The Hospitium of St John the Baptist was the

hospitium Hospitium (; gr, ξενία, '' xenia'', προξενία) is the ancient Greco-Roman concept of hospitality as a divine right of the guest and a divine duty of the host. Similar or broadly equivalent customs were and are also known in other cult ...

, or dormitory for pilgrims, of

Reading Abbey Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, m ...

, which today is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, in the English county of Berkshire. The hospitium was founded in 1189, and at its maximum comprised a range of buildings that could accommodate 400 people. The main building has survived, and is grade II listed. Much of the remainder of the original hospitium was located where Reading Town Hall now stands. The abbey school, which was founded in 1125, moved into the hospitium in 1485 as the Royal Grammar School of King Henry VII. The surviving building probably dates from this date, albeit incorporating some of the earlier building. The abbey school still exists in the form of

Reading School Reading School is a grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England. There are no ...

, a state

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, albeit in different buildings on a different site. About 100 years after the abbey school occupied the hospitium, and after the dissolution of the monasteries, Reading town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the hospitium's refectory, leaving the lower floor to be used by the school. This was the home of the town's administration for about 200 years, but the old refectory building eventually became structurally unsound. Between 1785 and 1786, the refectory building was dismantled and replaced on the same site by the first of several phases of building that were to make up today's Town Hall. The main building of the hospitium survived this demolition, and various other uses followed. In 1892 the ''College at Reading'' was founded in the hospitium building as an extension college of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. The college occupied the hospitium until it was given a site on London Road in 1904 by the Palmer family of Huntley & Palmers fame. In 1926 the college received a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

and became the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. More recently the hospitium has been incorporated into an office development, and is occupied by a children's nursery. Today the surviving building occupies a rather isolated site, with no direct street access. It abuts the main concert hall of Reading Town Hall to the west, and the south of the building opens directly onto the churchyard of St Laurence's Church. The building is surrounded to the north and east by a modern office development, with a small intermediate courtyard.

Gallery

File:Hospitium of St John the Baptist.jpg, The Hospitium seen from the churchyard, with Town Hall to left and office development behind File:Reading Abbey Hospitium 1.jpg, The north side of the Hospitium seen from the courtyard of the office development File:St Laurence's Churchyard, Reading - DSCN4400.jpg, The roof of the hospitium is seen in the centre here, surrounded by churchyard, Town Hall and offices

References

External links

* {{Listed buildings in Reading Grade II listed buildings in Reading History of Reading, Berkshire Tourist attractions in Reading, Berkshire 1189 establishments in England