You could say this is a trip down memory lane, a pilgrimage to my past. This is a Church I know from my schooldays when I went to the primary school next door, each week we would walk in file from the school to the church for mass. Even though I had been on Sunday I went again in the week as well even if we felt we did not need to go we had to. Since moving on from that school and then on into life I always remembered the school and church when I went. I had visited the church to get some photos and every time I passed I found it locked apart from one occasion when the cleaning lady let me in for a few moments to say a prayer within. The other day I went to Reading on the bus like I did when I went to school back then and after failing to look in a nearby church I went down to the Abbey Ruins then on to St James to be greeted by an open door. I took the time to go in and get some photos of this wonderful old church I remember.
I can tell you the church was started in 1837 and opened in 1840 and has been in regular use since. If you would like to read more on it's history then go it it's own Wikpedia page
There is also a more in depth history on St James Website
St James from the Forbury Gardens. This photo was take many years ago but the outside has changed little , the photo is also used on Wikipedia
St James from near the entrance to the walk past it
When I went to school next door this used to be part of the churchyard with graves in it, the rod you see here was built and too out most of the churchyard, the graves were relocated elsewhere but behind the church you can see most of the headstones
This is the side entrance to the church and way to the rectory, the large lump of stone work you see is part of the original Reading Abbey
Go around to the old prison carpark and you get a view of the apse and the extension which was added to the church
The porch leading into the church has not changed since I used to go through it as a child
Inside you look down a bright and well lit aisle, one thing I noticed was the chairs had been changed, I remember them being very dark, uncomfortable and the kneelers hard
The Altar has moved has forward from when I used to go here, it used to be nearer the arches at the rear
The Altar covered with purple covering
The central stained Glass window in the apse
The left and right side windows in the apse
Looking back to the choir loft and organ
Above and left the Lady chapel it has some beautiful stained glass in it
at the back you can see more stained glass showing the tree of life
A nearby plaque explaining the dedication of the window
Also in the aisle is a Roll of Honour to those who ost their lives during the second world war and attended St James
The stations of the cross in the Lady Chapel
Looking through the arches you see more stained glass along the nave depicting saints
One side of the lady chapel is a shrine to St James, before I went I siad a prayer and lit a candle
The north aisle dedicated to the Sacred heart
In one corner a shrine to St Xavier
Along the south side are more stained glass windows dedicated to saints & martyrs
This one to Blessed Hugh Faringdon, the last Abbot of the abbey in which ground the church now stands and was martyred in front of the Abbey gates. I went to the school named after him
The two unfortunate monks who were killed along with him
The coat of arms of Hugh Faringdon and which is also the schools emblem. A memorial to the Blount Family who are buried in the church
Thomas Becket
the last one is to St James
A statue of the sacred heart stands next to the font
Which I read somewhere is made using parts of Reading Abbey
Close up of the mural behind the font
From the North aisle you look up at more stained glass windows
A modern take on the Crucifix certainly not what I remember in the church
Sad reminder of our violent past, the grave of Rev François Longuet who was murdered along the Oxford road on his way home from teaching in Wallingford
at the back you can see more statues of saints
either side of the stations of the cross
A crucifix hangs over the Church Tabernacle, this used to be on the altar that was nearer the arch you see when I attended mass here
Back outside you can see St James church on the left, the school I went to on the right and a little further to the right is part of the Abbey ruins.. Hard to believe that that 500 years ago the whole area was dominated by a huge Abbey
St James Church a few days ago
