... more Coley

Old Coley is the area bounded by Castle Hill to the north, down to the IDR (Inner Distribution Road) roundabout, and by the Kennet River to the east, Berkeley Avenue to south and finally Coley Avenue to the west.

- Reading Castle > click here
- Coley Steps and the Courts > click here
- St Saviours Church and Scout Group > click here
- Gascoignes (Reading) Limited > click here
- Coley Baths - Men's Swimming Lido > click here

Reading Castle (Old Coley)

There has been much dispute over the years whether a castle actually ever existing in Reading, but general consensus is that a castle or fortification did indeed exist but was very short lived.

Prior to the death of King Henry I, he made his principal subjects swear that his daughter Matilda should succeed him on the throne. However Matilda was arrogant, quarrelsome, a woman, and married to a foreigner. Many finding these reasons, if not all, to be enough to reject her claim to the throne.

On the death of King Henry I in 1135, his nephew Stephen of Blois seized the throne and this received widespread support. Matilda, however, was the last person to accept such an upsurption quietly. She was soon in England raising forces to drive out her cousin. Anarchy followed, and every petty baron who could raise a troop of men at arms and quickly construct a fortification, conducted a course of plundering, land and office grabbing.

Berkshire was in the thick of these events. One of Matilda's principal fortresses was at Wallingford and Stephen's main position was at Windsor. Both Matilda and King Stephen marched through Reading in the course of their campaigns.

The town must have suffered terribly from both sides, but Stephen left the more lasting mark. He probably built - and certainly strengthened - a castle here in Reading. No doubt it was similar to others at the time - a palisade or keep on top of an artificial mound, with a fenced court at the foot of the mound.

It was located possibly in Coley where Castle Hill runs today, and commanded both the main Bath and Oxford roads, and also over the Kennet fords. Early maps show a field in Coley on the south of Castle Street known as 'Old Fortification' (Ref: Charles Tomkins map of 1802).

Reading Castle excerpts from The History of the Town of Reading by Michael Hinton - 1954

Coley Steps and The Courts (Old Coley)


Adjacent to the Coley Primary School and located on a hill between Wolseley Street and Coley Place was the cramped and very poor area known as The Courts. These early dwellings were some of the first to be built on the old Sudbury's Bleaching Grounds and Little Coley Farm land. They were erected around the 1830's mainly to house labourers working at the nearby kilns and brickworks. It seems they were constructed with little regard for the well-being of the hundreds who ended up herded together in such terrible squalid conditions.

Central to the courts was a flight of steps called Coley Passage but known locally as Coley Steps as it was built up the side of a hill with the houses rising in tiers up each side of the hillside. The houses were of the back to back type and therefore had no through ventilation. As you can imagine the smells left little to the imagination.

The Courts and Coley Steps c1911
Image thanks to Colleen Thatcher (nee Price) whose
family lived at the 'courts' around this time!

Generally four dwellings had to share a common area for toilets, washing and ablutions. One copper was provided for washing clothes and verbal rosters were drawn up to share the meagre facilities. There was no water to the houses, and water had to be carted by bucket to flush the toilet or use for the washing copper. The copper needed a decent fire underneath to heat the water and had to be kept alight using mainly rubbish from the surrounding homes or by scrounging what they could.

During the 1870s, housing to the south of Coley was emerging. Built to a better standard by the builders Collier and Catley, the housing populated areas along Wolseley Street, Garnet Street, Field Road and St Saviours Terrace. Larger private homes were also emerging along Coley Avenue. Even by this time, the Courts were considered 'slums'.

The Courts soon became infested with rats, mice and cockroaches, and the occupants were then more susceptible to illness and diseases. Beds were constantly ridden with bedbugs. But that didn't necessarily mean that the houses were dirty or occupants were unclean. In most cases they took pride in themselves and made the best of what they had. A school inspector's report of the time stated that the local children attended in a most clean and tidy condition.

According to available statistics, it has been estimated that around 1915, there was over 90% of children living in Coley below the poverty line, with up to 60% of the workers receiving less that the minimum wage.

A highlight of every year was the Christmas Breakfast. This was paid for by John Bucknell and other local businessmen, and held at the local St Saviours Church hall. The lucky families were chosen by ballot held in early December at St Saviours Church. Most of the food was delivered by carts from Bucknell's farm. Children were presented with a bag of fruit, biscuits and sweets on leaving..

Credit must be truly given to those poor mothers and fathers who raised their children in the most horrid conditions, whose children and then their children make up the Reading (and Coley) we know today. Some descendants still live locally but most have long moved on, but the sacrifices made by those early settlers eventually improved the conditions for those that followed.

