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Summary

During the Civil War St Edmund's Chapel was converted to a Civil War fort.

Monument Type(s):

• FORT (Post Medieval - 1642 AD to 1642 AD)

Description

St Edmund's chapel (record 02113.16.000) was founded in 1204, but used as a barn since 1479,and was converted to a civil war fort. It was "the Invincible fort" called "Harrison's Barn", which cut off the approach from Caversham. After its disuse the fort was pulled down and built up again some half-mile further out on part of Bettel estate farm. Excavations index states that a wall of an old barn at Bettel farm was blown over c1900. This disclosed many worked stones which had apparently belonged to an ecclesiastical building. This stonework was examined by Keyser, and then stored at the Abbey Gateway. In 1906 the chapel-barn-fort-barn was situated off the Oxford Road, at the bottom of Beresford Road <1>.The building was eventually pulled down and re-erected at SU70107379. Site used as a car park in 1963 and now destroyed by the IDR (Inner Distribution Road).

<1> Berkshire Archaeological Society, 1906, Berkshire Archaeological Journal, Pages 28-29 (Journal). SRD9930.

Sources

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Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.