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Saxon Reading (530-1066)

Reading was a Saxon town. The invaders, under their leader Reada, probably came up the River Thames and settled on the first suitable site, a low gravel plateau above the flood waters. The earliest evidence of settlement comes at about 530.

Saxon Reading cannot have been a peaceful place. It was on the border between two kingdoms, Wessex and Mercia. At times it was part of one of these kingdoms, at other times part of the other. Reading eventually came part of Wessex in 840, and the first mention of Berkshire (the land of the eagle) was in 860.

Saxon England was not a peaceful place. There were wars against the Danes (Vikings) for almost 200 years. The first raid which reached Reading was in 870. The Danes attacked several times, but the record of Saxon times, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle next mentions Reading being invaded by the Danes in 1006.

It was in Saxon times that the first mention of a church is made in Reading. It is probable that the first church was built soon after Christianity came to the area and the site was probably where St Mary's is today. Later, in 978 a Nunnery was built in the town.