Wendy with stallholder, Kathy Coen

At Hungerford Arcade we always look forward to meeting lovely people with a story to tell and Wendy Dobbenie has a wonderful one about how she makes animals and scenes from 1960’s and 1970’s crockery into mosaic art.  Here you can see Wendy with stallholder Kathy Coen and below with Arcade co-owner, Adrian Gilmour.  Further down, you will see the wonderful work Wendy does with the crockery in making her mosaics.

Wendy with Arcade co-owner, Adrian Gilmour

Wendy started doing mosaics a few years ago purely as a hobby and something to do in her spare time. Wendy said “I enjoy de-stressing by smashing up crockery and creating new pieces with it”.  As you can see, it works!

This is Chris Joliffe and his adorable Westie, Poppy, with unit 46 stallholder Frances Jones.  Chris and Poppy have become regular fixtures here at the Arcade, making weekly visits to add to Chris’s ever growing collection of motoring memorabilia.  Over the years, Chris has become good friends with a number of our stallholders and everybody looks forward to Poppy’s irresistible good nature.  

This weekend there was a surprise in store for them in the form of a fantastic antique inkstand from Frances.  The inkstand was owned by her Grandfather and in her own words “to prove antiques dealers have a heart” she decided to give it to Chris rather than sell it.  She knows Chris will love it and actually use it.  It will be in pride of place on his desk at home.   

Frances’s Mother tragically passed away recently after a long battle with cancer and to show his appreciation, Chris will be making a donation to Cancer Research UK.  

Eileen’s beautiful blue and white meat drainer table

We had a wonderful lady visit us from the USA, Eileen Langenus, who told us this wonderful story about a table she has at home in the States.  The table is purely decorative and as you will see from Eileen’s pictures of her and her mother’s tables, they are rather beautiful.  The tables are specially made by craftsman who are very guarded about their skills and the secrets that makes it work, but I can tell you this. The table top is actually an English Victorian meat drainer.  

Eileen’s mother’s beautiful meat drainer table

The maker of the tables, travels over to England especially to buy the Victorian meat drainers then, on his return, designs the tables around them.  As you can see, the tables are very decorative and would be a talking point in any room.  I think they are just stunning!

Arcade Manager, Alex, Joyce, Jeanette & Rita

A lovely lady, Jeanette, came to the Arcade to do some shopping with her mother, Joyce. They stayed for a few hours when Jeanette bought a large amount of beautiful linens.   Curious, I asked if they were for a special occasion and she said that they were. Jeanette went on to tell us that on the 25th February, she will be at the Outlet Village, Swindon where she has to design four tables, each one dressed for 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s.  Every item on the table will be authentic to the period.  Incidentally, what you see in Jeanette’s arms is just a fraction of what she actually bought!

When Jeanette was asked about her business, Tinkerjo, Jeanette told us, “We did think long and hard about a name for our business but in the end there could really only be two names to consider, the names of our beautiful Yorkshire terriers, Tinkerbell and Josie and combining them gave us the perfect solution.

We have a passion for creative design and innovative styling and Tinkerjo was formed as a result of having a longstanding passion and desire to put our creativity and innovative ideas into designing gorgeous and bespoke décor, table decor and venue styling for Weddings and Celebrations.

We love working with beautiful things and are extremely fortunate that in starting Tinkerjo we are able to indulge our passion for all things creative, we are inspired on a daily basis by so many of the lovely things around us, fabrics, flowers, lace, ribbons, paintings and beautiful landscapes, all of these things are ingredients that go into our mixing bowl in creating and designing exquisite and unique decor for your Wedding or Celebration.  As the saying goes, “it’s all in the detail” and we take great care in ensuring that we attend to every detail”.

Find out more about this remarkable lady and her wonderful business, Tinkerjo on her website at www.tinkerjo.co.uk

Rita with Wendy, showing off the beautiful ring that she made from cutlery

Hungerford Arcade once again came up trumps when a customer with a most unusual skill, called into the Arcade to buy some silver cutlery, “but not just any old silver cutlery”, she said.  We were intrigued and waited for her to return to the counter with her purchases to find out more.

