Reading Abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121 'for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors.' The hope of salvation was a common motive for endowing monasteries with money and land in the early middle ages, but such royal patronage was sufficient to make Reading one of the richest and most important religious houses in England, with possessions not only in Berkshire but as far a field as Herefordshire and Scotland.
The Trust for Wessex Archaeology and Reading Museum & Art Gallery compiled this booklet following excavations in the early 1980s as a summary of that work and the Abbey’s history. This booklet was published in 1983.
Reading Abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121 'for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors.' The hope of salvation was a common motive for endowing monasteries with money and land in the early middle ages, but such royal patronage was sufficient to make Reading one of the richest and most important religious houses in England, with possessions not only in Berkshire but as far a field as Herefordshire and Scotland.
The Trust for Wessex Archaeology and Reading Museum & Art Gallery compiled this booklet following excavations in the early 1980s as a summary of that work and the Abbey’s history. This booklet was published in 1983.
Reading Abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121 'for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors.' The hope of salvation was a common motive for endowing monasteries with money and land in the early middle ages, but such royal patronage was sufficient to make Reading one of the richest and most important religious houses in England, with possessions not only in Berkshire but as far a field as Herefordshire and Scotland.
The Trust for Wessex Archaeology and Reading Museum & Art Gallery compiled this booklet following excavations in the early 1980s as a summary of that work and the Abbey’s history. This booklet was published in 1983.