Closed, now seems to be a resaurant. More information about this church may be available from Church History, by clicking on the church name above and/or on the place name at the top of this page. If you can help by providing corrections or additional information, then please follow the instructions at the bottom of this page under "Help required".

The Primitive Methodist church was an early 19th century (1807) secession from the Wesleyan Methodist church and was particularly successful in evangelising agricultural and industrial communities at open meetings. In 1932 the Primitive Methodists joined with the Wesleyan Methodists and the United Methodists to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

Further information about some of the churches can be found below:

• Church of England:  
  • Greyfriars Church is former Franciscan friary, the oldest Franciscan church still in use in the UK and a Grade I listed building. Built in 1311, most complete example of Franciscan architecture in Britain and oldest still being used for worship. Restored in 1863.
    • History of Greyfriars Church, Reading by Malcolm Keith Summers, 2014.  Available from Reading Central Library, the BRO and Berkshire FHS.  See review in Berkshire Family Historian, Mar 2015, Vol 38, page 32.   
    • Wikipedia.
  • The Holy Trinity, Reading.  See History of Holy Trinity Church, Reading, c1910?, available from Reading Central Library.  Contains many unusual and beautiful furnishings, including the Pugin screen and an alter set by Martin Travers from Nashdown Abbey.
  • St Stephen's building was demolished and St John's building has been taken over by the Polish RC Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1981.  The residual congregations combined to form St. John & St. Stephen in a new building.  
  • St Giles.  
    • Originally built in 12C during the English Civil War.  St Giles tower was garrisoned for the King and the upper part was destroyed in 1643. The fabric was restored at the end of hostilities.
    • The Parish of S. Giles-in-Reading by Leslie Harman, 1946, is a history of the church, with list of  vicars from c 1190 to 1934 and churchwardens 1518 to 1942.  Available from Berkshire FHS. 
    • For the history of the split within St Giles to form the Castle Street Chapel (later St Mary's Episcopal), see The History of the Congregational Churches in Berks, etc.  
  • St Lawrence, see A History of the Municipal Church of St. Lawrence, Reading, 1883 by Charles Kerry is also available from Berkshire FHS.  
• Methodist: 
  • Whitley Hall Methodist Church (previously Spring Gardens Mission chapel until 1906), Whitley Rd closed c1997 (now a Hindu Temple) and their records are held by the BRO.  For a history of the church, see The Top of Whitley by Daphne Barnes-Phillips, ISBN 1-897715-01-3, available at Reading Central Library.  
  • Oxford Rd Methodist Church: closed in 1996 (buildings bought by Church of God Worldwide Mission?).  
  • Wesley Methodist Church, Queens Rd.
• Congregational: For early history (and some pictures), see The History of the Congregational Churches in Berks, etc.
  • Broad Street Chapel - founded as an Independent Chapel in 1707 with new frontage in 1892, then Congregational and finally URC, now closed and in 1995 became a bookshop.  See booklet Broad Street Chapel, Reading, 1662-1912 by Walter John Brain, available from Reading Central Library.  Records are held by the BRO (ref. D/EBA), see Vol 69, 2014 page 4 of the Berkshire Echo.
  • Trinity Church, now closed, used to stand at the corner of Sidmouth Street and Queen's Road. It was demolished to make way for a hall of Residence in c1980.
  • Hosier Street Congregational Methodist Chapel - What God hath wrought: a brief history of Hosier Street Congregational Methodist Chapel, Reading, 1854-1954, available at Reading Central Library.  
  • Castle Street Congregational Church - formed in 1836 when St Mary's Church, Castle Street, Reading  reverted to the Church of England. Those members who wished to remain independent rented rooms in Bridge Street, and in 1837 built a Congregational Chapel in Castle Street, almost opposite their former church.  In 1886, the church amalgamated with the Augustine Church in Friar Street.  The church declined in the 1950s, and closed in 1956. The proceeds of the sale of the building, and some of the church contents, were given to a new church to be built on the Southcote estate (later Grange Free Church).
  • London St Chapel (previously Salem chapel, Independent Chapel), started in 1808 at Salem Court, Minster St, moved in 1820 to London St, dissolved 1827.  Some birth registers at the TNA. 
  • Ebenezer Chapel, Oxford Road, c1820 to c1830.
  • Augustine Chapel, Friar St, 1869 to c1887.
  • Reading Park United Reformed (formerly Congregational) Church: archive 1907-2008 is held by the BRO (D/N53). 
  • St Paul’s Presbyterian (later United Reformed) Church, Reading, archive 1897-2000 is held by the BRO (D/N43). The Church was built at the expense of local businessman William McIlroy, and closed in 2000.
• Baptists:  Abbey Baptist Church (was Kings Rd Baptist). 
• Reading cemeteries:  Reading Borough Council has records of burials dating back to the mid 1840s and cremation records dating back to 1932. If you're searching for a record of someone who died in Reading or the surrounding areas, they may have a record of when and where they were either cremated or buried. 
  • Henley Road Cemetery, Reading Crematorium and Gardens of Remembrance (off the Henley Rd, Caversham and so was not strictly in historic Berkshire).  
  • Reading Old Cemetery (London Road, commonly known as Cemetery Junction). MI transcriptions 1843-1994 on CD are available from Berkshire FHS which includes a diagram of the cemetery to aid in finding memorials. A record of burials [in date order] and index are also held by the BRO. 
  • Caversham Cemetery (Victoria/Hemdean Roads, Caversham, and so was not strictly in historic Berkshire).   MI transcriptions 1885-1997 (fiche) are available from Berkshire FHS. 
  • East Reading Cemetery on Wikipedia
• British Listed Buildings Online. 
• Images of England. 
• Victoria County History of Berkshire. 
• Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. 