The Coley Steps in 1953

By the 1930's, the 'Steps' were finally condemned, after standing for a hundred years. The occupants packed up their meagre posessions and joined a long procession of people and handcarts heading to the new estates of Tilehurst, Caversham and Whitley.

Authors note: Even up to the mid 1960's the area had remained empty unkempt land with signs of brick rubble amongst the long grasses. Amazingly the 'Coley Steps' were still intact and as a boy I walked up them a number of times admiring the three original gas lamps that were still erect (similar to the photo above only 12 years later - but the building on Coley Place seen at the top of the steps had long disappeared).

St Saviours Church

St Saviours Church was originally situated off Coley Place near The Courts (see previous section) and only a short distance from Coley Primary School. When land became available after the departure of Coley Pottery, a new larger church was proposed.

Building began on the new church at the corner of Wolseley Street and Berkeley Avenue, Coley. On Tuesday June 14 1887, a stone was laid by John Fielder, the Lord Bishop of Oxford. The church was built on land previously used by Coley Pottery who produced pottery products from the local clay and chalk.

The church consists of an apsidal chancel, north vestry and organ chamber, south transept, nave, north and south aisles, and a western porch. The materials are red brick with stone dressings. The Church was originally a 'chapel of ease' to St. Mary's. Originally a fine large white wooden cross with Jesus, stood near the corner of Wolseley Street.

St. Saviours Church and Hall
Image ©Uli Harder 2006

58th Reading (St Mary's) Scout Group

This Scout group started in 1927 and is based at the St. Saviours Hall on Berkeley Avenue in Coley. Weekly meetings were held in the hall for both Scouts and the younger Cubs (and more recently the even younger Beavers). For some certain religious celebrations, a special Sunday service was held in the church with the Scouts and Cubs attending, with selected members as flag bearers.

In September 2003, the group was near to closing due to lack of support and unless a new team came forward the cubs could only continue meeting for another six weeks. Cub scout manager, Ralph Duncan, admitted at the time that the future didn't look promising. However, thanks to new support, the cubs and the younger beavers were able to continue.

Gascoignes (Reading) Limited

Gascoignes (Reading) Ltd were established at Coley in 1927 by George H Gascoigne with premises in Berkeley Avenue, Reading, Berkshire. The company merged with Melotte, also a family firm that was established in 1852, in the 1970's to form Gascoigne-Melotte who specialise in milking machine design and development.

Coley Baths (Lido) - Mens Swimming Pool

During summer the nearest swimming pool was the open-air Coley Baths (men only) located behind Gascoignes on Berkeley Avenue. The pool was first opened in early 1900's and was then known as the Coley Lido (The word 'Lido' refers to a public outdoor swimming pool).

It was only open during the warmer summer months and was very popular, with the entry fee being around sixpence in the 1960's. There was a small ticket office when you entered. I recall there was a time limit on your entrance fee.

The pool was surrounded by a green painted high fence and had no change rooms, just benches on each side. The pool was a good size and had a rigid diving board or two at the deep end. Even in summer the water was usually very cold and you generally didn't stay in the water too long.

This pool utilised the Holy Brook rivulet to provide the water. There were sluice gates at each end of the pool so that the pool could be flushed with clean water when required.

The pool closed around 1974 and a new modern housing complex has since been built at the site.

Gerry Wood remembers his younger days spent down at the Coley Baths:
"My swimming years at Coley were something like 1940 to 1946, from age 8 to about 14 years old. I went to the Coley Swimming Baths (as we called it) perhaps twice a week on hot summer days. I lived at Staverton Road in Whitley, and we would walk to Coley along Elgar Road and head left across the bridges (Pell Street/Berkeley Ave) and then left again to follow the Holy Brook along its west bank. The waters from the Holy Brook flowed through the swimming pool. The waters were dark green and it had its share of marine growth, but we loved it.

The pool-side areas were very wide, especially on the east side, and were made of concrete. The single diving board was located at the deep (6ft ?) end. Coley was not an Olympic size like Kings Meadow. I don't know the measurements, but it was perhaps half the size of Kings Meadow.

Because it was males only, it was just the place for young teenagers to dry themselves off in the sun, sawing across their backs with a towel, anxious to let the younger kids see what a real man looked like. There was never any sexual harassment or anything like that as far as I know; it was just a lot of growing boys having fun for hours in the water."

If anyone has a photo, drawing or any more info or memories of the Coley Baths, please email me at the address at the bottom of this page. Thanks.