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- 1. St Laurence, Reading, Berkshire, England
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Parish church St Laurence’s is in the centre of Reading, originally standing beween the W gate of the Abbey and the Hospitium of St John. It now faces Friar St with the Town Hall to the N. It consists of a nave with a N aisle only, a chancel with a N chapel and a 16thc. W tower. Construction is of flint. The original church on the site may have been early 12thc., but according to VCH all that remains standing of this is the S nave wall, the lower part of the tower S wall and a window reset in the SW of the nave. The foundation of the Hospitium of St John in 1196 may have acted as a spur to enlarge the church by demolishing the old tower to extend the nave, and at the same time new N and S doorways were added. The S is still in place, and fragments from the N are set in a blocked arch in the N nave aisle. The N aisle itself and the chancel chapel apparently followed in the 13thc. The N arcade was rebuilt in 1522, and the church was repaired and reseated by Joseph Morris of Reading in 1867-69. Late 12thc. sculpture is found on the S nave doorway and in a blocked arch in the N aisle wall, but more interesting are the carved stones from the Reading Abbey site used to construct what must be called a folly in the churchyard NE of the church (see III.4.(i)).
- 2. St James, Sotwell, Berkshire, England
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Chapel Aisleless nave and chancel with timber bell-turret capped by a short broach spire, all of 1883-84 by S.R.Stevenson. It incorporates several features from the church demolished in 1883, among which are a reset 12thc. respond capital and a reset chip-carved window head.
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