Reading Abbey: a Cluniac and Benedictine monastery and Civil War earthwork.

Scheduled area

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History & significance

Reading Abbey is a Cluniac and Benedictine monastery founded in 1121 by King Henry I, which became one of the most significant and wealthy religious houses in medieval England. The abbey was established as a Cluniac house but subsequently adopted the Benedictine rule, and it acquired considerable lands and influence across southern England during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The site was substantially developed over the medieval period, with substantial stone buildings constructed to reflect its status and prosperity. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the abbey fell into decay, and during the English Civil War the site was refortified with earthwork defences, of which substantial archaeological remains survive. The surviving masonry fragments and earthworks provide evidence of both the monastery's architectural development and its later military use.

Reading Abbey: a Cluniac and Benedictine monastery and Civil War earthwork. is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1007932. View the official record →

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