From this….

The customer, Wendy Smyth, came back to the counter with her purchases of silver cutlery dessert forks, coffee spoons, butter knives and sugar tongs, and told us, “This might look like ordinary cutlery, but parts from each item will be transformed into bespoke jewellery”. As you can see from the photographs, the beautiful rings designed and made by Wendy entirely from cutlery.  I will never look at cutlery again in the same way.  When I see teaspoons, I wonder how they would look as long dangly earrrings!  

to this

and this

Hungerford Arcade and everyone living in or associated with this beautiful town is very proud of the history of Hungerford.  The most famous inhabitant of Hungerford is, of course, John of Gaunt.  Our wonderful friend and author, Stuart Miller-Osborne, has written this fascinating article about this very famous man and his life. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

What is noticeable when one is in Hungerford, are the references to a certain John of Gaunt. There is an inn named after him near the two rivers as well as a school that bears his name on the hill above the town. But who was John of Gaunt and why is his name so intertwined with the history of Hungerford? To find out we will have to go back to the reign of Edward the Second (1307-1327).

 It is known that the King visited the town on June 19^th 1308.  But let us jump forward some fourteen years as this is a record of history only.  A certain Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Leicester who was beheaded for treason in Pontefract in 1322 and had his properties forfeited to the Crown.  The King however, learnt that Thomas’ widow, Alice, had  Hungerford settled on her after her husband’s death along with the profits from the manor.

This is where it gets slightly complicated.  It seems that a neighbouring Lord, a man called Henry le Tyes from Chilton Foliat, had also been involved in the rebellion and was executed at the same time as Thomas. In 1327, his estates were settled on his brother Henry who died in 1345.  His son of the same name, was created Duke of Lancaster by Edward the Third.  When Henry died in 1361, Hungerford passed to his daughter, Maud (Matilda), who was called Maud of Bavaria and was married to a certain Duke of Zealand. Are you still with me ?

Maud, sadly died on the 10^th of April 1362, which, in the greater scheme of things, is a date of interest in the story of Hungerford and John of Gaunt, as her estates were left to her younger sister, Blanche who was the wife of the King’s forth son whom, as we know, was John of Gaunt.

John of Gaunt had been created by the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Leicester and because of his wife, there originated his connection with Hungerford.  Quite what happened to Thomas’ widow Alice and her possession of Hungerford is unclear, but by 1362, John of Gaunt and Hungerford were now being mentioned in the same breath.

John and Blanche were married at Reading Abbey on Sunday, the 19^th of May 1359, which although very much changed, still exists and is well worth a visit.  I have recently read an account of the marriage in a book called The Marriage of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster at Reading Abbey (1917), which apart from giving an account of the wedding, gives pen-pictures of both John and Blanche which I will share with you.

John of Gaunt

John of Gaunt was the fourth son of King Edward the Third.  He was just nineteen years old when he married his cousin Blanche, the second daughter of Henry Duke of Lancaster. John is remembered as a tall and soldier-like man with a determined yet thoughtful countenance. Chaucer spoke of him as “a wonder wel-faringe knight of good mochel” (a wonderfully handsome knight of great size).

Blanche of Lancaster

Blanche is noted as being a beautiful English blonde (An English Rose), who was tall like her husband and graceful in disposition. She was soft of speech and must have made an impression on Chaucer as she is mentioned in his Book of the Duchesse as follows;

As the someres sonne bright

Is fairer, clerer and hath more light
Than any planete in heven
The mone or the sterres seven
For al the worlde, so had she
Surmounted hem alle of beaute,
Of maner and of comlinesse
Of stature and wel set gladnesse
Of goodlihede so well beseye (endowed)

The description is typically Chaucer’s and with most of his work, can be read in a number of ways.  But Blanche, who was an early patron of the poet, would I believe, have been amused (if not flattered) by his description of her.  Blanche, who was a years younger than John and in the ten years of their marriage, bore him five children, one of whom married the future King of Portugal.  Sadly, Blanche died of the plague on the 12^th September 1369, her sister and father having already succumbed to the disease.  She was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral and was later joined by John on his death in 1399.

