We have updated our resources page to include Leslie Harman’s book about the Parish of St Giles-in-Reading and a plan of Reading based on Roger Amyce’s survey of 1552.
Leslie Harman was an assistant priest at St Giles who, in his own words, attempted ‘…to show something of the contining and developing life of a parish’. It covers the history of the church and parish up to the ‘present day’, which was 1946 when the book was published. The parish extended south of the Kennet into Whitley which was beyond the borough boundary until 1887. Using Amyce’s survey and information from the church accounts he was able to produce a ‘directory’ for the inner parish of London Street, Southampton Street and surrounds, in the mid sixteenth century.
The plan of Reading based on Amyce’s survey was first produced in 1919 by Dr S Peyton and was subsequently redrawn. It covers parts of the town centre, London Street and Southampton Street.
Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee 