Borough Marsh is an island surrounded by the rivers Thames and Loddon and their tributaries, between Shiplake and Wargrave. These gateposts with beakhead voussoirs built into them were crucial to the rediscovery of carved stones from the cloister of Reading Abbey. Just before the outbreak of World War II, Dr Wilfred Bowman bought Barn Acre Cottage in Borough Marsh near Wargrave. He intended to use it as a summer cottage, but he and his family took more-or-less permanent residence there after the air raids on London began. While gardening Dr Bowman unearthed the two beakhead voussoirs recorded here, and had them incorporated into the gateposts of a new set of gates for the cottage. In 1948 the stones were noticed by René Ledésert, a specialist in French literature based in London, who brought them to the attention of his friend George Zarnecki at the Courtauld Institute of Art, who recognised them as stones from Reading Abbey, and began a correspondence with Dr Bowman that resulted, later the same year, in the Courtauld Institute excavation of Dr Bowman's garden, and the discovery of some sixty carved stones that are now in Reading Museum. For an account of how the stones may have come to Borough Marsh, and more details of the excavation, see Baxter and Harrison (2002) and Zarnecki (1949 and 1950). An account of the excavation has been compiled by Tessa Smith, Dr Bowman's daughter, which includes photographs and copies of correspondence.