Upon his marriage to Blanche, John inherited North Standen as well as Hungerford Manor and Sandon Fee (a rural estate that lay around the town).  He also held the manor of Charleton (Charnham Street) as well as the Overlord-ship of nearby Eddington although, some of the nearby areas were still held directly by the Crown.

History relates that Edward the Third granted a Charter to Hungerford and John later granted himself the rights of free fishing from Eldren Stub to the Irish Stile (with the exception of some privately owned waters). The Charter is also said to confer rights of hunting grazing and fishing to householders living in the main street in Hungerford. This Charter itself appears to have been lost in 1381 during the Peasants Revolt so its history is that of some dispute.  What is known however, is that the inhabitants of Hungerford were granted a large number of rights and privileges, unusual at the time and since.  John is generally thought to have granted these but again, this is disputed in some quarters.  In short, John is credited in granting free fishing rights on the River Kennet between Elder Stubb (just below Leverton) to the Irish Stile (near Kinbury) to the inhabitants of the town as well as other privileges.

The John of Gaunt Horn

There is also the John of Gaunt Horn, which is supposed to have been made to guarantee the previously noted rights. The horn has Hungerford on one side with the word Actel (or Astel) on the other along with the crescent and star, which is now recognisable as the badge of the town.  This said, the horn dates from the fifteenth century (John died in 1399), but what is known, is that for some two hundred years (1365 -1565), Hungerford enjoyed John of Gaunt Privileges with the profits of markets and fairs as well as the free fishery being a right.

Why this came to an end is the subject for a different article, but whilst you cannot still fish freely on the Kennet, the sight of the yearlings grazing freely on Hungerford Common and the annual Hocktide (Tutti Day), gives a clue to the town’s past.

Whatever John of Gaunt did or did not grant is a subject for historians, but it all contributes to the unique feel of our town.

Stuart Miller-Osborne

Here is a wonderful story from our great friend and author, Stuart Miller-Osborne.  It is about a place in Kent strongly associated with Noel Coward, Ian Fleming and major film stars.  It is fascinating and I loved it.  Hope you do too.

Out and About

Here is a question.  What links the last place in England to be bombed during World War One and one of the biggest Hollywood stars of her generation?  It links Brief Encounter with the creator of James Bond.  And what connection do these have with the antiques trade?

The answer is St Margaret’s Bay in Kent which I had the pleasure to visit with my lovely wife a few days ago during our holiday in Kent.  St Margaret’s Bay, where is that you may ask?  The answer is just a stone’s throw from the town of Dover.  Basically it is just a small bay around about three miles from the famous town.  Yet it could not be more different.  Whilst Dover (which I have always liked) is currently a rather sad and shabby coastal town, St Margaret’s Bay and the village above the bay St Margaret’s at Cliffe are typically Kent tranquil.  This is the Kent of our childhood.  There is one shop and a number of pubs.  The buses do not run on time.  And you need to be pretty fit to survive the climb between the beach and the village above (it is indeed a three part village if you take into account the area of Nelson Park a little further inland).

But enough of this geography.  Why does this now obscure bay still have a claim to fame?  Well it is not that it was the last place on the mainland to be bombed during World War One.  It was because of a certain Noel Coward who lived in St Margaret’s Bay between 1945 and 1951.  He actually owned another house Goldenhurst which had been requisitioned by the army and in 1945.  He purchased White Cliffs which was in pretty bad shape at the time as it had been torn apart by British and Canadian troops in preparation for D Day.

