Unveil the hidden history of St James's Church

The remarkable significance of the Catholic church of St James in Reading will be conveyed to visitors over this weekend's Heritage Open Days.

The church, which is between the Forbury Gardens and the prison, was the first designed by the Victorian architect AWN Pugin, who was later to produce the drawings for much of the Houses of Parliament.

Some of the stones used in its construction came from the rubble of the Abbey and the baptismal font is made from material found in the Abbey ruins a few years before the church was built.

Features of the weekend at the church include:

* Photographs of the church from a collection of those taken by Woodley Photographic Club

* An audio-visual presentation by Norman Horsham to be shown at intervals throughout the day.

* On Sunday, at 12.15pm, after morning mass, celebrated organist Richard Lester will give an recital, on the churchsTamburini organ, of music composed to be played in St Marks, Venice, in the sixteenth century.

* Talks about the churchs history at 11.30am and 3pm on Friday and Saturday, and at 3pm on Sunday.

Heritage Open Days help reveal Reading's fascinating history

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Unveil the hidden history of St James's Church