Forming part of the IHBC Reading Annual School 2024, we are delighted to announce the latest event in our pre-conference webinar series presented by Barnaby Wheeler: Reading Abbey Revealed: A detailed look at conservation work on the Abbey ruins

Friday, 10th May 2024 – 1.00pm – 2.15pm

Register for your place here

The surviving ruins of the Abbey are generally just the inner rubble core of the walls which escaped total demolition following the dissolution. The facing stonework was systematically removed for reuse elsewhere in the 1550s. The ruins were rescued on behalf of the Town in Victorian times and piecemeal repairs were undertaken through the twentieth century.  A comprehensive attempt to preserve the remains by capping the wall tops with flint was made in the 1980s with mixed success.  The incidents of flints falling unpredictably and dangerously from the ruins was increasing in the early 2000s and they had to be closed to the public to allow a further phase of conservation work to be designed and funded. This project finally got off the ground in 2016 and was completed two years later. This talk looks at how the ruins were surveyed and understood and then how appropriate conservation work was undertaken to best prolong their existence.

About the Speaker: Barnaby Wheeler

Barnaby Wheeler is an architect and has been working for Hampshire County Council Property Services since 1999, joining the Historic Buildings Group in 2005 to work on the creation of a
Regimental Museum for The Household Cavalry within the former stables of The Horse Guards Building on Whitehall.

Subsequent projects include the creation of the Sainsbury Gallery within the Willis Museum, formerly Basingstoke town hall, the conservation of the brickwork ruins of Basing House near Basingstoke and the conversion of redundant farm buildings there for museum use, conservation and interpretation work on garden structures at Caversham Court Gardens near Reading and the conversion of the carriage house of the former house there for
office use, structural repairs to a timber framed granary and other buildings at Manor Farm Country Park Bursledon, the replacement of the windshaft and repairs at Bursledon Windmill near Southampton, conservation plans for the Henrician coastal fort at Calshot and the early eighteenth century Bury House in Gosport, conservation repairs to the nineteenth century Bastion No 1 also in Gosport.

In addition to the condition surveys and conservation projects at the Abbey ruins and Abbey Gate for Reading Borough Council, conservation work on the Abbey ruins continued with the remains within St James RC Church working for the RC Diocese of  Portsmouth. Work within the Reading Abbey Quarter also included repairs to St Laurence Churchyard Wall and has continued with the rescue of chest tombs and conservation work on various other public monuments.

Register for your place here