He said at the time, that he felt he would be happy there with the waves lapping the walls of his bedroom (in bad weather I would imagine) and the vast white cliffs rising steeply behind the house.  There were also some modernist houses right next to Coward’s house and he attempted to purchase these also, so that his privacy could be assured.  He actually ran into problems at the time because of this, as there were restrictions in place because of the housing shortage in the South East following the war. This hurdle was cleared when his friends purchased the houses instead.  This was investigated by the Ministry of Works but no laws were found to have been broken.

After the house had been repaired, the guests began to arrive and soon the small bay began to be known by the name Piccadilly on Sea (as it had been named many years previously).  Celebrities such as Gertrude Lawrence and Daphne Du Maurier were frequently seen as was the actor Joseph Cotton.  But, it was the arrival of the Hollywood stars Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn which attracted the attention as they would often drive down from London see Coward and his friends.  Kate was also famed for her morning dips in the sea (often in freezing weather) which she undertook on a regular basis.  I actually paddled in the sea there (with great difficulty as it is very rocky and the pebbles were not all that kind to your feet) and can assure you, that even in July, the waters were
not all that warm.  My ambitions to repeat Kate’s swimming exploits were soon abandoned.  Another visitor to White Cliffs was Coward’s great friend the writer, Ian Fleming, who we all know created James Bond.  Indeed, his novel Moonraker is set in the Dover/Deal area.  

I can see how Coward was happy there; it was incredibly convenient for London and Paris but was again in the middle of nowhere.  He often caught The Golden Arrow ferry (do you remember that?) and within hours was in Calais picking up food that was not available in England because of rationing.  He would sometimes go to Paris where he often met friends such as Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich and Mary Pickford amongst others.

During his trips to Jamaica (where he is now buried) he often loaned his house to the Duke of Kent and his family which caused even more excitement in the area.  Sadly, this was not to last as the public then were as just as they are today, they like to see celebrities.  What Coward wanted more than anything was a retreat. a place to relax and work and think.  The continuing stream of people to St Margaret’s Bay really gave him no choice, his privacy had been invaded.

During his time at White Cliffs, he worked on Blithe Spirit and he rewrote This Happy Breed and Brief Encounter so that they could be filmed (although I think This Happy Breed does predate his stay).  In 1951 he sold White Cliffs to Ian Fleming who lived there until 1957.  I think his wife was not too impressed with White Cliffs due to the crumbling chalk cliffs above and the amount of seaweed that was to be found around the house.

His other memorable creation Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, was also partially set in Kent, when the famous car flew to the nearby Goodwin Sands where the Potts family enjoyed a picnic in the middle of the channel. Today, in my view, St Margaret’s Bay is full of ghosts (especially if you are aware of the history of the area).  As you walk towards the beach on the lane above the only inn, there are the remnants of a wall built during Napoleonic times to help defend the area.  This is a reminder of how close St Margaret’s Bay is to France (which is visible on most days). I am told that this is the nearest point on the English mainland to our continental neighbour (just over twenty miles) and obviously would have been an early calling point should an invasion have occurred.  Although the major guns located in the area have been removed, one can still clearly see the wartime defences in situ (there is an accessible pill box located at the Dover end of the bay).  This is haunting enough, but what I found most haunting was the presence of the modernist houses at the far end of the bay which initially hide White Cliffs.  In a way it is odd to see them there right on the beach and when one gets closer, one sees that they are empty, although furnished (they are holiday lets).

White Cliffs, when I visited it was empty and obviously had been a little changed by owners since 1957. I looked over the wall onto the terrace (now totally empty) and thought of all the parties and gatherings that must have taken place there.  I looked at the beach, where Kate used to reach the sea in all weathers.  Everything was quiet and apart from a couple of German visitors, I was alone.

There was an eerie silence to the area and this was further enhanced by the incredible light that one finds in this part of Kent.  It is a very defined light which can be found in St Ives and in Venice as well as the South of France and elsewhere as you travel south. Turner loved it and during his time in nearby Margate, he often commented on the light.

On the day Caron and I visited St Margaret’s Bay there were less than five dozen people to be seen and on chatting to a local, I was assured that the bay did not get that busy, even at the height of summer.  It was well known but was a little forgotten.  There is one Inn there and a small unit selling tea and other goodies and that is it.

