Reading
Reading maps (2 available)
Map of Berkshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Reading books (14 available)
- 66 photos on Reading appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Reading
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Reading and Berkshire
Reading memories
Read and share memories of Reading and Berkshire inspired by Frith photos
Rowing
I think this boathouse was where the Reading Working Men's Rowing Club was based. I remember boys from the Forest Grammar School rowing on the river here and the extraordinary pain in your arms as you rowed the last few strokes of a race!
Contributed by John Buck
Reading 1949
My Grandfather Blaskett ( my mother Sylvia was the second daughter of his second wife) owned property in Reading and was a spec builder and for a while our family lived at 24 Bath Road. He had a property I think before the War called Rotherham Grange but I don't know where in Reading it was. I will be over in England in September (I live in Sydney, Australia) and hope to find Rotherham Grange. If anyone can help me I would be very grateful. During the war years our family lived with him at his country property called Cherry Elyot. Bette Schoots (nee Miller).
Contributed by Bette Schoots
Huntley & Palmers
This picture shows the factory of Huntley & Palmers - the biscuit makers who were one of the largest employers in Reading in the 20th Centrury. Presumably the photo was taken at the end of a working day with the workers streaming out of the factory? Palmer Park was named after one of the founders of this firm.
Contributed by John Buck
Berkshire memories
Reading 1949
My Grandfather Blaskett ( my mother Sylvia was the second daughter of his second wife) owned property in Reading and was a spec builder and for a while our family lived at 24 Bath Road. He had a property I think before the War called Rotherham Grange but I don't know where in Reading it was. I will be over in England in September (I live in Sydney, Australia) and hope to find Rotherham Grange. If anyone can help me I would be very grateful. During the war years our family lived with him at his country property called Cherry Elyot. Bette Schoots (nee Miller).
A memory of Reading contributed by Bette Schoots
Extracts From Reading & Berkshire books
From a point further north-east, this view looks towards the
gatehouse past the elaborate fountain which still remains
today and the entrance gates beyond the thatched bothy, now
replaced. The chimneyed building to the right of the gate-
house was demolished by 1904 to make way for the Shire
Hall seen in later views.
An extract from from"Reading Pocket Album".
This view, until 1886 concealed by houses, shows
the tall, elegant west tower of the parish church
now dominating St Mary’s Butts. Although
there was a Norman church here, it was mostly
rebuilt with stone, flint and timber salvaged from
Reading Abbey after its dissolution in 1539. The
tower dates from 1550 to 1553.
An extract from from"Reading Pocket Album".
This is Forbury Gardens. The scene is dominated by a colossal cast iron lion weighing 16 tons, erected to
commemorate 300 men of the Royal Berkshire Regiment who died in the Afghan campaigns of 1879-80.
An extract from from"Berkshire Photographic Memories".
This extraordinary monument, with its gigantic lion snarl-
ing at the onlooker, was erected in 1884 to commemorate
the sixty-sixth Berkshire Regiment’s heroism and losses in
the Second Afghan War of 1879 to 1880, particularly their
rearguard action at Maiwand. In this view it is decked with
wreaths and garlands for the anniversary.
An extract from from"Reading Pocket Album".
Opened in 1877, and still looking pristine in this
1890 view, the Kendrick’s Boys School in Queen’s
Road was endowed by funds first established by
John Kendrick’s will of 1624. Kendrick had been a
very successful Reading cloth manufacturer, and the
original Oracle workhouse was also funded from his
bequest; this is long demolished and its site is now
the new Oracle complex.
An extract from from"Reading Pocket Album".