Reading
Reading. County town of Berkshire, situated where the river Kennet joins the Thames. A small borough by 1086, it grew partly thanks to Henry I's foundation of a major Cluniac abbey (1121), where he was buried. The abbey dominated the town until the dissolution (1539), and not until 1542 did Reading become an autonomous borough. From the 14th to the 17th cents. it flourished through cloth-making: it was temporarily the eleventh wealthiest English town under Henry VIII, and Archbishop Laud was the son of a Reading clothier. The town suffered badly in the Civil War; was only of modest importance in the 18th cent.; but revived as an industrial town in the 19th (‘Biscuitopolis’).
David M. Palliser
More From encyclopedia.com
Worcester (England) , Worcester. Cathedral city on the river Severn, and county town of Worcestershire. A modest Roman town, it was reoccupied by a cathedral (680) and lat… NOTTINGHAM , Nottingham •minimum • maximum • optimum •chrysanthemum, helianthemum •cardamom • Pergamum • sesamum •per annum • magnum • damnum •Arnhem, Barnum •env… NORWICH , NORWICH
NORWICH , county town of Norfolk, E. England. The medieval Jewish community is first mentioned in 1144, when the discovery of the body of a b… Beverley , Beverley •biyearly, really, yearly •Beardsley • lawyerly • immediately •hourly • cowardly • surely • marbly •pebbly •neighbourly (US neighborly) •dri… Town , Town
A civil and political subdivision of a state, which varies in size and significance according to location but is ordinarily a division of a coun… Staffordshire , Staffordshire is one of the counties most affected by the industrial revolution. The county town has never dominated the shire. In pre-Conquest days,…
About this article
Reading (England)
All Sources -
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
Reading (England)