How do you get there you may ask?  Well it is really quite simple.  If you are driving then find the Dover to Deal road and St Margaret’s is well signposted and about two miles distant.

By train you go to Martin’s Mill (between Dover and Walmer) and follow Station Road towards the main Dover Road.  If you survive crossing this road then just follow your nose into St Margaret’s on Cliffe which is directly above the bay.  I would not advise the walk from the station as this can be a little hair raising due to the traffic and the winding nature of the road.  There is an adequate bus service from Dover and Deal, (which appears to run to its own timetable) which drops you in the village and is most convenient.

The steps that lead to St Margaret’s Bay (if you are walking from the village) are a little steep and were for some reason quite damp (even in July) but generally are good.

Or you can just drive down the hill (there appears to be ample parking at the bay).

How, may you ask, does this fit in with the antiques trade and Hungerford?  Well, I think I can sum it up in one word collectables.  Noel Coward is very well known and there is a mountain of collectables available if you search them out.  He was a composer, a playwright, director, actor and singer amongst other things and I often see scores and other ephemera of his for sale.  Only today whilst writing this article, I popped down to the Arcade to purchase his 1937 autobiography, Present Indicative, as I needed to confirm a couple of points I was researching.  The book (which was a first edition) was cheaper than the Sunday paper I had previously purchased and will be read (time permitting) in the coming weeks.  If I wanted a copy of let’s say Private Lives or The Vortex or even Hay Fever I do not suppose that I would have to wait long before finding one.  I would imagine that signed photographs are quite easily found (although I have not seen one for several years).  His music scores and film scripts must show up from time to time.  If you are a serious collector with a defined budget then you will seek out his work possibly at auction.  But most of us who admire his work will just wait and see what comes along which, in my view, is more fun.

 His great friend Ian Fleming, who I have already noted purchased White Cliffs from Coward in 1951, is, in my view, an underrated author.  His success with the Bond novels overshadowed everything else that this very talented man produced.  I remember that one of the first books I was given was a paperback copy of Goldfinger which I read (after a fashion) aged nine.  For some reason this book opened up my imagination and soon I was writing rather childlike short stories about the secret agents of C.H.A.N.N.E.L and their fight against evil.  My hero was called Victor Shoreway instead of James Bond and I was
always grateful to Fleming for helping me along.  Recently I found a sad but rather amusing story about Fleming who died at the age of 53 on the 12^th of August 1964.  On the previous day, he had been playing golf at the Royal St Georges Golf Club in Sandwich but he collapsed with a heart attack shortly after a meal.  As he was taken to hospital in Canterbury (and these are likely to have been his last recorded words) he apologised to the ambulance crew for having inconvenienced them saying, “I am sorry to trouble you chaps, I don’t know how you get along so fast on the roads these days”.

Having walked along many a road and lane in this area of Kent I can assure you that the situation has not improved in the last fifty years.  One can buy copies of the James Bond novels quite cheaply in paperback form and outside of first editions, hardback copies are quite reasonable to buy.  If you are after a first edition of one of his Bond novels then you can, at times, expect to part with quite serious money.  I have, I believe, read the whole series of his Bond novels and occasionally re-read one when on hols.  I was going to take a copy of Moonraker down with me this year but, as normal, l could not locate it in my study.

But St Margaret’s Bay is not just about Noel Coward and Ian Fleming, as it has other connections to fame. Channel swimmers nearly always start from there and a number of submarine telephone cables also start from the bay and I believe that Marconi used this area to test his communications long before Noel Coward arrived.  One can see tall masts on the cliffs as the village is approached. although these cannot be seen from the bay.  In a way there is something for everyone.  If you want peace and quiet then it is there in bucket loads.  If you want ghosts then just close your eyes.  If you are interested the bay’s history then there is more.

