Reading Abbey is now a ruin in the centre of the town. In its heyday, it covered most of what is now the town centre. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 and, when he died in 1135, his body was returned to Reading, and was buried in front of the altar of the then incomplete abbey church. The abbey was one of the pilgrimage centres of medieval England, and one of its richest and most important religious houses of the time. It was frequently visited by kings and others, most especially by Henry III who often visited three or four times a year. It also hosted important state events, including the meeting between Henry II and the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1185, the weddings of John of Gaunt in 1359 and Edward IV in 1464, and a meeting of Parliament in 1453. The abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church. After this, the buildings of the abbey were extensively robbed of their lead, glass and facing stones which were removed and reused elsewhere. As an abbey, Reading was ruled by an abbot. The abbey had 27 abbots between 1123 and 1539 and, by a strange coincidence, the first and last were both named Hugh. ------------------------------------------ Original Photograph 11 Jun 2014