Reading Abbey today ... and tomorrow?
Today, the
Abbey Ruins are looked after by Reading
Museum Service. Objects from excavations are displayed in the Reading
: People &
Place Gallery and in the Windows Gallery. Our
understanding and knowledge of the Abbey increases as research
and new discoveries are made. For example in 1997 archaeologists
working on the site of The
Oracle discovered a carved stone corbel that had been reused
in the seventeenth century Yield Hall.
One of the
lasting effects of the Abbey on people is Reading's road
system. The Forbury Road still takes traffic round the north and
east edge of the Abbey site. By St Laurence's Church the road uses the site of the
West Gate and the entrance to Abbey Square by the Central
Library
on Kings Road is the position of the South Gate. The traffic
flows around the periphery of the site as it did during
the time of the Abbey. The Forbury Gardens
and the Abbey Ruins retains the tranquility it possessed
when the monks lived there.
In 1984 the Friends of Reading
Abbey were formed to support the conservation of the ruins.
The following year the
Mayor of Reading, Janet Bond, launched a successful fundraising appeal.
In 2003
Reading Borough Council was awarded a grant from the Heritage
Lottery Fund to restore the Victorian character of the
Forbury Gardens and to continue the specialist conservation
work on the ruins. The work will mainly be done in 2004, with
a completion target of 2005.
But puzzles and mystery will always remain,
in particular was Henry I's coffin
opened and his skeleton scattered? Or do his remains still lie beneath the ground here
in Reading?
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