It was also very popular prior to Coward and Fleming moving there. Indeed, Henry Royce (of Rolls Royce fame) lived there high on the cliffs and other well to do and well known people either purchased summer homes or lived there all the year round.  More recently, the late Peter Ustinov lived there and the actress Miriam Margolyes now lives in his old house.  I do not celebrity spot and as I have intimated, you would be hard pressed to see anybody famous at St Margaret’s Bay today.  But if you look closely, then you will feel their presence whether it be the house parties and gatherings at White Cliffs or the famous Hollywood couple arriving from London.

.

You will think of Fleming’s Bond novels and the many brave soldiers stationed here over the last two hundred years.  But if I was you. I would just sit on one of the many benches and look out to sea and enjoy the magnificent light on the English Channel which, even on dull days, is memorable.

If you feel like reading then why not buy one of the many Arthur Mee  guidebooks to Kent (there were a number at the Arcade when I last looked) and learn more about this fascinating county of which St Margaret’s Bay is only but a small part.

Do enjoy your visit.

Stuart Miller-Osborne

Adrian, Hazel, Managers, Alex, Rita and all the Staff and Stallholders at Hungerford Arcade with you a Very Happy and Peaceful New Year!

Our wonderful friend and author, Stuart Miller-Osborne has really done us proud with this article on Pugin.  I can relate to this article very much as St James Church also had a school (St James School) where my eldest brother attended until they built the new Hugh Faringdon Catholic School, Bath Road, Reading, where myself, two brothers and two sisters were taught.  My youngest brother went to a Church of England School, but we were all brought up in the Catholic faith.  My parents were married in the English Martyrs Church in Tilehurst, Reading just after WWII.  Excuse my ramblings, but the the Church, the Abbey Ruins and the beautiful Forbury Gardens were a big part of our lives when growing up and Stuart’s article brought back a lot of wonderful memories to me.

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin is one of four Victorian heroes I have.  The others are Richard Burton, Gerard Manley Hopkins and obviously Brunel.  Whilst Brunel is very well known the others sadly have faded a little into history.  But for the moment I will concentrate on Augustus Pugin who in my view, was God’s Chosen Architect, borrowing from the title of his recent biography.  He was one of those people that the Victorian era seemed to throw up frequently.  He was not just an architect but a designer an artist and a critic and saved lives at sea in his spare time (He lived in Ramsgate).

Hungerford Arcade Big Ben London

When you think of the Gothic Revival, you think of Pugin.  Thousands of people pass the Palace of Westminster each day but how many people know that Pugin was heavily involved in the rebuilding of this seat of government after the destructive fire of October 1834.  The chief architect, Sir Charles Barry employed Pugin at the time.  We have all seen Big Ben when visiting London, which was Pugin’s last major deign before his slow decent into madness.  Incidentally, although we call the clock tower Big Ben, this is just a nickname and the tower has been known by a variety of names over the years including, The Clock Tower, St Stephen’s Tower and now The Elizabeth Tower.

Although the Palace of Westminster is very much a secular building, my interest in Pugin comes mainly from the many churches he designed.  Pugin came from an Anglican background and as a child was taken by his mother to Irving’s Scottish Presbyterian services which he found dull and sterile.  His father Auguste-Charles Pugin who had fled from France during the French Revolution, is likely to have adopted the Anglican Church as his faith in order to receive commissions and I can see his logic for doing so.  One has to remember that Non-Anglicans were barred from a large number of activities (Such as standing as an MP or being able to serve as a policeman to name but two of these activities).  Although some of these restrictions were somewhat diluted by the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 it still paid to be pragmatic which made Pugin’s conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1834 all the more suprising.  But this was Pugin all over, he was a visionary and a man of set ideas.  He had been heavily influenced by the ideas of The Oxford Movement which in short, was the then given philosophy of the High Church members of the Church of England.

This subsequently developed into a form of Anglo-Catholicism and the movement which was mainly developed within the University of Oxford, looked towards the reinstatement of certain older Christian traditions and their inclusion into the Anglican liturgy and into its theology.  As you can imagine, this was not that popular with the traditional church but slowly its ideas of The Oxford Movement were incorporated into the church (which you can still see to this day). There was more symbolism, more emphasis on ritualism and this was what influenced many at the time.

