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Summary

Approximately forty bodies were discovered during drain digging in the Forbury Gardens in 1906.

Monument Type(s):

• INHUMATION CEMETERY (Saxon to Medieval - 410 AD to 1539 AD)

Description

Approximately 40 bodies were discovered during drain digging. They were aligned east-west, with no grave goods. The plan suggests successive burials over a long period. Peake lists these as Saxon <1>, but dating must be suspect. The site is probably the pre-1550 graveyard of St Laurences, which was near the abbey church.

The grid reference for this site may be incorrect.

In 1987 bones, believed to be Saxon or medieval, were found of at least five adults, 2 adolescents, 2 children and a baby, all orientated east-west. They may be part of the same cemetery discovered in 1906, but were discovered below the wall that separates St James Church from the Forbury Gardens <2>.

<1> Peake, H, 1931, The Archaeology of Berkshire, Pages 128 and 223 (Bibliographic reference). SRD12746.

<2> Trust For Wessex Archaeology, 1989?, Archaeological observations along the line of the Plummery Wall, Reading Abbey, 1987-1989, Page 7 (Unpublished document). SRM13130.

Sources

Designations

• Scheduled Monument 1007932: Reading Abbey: a Cluniac and Benedictine monastery and Civil War earthwork.

Associated Events:

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds:

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