A garden interlude

The recent warm weather meant we could sit out in our daughter's garden in between going out for trips around Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

At the end of the garden there are trees, vines and bushes and at this time of the year there are blackberries to pick.

We enjoyed some blackberry crumble and we also brought some of the black figs from our own garden that are so big and abundant this year we have been sharing them around.

The garden is full of colour and variety with the planting of flowers, vegetables, herbs and ornamental trees.

Around Reading: Abbey Ruins

It was disappointing to find that it's no longer possible to wander around the Abbey ruins because of safety issues due to the unstable condition of the stonework.  It seems a pity that the ruins are in this state as I can remember the site was open not so long ago and public events took place on the grassy lawns. However, the walk by the river and the public garden was a pleasant one.

This old print from the River Kennet side of the site shows how impressive the Abbey must have been in its day and the x shows the area of the present ruins which included the chapter house and the monks' dormitory.

Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 by Henry I and became one of the largest and wealthiest abbeys in England which included the manors and churches in Reading.  The original dedication was to St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist and St. James was added in 1164 when the Abbey became an important place of pilgrimage.  St James' emblem of a scallop shell began to appear on Abbey seals in the early 13th century.  The Abbey brought trade and contributed to the development of the town, but there were often disputes between the town's leaders over this as the Abbot had much power in the area as the Lord of Reading.  On a positive note Reading Abbey is probably best known for having had the earliest copy of a manuscript for a six-part musical rota or round written about 1260 composed in the Wessex dialect of Middle English 'Sumer is Icumen in' (better known as 'The Cuckoo Song'). A large stone plaque of the notation was placed on the Abbey Ruins wall. It must still be there with other plaques depicting some of the important events in its earlier history.

I had to view some of the stone plaques from the outer gardens with the aid of the small pocket digital camera's zoom lens which is not very powerful.

Robed Figure - Elisabeth Frink, DBE, RA

Roses and ivy growing on the walls

The brick tower to the extreme right is part of Reading Prison which is now a remand prison.

The unusual sculpture is the work of a Danish sculptor, Jens Flemming Sorensen. Apparently his work in materials such as granite, bronze and marble often include obelisks or spheres. Humans seem to be breaking out of these spheres.

Being locked out of the Abbey Ruins I reflected on the fate of the monks at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries as they were cast out into the streets. The last Abbot, Blessed Hugh Faringdon, was hanged, drawn and quartered at the nearby Abbey Gatehouse.

The Abbey Gatehouse was restored in the 19th century by Sir George Gilbert Scott. In the 18th century it had housed an educational establishment and the novelist, Jane Austen, attended the Reading Ladies' Boarding School there.

The Abbey Gatehouse and the Forbury (Abbey forecourt area) which is now a municipal garden

This memorial cross on a grassy mound in the Forbury Gardens reads 'To the memory of Henry Beauclerc King of England who founded Reading Abbey on June 18 1121 and was buried before the High Altar on Jan 4 1136' 

The Chestnut Tree Walk, River Kennet

We're back from a time in my home county of Berkshire.

One day I took a walk around an area of my home town which we used to call The Chestnut Tree Walk because of the avenue of horse chestnut trees along by the River Kennet.

The River Kennet is part of the Kennet and Avon Canal, a stretch of  waterway in the south of England. The two rivers, the Kennet and the Avon are linked by a canal and this is overall referred to as the Kennet and Avon Canal Waterway.

The last mile of the River Kennet in Reading, Berkshire before it joins the River Thames has been navigable since at least the 13th century.  Because there was no wide floodplain wharves could be built during the Middle Ages that allowed Reading to establish itself as a river port. Reading remained a relatively small market town until the 1960s and I remember there were wharves further along this stretch of the river near the Victorian development of Huntley and Palmers' biscuit factory. Once railway links had been established the waterway fell into decline until it was restored in the 1990s for leisure and wildlife conservation purposes. Originally the river would have been under the control of Reading Abbey. Today it's administered by the Environmental Agency.

Soon the chestnut trees will change colour and a walk in the early Autumn months on a sunny day will be just as enjoyable.

Huntley and Palmers' Biscuit Factory stood on the site just across from the bridge in the background.

Only one remnant of the Victorian building remains - the facade and outer walls of a small section of the factory complex.

Turning to the right from Chestnut Walk is the entrance to the ruins of Reading Abbey - more about that next time.

Meanwhile, I hope you're having a good week.  The transition between August and September, Summer and Autumn is proving to be a pleasant one this year for many because of the sunny weather. We've had some spectacular evening and night skies with the August full moon and wonderful sunsets on occasions.  I haven't been able to post everything we did in August, but that will have to wait for another time.  However, I will leave you with some sunset photos that I managed to take as a passenger travelling back home on Sunday evening. I would liked to have been able to take some from a stationary situation as the changing colours seemed to go on and on well into the darkness of late evening.