Like Pugin, another one of my Victorian hero’s Gerard Manley Hopkins was heavily influenced by The Oxford Movement and produced some of the most astonishing poetry ever written during his short and tragic life.  Pugin like Hopkins, was a man born outside of his time and sadly, both men were dead well before their fiftieth birthdays.  Hopkins was forty-four when he died and Pugin was only forty.

Although not a Catholic myself, I deeply admire the religion and current Pope, who I consider has brought a breath of fresh air to the church.  But what of the lost church of the title?  Where is this lost church?

Hungerford Arcade
The Abbey Ruins Reading

Well it is not really lost as like Big Ben, thousands pass it each day in cars and on foot.  It is the St James Church in Reading, which is right next to the Forbury Gardens and can quite easily be seen from the railway and the prison.  The church itself can be found near the ruins of the pre-reformation Reading Abbey which was dissolved by Henry the Eighth in 1539.

As most people are aware, certain parts of the abbey still exist but these ruins are slightly hidden in the urban sprawl of Reading.  St James Church itself, still stands proudly alongside a very busy road and nearly opposite one of those dreadful modern retail parks.  The church was built between 1837 and 1840, the land being the gift of a prominent local Catholic named James Wheble.

.

The foundation stone was laid on the 14^th of December 1837 and the church was formally opened on the 5^th of August 1840 by Bishop Thomas Griffiths.  But its main claim to fame was that St James Church, Reading was one of the earliest works of Augustus Pugin.  It was built in a Norman Romanesque style, although there have been a number of alterations since (most notably in 1926 and 1962).  The church was further altered in the 1970s in line the wishes of the Second Vatican Council but this does not detract from Pugin’s vision at all. 

My wife and I visited the church recently on one of those magnificent autumn days where the light is so sharp and high in the sky that the seasonal trees almost seem to glow with colour.  This provided a beautiful stage for Pugin’s lost church.  I had expected to find St James locked but found the doors open and welcoming. Inside the church was almost silent, an oasis of peace contrasting greatly with the noise outside.

Although modernised there was much to see.

The baptismal font. I found out, had been built from the capital of one of the Abbey’s original pillars which were excavated at the time of the construction of the church.  Caron and I spent nearly an hour in the church looking for Pugin and we met him quite often, which was an incredible experience.  But I am not going to spoil it for you.  If you do choose to visit St James, then it is your own experience not mine.  Perhaps you have come from afar and are on your way to Hungerford and as Reading is the Clapham Junction of Berkshire, you might have decided to take tea.  Killing time between trains.  If so, do try to visit St James as it is well worth half an hour or more.  You do not have to be a friend of Pugin to appreciate the church.  It is just a lovely building.

This said, Reading is full of great churches and I have highlighted just the one that I feel I have an affinity with.  I have visited some other churches in Reading and equally recommend them.  There are many other churches designed by Augustus Pugin (Both Anglican and Catholic) as well as many other secular buildings designed by the great man.  If you are interested, do look them up on the internet as there is a lot to see.

There are also a great number of churches which were not designed by Augustus Pugin which also reflect the values of The Oxford Movement.  Most notably the church of All Saints,Margaret Street in London, which is just off of Oxford Street  and well worth visiting.

Enjoy your travels I trust this short guide will have helped you. 

Stuart Miller-Osbourne

Coming Soon – Forbury Gardens (Reading’s Hidden Gem)

We have just been informed of some fantastic news!  Hungerford Arcade and the High Street will be appearing on the cover of the newly re-branded OS Landranger map for Newbury and Wantage.  

Tony Bartlett, a local photographer, entered the picture below into a competition earlier this year – and his picture won!  

When the map is released to be on general sale we will buy one and and post it here to show you all how it looks!  

Well done Tony and thanks for including The Arcade in your photo!