J. DORAN, ESQ.

READING;

PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL READER,
NO. 7, HIGH STREET:

ALSO BY HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.

PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

MDCCCXXXV.

With the Author's

best wishes

LE

ADVERTISEMENT.

IN offering this volume to the notice of the Public, but more especially of the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Reading, it has been the wish of the publisher to supply in a compendious and cheap form the means of acquiring such an acquaintance with the history, state, and valuable institutions of this ancient borough, as could not otherwise be obtained but with considerable labor or expence.

The compiler has of course been much indebted to the standard works of Messrs. Coates and Mann, and it is hoped that he has not altogether failed of success in his endeavors, with their aid, and that of information derived from other equally respectable sources, to produce in a condensed and portable volume the more interesting facts and narratives of our local history, continued to the present time.