Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs
Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs, Southampton Street, Reading
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1113579
- Date first listed:
- 22-Mar-1957
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs, Southampton Street, Reading
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-06-02
- Reference:
- IOE01/15324/23
- Rights:
- © Mr Richard Swynford-Lain. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1113579
- Date first listed:
- 22-Mar-1957
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs
- Statutory Address 1:
- Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs, Southampton Street, Reading
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs, Southampton Street, Reading
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Reading (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 71641 72946
Details
SU 7172 NE
4/244-244A
SOUTHAMPTON STREET (east side)
Church of St Giles and churchyard tombs
22.3.57.
GV
II
Church of England. The small medieval church was rebuilt 1872 by J.P. St Aubyn in Early English style retaining only the C13 aisle walls and Perpendicular west tower. Ashlar steeple 1873. Flint faced with Bath stone dressings. Tiled roof. Three bay aisled nave and slight transept. Y tracery lancet windows except
i. plate tracery twin 2-light lancets in belfry.
ii. 3 light Perpendicular west window.
iii. Good decorated-type trancept windows.
iv. Geometric east window.
Tower joins at skew and has corner and side buttresses. Pointed west door. Traces of mediaeval walling on south and west sides. Three bay chancel with flanking chapels.
Interior: rich Early English-style chancel. Norman fragments in tower (a capital possibly from the Abbey). Early C16 brass to John and Jane Bowyer. A number of good C18 memorial tablets and a good sculpted memorial to Harwood Awberry (date 1748) by Peter Scheemakers.
The graveyard retains much of its C19 atmosphere and contains a number of good tombs.
To south-west: three chest tombs, the nearest to the church corner is best: early C19 to Thomas Patrick Sourdon, tapering sides, cross gabled capping with corner antefixae. The two others are circa 1840 with fluted corners.
To north-west and east: another good group of both table and pyramidal-capped tombs. The best is to William Granger circa 1840 - similar to the Sourdon tomb (see above) with incised corner piers. Also notable (1) William Green and Woodard family vault - a late C18 chest tomb. Circa 1811, Portland stone, moulded plinth, oval panels to front and back. A number of tombs at the east end face true east (ie aligned slightly differently from the chancel).
Listing NGR: SU7164172946
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 39169
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Websites
British Geological Survey, Strategic Stone Study, accessed 4 February 2020 from https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/buildingStones/StrategicStoneStudy/EH_atlases.html
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 12-Jul-2026 at 01:16:43.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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