Successful Reading Abbey Revealed project aims to protect the future of the Quarter
The Reading Abbey Revealed Project is aiming to continue work with conservation specialists to ensure the site is protected and preserved for the foreseeable future and so an evaluation report recently went before the Reading Council’s housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee. View the full report here: https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s22622/9%20Reading%20Abbey%20Revealed.pdf
The council's successful £3.15m conservation project is recommending the next steps to protect and preserve the town's oldest gem, the Abbey Ruins, for generations to come.
The award-winning project, now in the fourth year since the successful reopening of the abbey after a 10-year closure, has made recommendations to protect this site of national significance. Initiated eight years ago in 2014, the project attracted £1.7m of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, match funded by £1.38m from the council. It ambitiously sought to restore, reopen and protect the ruins of Reading Abbey, which was founded by King Henry I of England in 1121 and was one of Europe’s largest royal monasteries.
Major restoration and conservation work was carried out on the Grade I listed Scheduled Ancient Monument Abbey Ruins and Abbey Gateway and a new historic Abbey Quarter was created which draws together and interprets the former grounds of Reading Abbey as a single unified heritage site with wayfinding and interpretation panels, and new displays at Reading Museum.
The reopening of the Abbey was celebrated in 2018 with more than 18,000 visitors in one day and more than 45,000 people have attended events in the Abbey Quarter in four years. More than 4,300 school and university students have benefited from school sessions related to the Abbey, with almost 220 Victorian Schoolroom sessions in the newly-restored Abbey Gateway and a wealth of resources provided for local schools.
Looking to the future, the legacy of the project now seeks to continue work with conservation specialists to ensure the site is protected and preserved for the foreseeable future.