BWM2400 8/7/2016

Berkshire War Memorials

READING - Central

The Central area of Reading is bounded by the Railway to the west, the line of Christchurch Road to the south, the line of Craven Road/Watlington Street to the east and the River Thames to the north.




The locations for memorials noted are:-

Abbey Baptist Church
Abbey Baptist Church is located on Abbey Street near the rear of the Central Library.

The WW1 Memorial (WM5111) contains 22 names

Forbury Gardens
Forbury Gardens occupy part of the grounds of Reading Abbey to the east of the town centre. There are five memorials:-

Burma Star Memorial (WM5249)
The memorial is to men of Reading who died and served in the far east campaign in WW2 - there are no names.

Maiwand Lion (WM5160)
Stands in the centre of the gardens and dominates the scene. It bears the name of over 300 men of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment who died in the Afghan Campaign of 1879-1881 - Details from Andy Challenor. A second version from the Potts Project
Berkshire and Reading Monument (WM5238)
This memorial bears no names and is located at the entrance to Forbury Gardens just behind St Laurence Church

Spanish Civil War (WM5493) This was moved from Dusseldorf Way, outside the old Civic Centre when it was closed in 2015

Trooper Potts and the Berkshire Yeomanry (WM5987)
To be located Just outside the south wall of the Gardens
to be installed October 2015

Greyfriars Church
Greyfriars is located at the west end of Friar Street. The memorials are:-

Prayer Roll (WM5206)
This was compiled as the Great War progressed to record names of men from the church or whose relatives attended the church and who were serving or had died.

Soole Memorials
Two private memorial to sons of a former rector: Godfrey Hope Soole (WM6112) and Seymour Waldegrave Soole (WM6194)

Holy Trinity Church
The church is located on the Oxford Road opposite Russell Street. The Calvary outside was the original War Memorial The memorial is inside the church in the form of a Roll of Honour (WM5207)

Salvation Army (WM5245)
The Salvation Army Citadel is located at the corner of the IDR and Castle Street. It was formerly on the site presentlu occupied by the Broad Street Mall. It was reported as having a memorial at one time but we can find no one with any current knowledge of it.

Post Office
There were two memorials to men of the Post Office

Roll of Honour (WM5260)
Compiled just after the war and published in Berkshire and the War. Believed to have been kept at the Post Office on Friar St but present location unknown.

Men who died in WW1 (WM5014) This used to be located in the linking corridor at the Sorting Office on Caversham Road but is now located in the delivery office for East Reading and is not accessible by the public.

St Giles Church
The memorial is a Calvary (WM5256) outside the church. There are no names.

St Laurence Church
St Laurence Church is located at the east end of Friar St. The memorials are:-

Royal Horse Artillery (WM5517)

WW1 Memorial (WM5210)

Memorial to the 49th Regiment (WM5162)

St Mary's Castle Street
The church is located on Castle Street and the memorials are on the north wall of the chancel

WW1 (WM5226)

Cross (WM6012)

O'Neill (WM6110)

Sacred Heart (Polish) Catholic Church

Located on Watlington Street at its junction with St John'sw Road

Formerly the Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist

St James (Catholic) Church
St James Church is located on Forbury Road between the Prison and Forbury Gardens

It has one memorial (WM5979) to WW2 on the south wall of the Nave

Central Police Station

The WW1 memorial (WM5243) to men of the Borough Police Force is inside the station and not accessible to the public

University - London Road Campus

The WW1 Memorial is in the form of a Clock Tower (WM5013) inside which is a panel commemorating men from the University College who fell in WW1

The memorial to Wilfred Own (WM6311) who died in 1918 is on a wall to the north of the tower

The Memorial to Rupert Thorneloe (WM6310) who died i9nj 2009
The WW2 Memorial (WM5845) is a bronze plaque inside the tower

The Museum of English Rural Life
This is adjacent to the London Road Campus of the University and houses memorials to

Leighton Park School (WM5859)
Suttons Seeds (WM5860)
Roll of Honour for the University College in WW1 (WM5864)

St Mary's Minster
The Minster Church has fifteen war memorials ranging from the Napoleonic Wars to the Korean War - follow the link above for details

Reading Museum
There are several memorials held by the museum but they are not normally on display

Huntley and Palmers WW1 (WM5249)
A general memorial to men who worked at the Biscuit factory and died in WW1

Foreign Section (WM5240)
To men of the Foreign Section of Huntley and Palmers

Pulsometer Pumps (WM5218)
Pulsometer Pumps was located at what is now Reading Retail Park at Norcot. The memorial lists men from the factory who fell in WW1 or won honours

St Anne's School, Caversham (WM5834)
The memorial has been on loan from the School

Royal Berkshire Hospital
The memorial is to men of the 6th Royal Berks Regiment (WM5247)

St Andrews Church (WM5252)
No information to hand

Wesley Methodist Church
The church is located at the junction of Watlington St and Queen St. Nothing is known of its War Memorial (WM5281)

Reading Co-operative Society
The main Co-operative Society premises were on West St. Nothing is known of the present location of its War Memorial(WM5254) which used to be mounted on a wall of the Co-op store when it was in West Street

Marlborough House (WM5835)
The school was originally on Castle Street, then moved to occupy what is now the YMCA on Parkside Drive and was absorbed into Leighton Park School. The memorial has now been relocated to Crosfields School in Shinfield.

Suttons Seeds , known formally as The Royal Seed establishment, it used to be located on Forbury Road. One of their war memorials (WM5214) has been relocated to Brock Barracks> and the other (WM5860) to MERL

Reading Bombing Memorial (WM5986)
Located on the wall of Blandy & Blandy offices opposite St Laurence's Church, commemorates civilians who were killed or wounded in a German Air Raid in 1943. Includes a reconstruction of the west window of St Laurence's Church which was destroyed in the raid and reconstructed in the churchyard

Reading Signal Works (WM5972)
Located to the north of Reading Station, the works were one of the leading edge developers of railway signalling until the mid 1970s. The permanent location of the memorial is unknown but it has been on display at Reading Museum.

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