1 London Street

17 Market Place

At the north end of Market Place is St Laurence's church, founded in 1121. Once it had a covered arcade facing Market Place called Blagrave Piazza, but this was demolished in the middle of the nineteenth century. Behind the church is the town hall. The oldest part dates from 1785, but the front, designed by Alfred Waterhouse is part of the later developments started in 1875. The bricks were made by Colliers of Tilehurst.

In front of the church an open air market was held once a week. Here the people of Reading could buy and sell everyday things. The market was run by the gild. The first market was held by St Mary's, but moved to Market Place when the abbey was built. The market only moved back to St Mary's. When the abbey was built, the market moved to Market Place by the abbey gateway. Much more recently when the Broad Street Mall opened, the market returned to its original place in 1973.

The market was not the only way to buy and sell produce in Reading. There were also the great annual fairs. These were important events where traders came from all over the area to buy and to sell. One of the main items for sale would have been Reading Cloth.

The Market Place was the scene of the only battle in the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. James II had most of his troops at Hounslow, but an advance guard were at Reading. William of Orange's troops had reached Hungerford when the townspeople managed to get word to them. William's Dutch troops were expected along the Bath Road but cut through to the Oxford Road and surprised King James' soldiers. Despite larger numbers, King James' troops fled, but 53 were killed. Dutch losses numbered 6.

The buildings around Market Place show a variety of styles. There were plans in the 1960's to rebuild all of the area in a similar style, but only part of this plan was carried out. From St Lawrence's Church on the north side, Suttons Seeds. Lloyds bank stands on the site of the Broad Face Inn. As well as being noted in Samuel Peppy's diaries in 1655 the Quakers held some of the earliest meetings on its bowling green, with the founder of Quakerism George Fox speaking. In 1847 voting took place at the Inn, and Thomas Noon Talfourd, after being elected for the Liberal party, became drunk and passed out. The timber framed buildings on the east side of Market place (27-9) date from the seventeenth century. Although some of the timber work is false, parts of the fronts of these houses date back to around 1760. The monument in the middle was designed by Sir John Soane in 1804 and commemorates Edward Simeon a mayor of Reading and Governor of the Bank of England. The building of the NatWest bank was once the London and County Bank and dates form 1875. The entrance to Market Place was the gateway to the Corn Exchange. Market Place was destroyed by a German Bomb in 1943 when many people were killed.