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The founding of the
Oracle
By the Seventeenth Century the wool trade was
in serious trouble. Reading clothiers faced competition from other cloth
makers in the north of England. Not only did the northern cloth makers
pay less tax as they had a special agreement, but because of this could
afford to make more coloured cloth. Reading clothiers made mostly white
cloth. By 1623 the situation was serious, and the Council asked the
clothiers to employ the many weavers who had no work, but this did not
work.
When in 1624 John Kendrick died, he left money to the town to try improve
the cloth industry. The town had to find a house for the poor to work,
with a fair garden next to it. Money was left to the clothiers to help
them make more cloth, and through this to employ more people. John also
left money to his brother William Kendrick. If the town did not use
the money properly, it was to go to Christ’s Hospital in London.
William Kendrick lived in a house in Minster Street, where he and his
father had been making cloth for over 50 years. He thought it was the
ideal property to be used for the workshop that his brother John had
left money for in his will. In 1625 William sold the house to the Council
for £2000. By 1628 the work needed to alter the building has been
finished, with over 200 000 bricks and 20 000 tiles coming from Tilehurst.
This workshop became known as "The Oracle"- the reason for
this is unknown. The site stretched down from Minster Street and across
the Holy Brook which runs about 30m down the hill from the street.
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