Greyfriars Church is an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, and former

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friary A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may ...

, in the town centre of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in the English county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. The church forms part of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Diocese of Oxford The Diocese of Oxford is a Church of England diocese that forms part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Oxford (currently Steven Croft (bishop), Steven Croft), and the bishop's seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, ...

. It is the oldest Franciscan church still in use as a place of worship in the UK, and is said to be the most complete surviving example of Franciscan architecture in England. As a consequence, it has been listed as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

As a friary

The Franciscan order of

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

s first arrived in Reading in 1233 with the intention of creating a community to minister to the poor and the oppressed. This arrival was not welcomed by the established

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, ...

, but the fact that the friars had royal

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

meant that Adam de Lathbury, the then abbot, was obliged to assist. Nevertheless the first mention of a painted altarpiece known in Europe comes from the friary, which is recorded as having "unam tabulam ad altarem depictam et auro stellatam" in 1239. Initially the friars were granted a site alongside the road to Caversham Bridge, and by 1259 had erected a

there, complete with church, chapter house, dormitory and refectory. However the site proved prone to flooding, impeding the ability of the friars to undertake their ministry. Eventually

John Peckham John Peckham (c. 1230 – 8 December 1292) was a Franciscan friar and Archbishop of Canterbury in the years 1279–1292. Peckham studied at the University of Paris under Bonaventure, where he later taught theology and became known as a co ...

, who was both the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

and a fellow Franciscan, intervened and by 1285 a new site had been obtained at the west end of what is now ''Friar Street''. The new friary on the new site, that was eventually to become Greyfriars Church, was ready by 1311. The friars were expelled in 1538 as part of

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

's dissolution of the monasteries.

As a secular building

At the time of the dissolution, the town of Reading was administered from a guild hall known as the ''Yield Hall'', situated beside the

River Kennet The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which � ...

close to today's ''Yield Hall Lane''. However, by the middle of the 16th century this had proved too small. The mayor, along with Thomas Vachell of

Coley Park Coley Park is a Suburban village to the south of the town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading in the England, English county of Berkshire. It is largely built on the country estate of the same name, surrounding Coley House. It is primarily a resident ...

, petitioned the king to grant the nave and aisles of the church for use as a town hall. In 1543, this petition was granted. The remainder of the church and friary, together with the adjoining grounds, were sold to Robert Stanshawe, after whom the nearby ''Stanshawe Road'' is named. However Greyfriars did not prove a successful town hall, and some twenty years later the council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of the Hospitium of St John, the former hospitium of

. This was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration, through the successive re-buildings that eventually created today's

Reading Town Hall Reading Town Hall is the town hall of Reading, Berkshire, England. The town hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875. Situated close to the site of Reading A ...

, until the move to

Reading Civic Centre Reading Civic Centre was a Civic center, civic centre in the town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, itself in the England, English county of Berkshire. The centre dated from the mid-1970s. History Prior to the 16th century, civic administration f ...

in the 1970s. Thereafter Greyfriars was used successively as a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

for the poor (1578) and a house of correction for the punishment of idle or vagrant people (1590). In the 18th century it became the town's

jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

. By the middle of the 19th century only the walls survived, and the derelict structure was in danger of collapse.

As a parish church

The church was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

around 1863 by the Reading Borough Surveyor, W H Woodman. The original building is constructed from squared and knapped

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

s with a stone

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

and

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es. The tiled roof sweeps down over aisles, and the church has a three bay

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. The large

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

and triple arched

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

were added to the church by Woodman. The nave has segmental headed 3 light windows of plain decorated style and an extremely fine west window of 5 lights, in a decorated style with reticulated tracery. The interior is spacious, with a

crown post A crown post is a term in traditional timber framing for a post in roof framing which stands on a '' tie beam'' or '' collar beam'' and supports a ''collar plate''.Alcock, N. W.. Recording timber-framed buildings: an illustrated glossary. Londo ...

and

wind brace In architecture, wind braces are diagonal braces to tie the rafters of a roof together and prevent racking. In medieval roofs they are arched, and run from the principal rafters to catch the purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, p ...

roof supported on original cruciform and quadriblobe shafts. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

and

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

date from the restoration. The Memorial Hall, a building seating about fifty opens both to the north side of the Church and to Sackville Street, was constructed in the early twentieth century. It can be divided into three rooms. The Vicarage building was re-built in 1961–62 with the outward appearance of the original Georgian town house, but with a modern interior. It has now been purchased from the diocese, together with its garden, by the congregation of Greyfriars to be used for the mission of the church, initially as a Day Nursery. Attached to the main church building is the West End, which was constructed in the 1970s to create an entrance foyer and a semi-circular lounge with seating for 100–150. Moveable screens allow for it to be divided into four smaller areas. There are also a small kitchen and toilets. The Greyfriars Centre, adjacent to the Church, was completed in 1983 and consists of a general purpose hall for sports and other activities, a coffee lounge with kitchen, bookshop, two meeting rooms, the Church office, toilets and showers. In 2000, the church's interior was reordered and modernised. The

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

pews were replaced with movable seating to allow greater flexibility in the building's use, such as the large dinners which launch the church's Alpha Courses. The pulpit was moved to the rear of the nave. A

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

was also installed.

References

External links