• General information about church history and availability of records.  
• The GENUKI Church Database lists places of worship (not just Church of England) and burial grounds, including links to the individual churches' own websites and to the related Genuki Parish page where further information may be found. It is tended to cover the whole of UK and Ireland. The coverage for Berkshire is fairly complete. Contributions and corrections are positively invited.
• Berkshire FHS have some information on churches and cemetaries (members only).
• For ministers, see also Church Ministers.  
• The Berkshire Religious Census 1851, editor Kate Tiller, Berkshire Record Society, 2010, ISBN 13 9780954871642,  lists places of worship, giving brief details of each (see sample page) and some photographs.  Copies held by the Berkshire FHS and Reading Central Library.  
  • The book is a transcription of the entries of Berkshire churches in the full Ecclesiastical Census Returns HO 129 which is available as a series of free downloads from TNA containing the returns for all of England and Wales, arranged by registration district.  The handwritten returns can be difficult to read (see sample page), so the transcription may be easier to use.  This was the first and only census of places of worship in England and Wales and was made alongside the population census of the same year with the same registration districts.  It was not compulsory and only about 80% of Berkshire churches seem to have responded, the C of E being particularly reluctant.  
  • All the Berkshire churches listed in the census are in the Genuki Church Database above and are identified as such.  
  • See article in Berkshire Family Historian, Mar 2008, Vol 31, page 8.
• Berkshire Nonconformist Meeting House Registrations 1689-1852  in 2 parts, editor Lisa Spurrier, Berkshire Record Society, 2005, ISBN 0952494698,  copies available for reference in Reading Central Library and the RBA.  It is a transcription of the applications to register the places of worship in historic Berkshire of Protestant Dissenters (those who dissented from the Church of England) and also some Roman Catholic churches, as a result of the Toleration Act .  See sample record.  Most of the 366 entries are for a room in a private house, and therefore often do not show in other records of the time.  It also provides useful descriptions of the different denominations in Berkshire at the time: Methodists (Wesleyan, Primitive and Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion), Baptist (Particular, Strict, General), Presbyterians, Independents/Congregationalists, (Plymouth) Brethren).
• Thumbnail descriptions of church buildings and their histories can often be found in trade directories through the years, see sample pages from a 1915 directory.
• Church of England (C of E):  
  • The Clergy of the Church of England Database includes background information on particular dioceses, cathedrals & collegiate churches and non-diocesan locations (as well as historical information on the careers of some C of E clergymen).
  • Berkshire Glebe Terriers, 1634. Glebe terriers are descriptions of the extent of the glebe, or lands belonging to a parish church. The Berkshire set for 1634 is remarkably complete, having been drawn up in response to a visitation by the representative of the archbishop of Canterbury. Details are given of a wide range of Berkshire church lands and tithable products. Published by the Berkshire Record Society as their second volume of documents, 1995.
• Methodist Church: 
  • Records of some Berkshire Methodist churches are held by the RBA (see Vol 72, 2015 of the Berkshire Echo). Some are published by the Eureka Partnership.
  • The Swindon Wesleyan Methodist Circuit was formed in 1817 from the Hungerford Circuit and covered a large area centred on Swindon including Clanfield [Oxfordshire], Faringdon [Berkshire], Highworth and Wootton Bassett [both Wiltshire].
  • Wantage and Abingdon Circuit: documents are archived with the Oxfordshire History Centre. 
  • Reading (later Reading and Silchester) Circuit:  the records of Valerie May Eyers, who was the Circuit archivist, are held by the RBA (ref. D/EX 1638) which contain much historical information about the Reading area Methodist churches c1891 to 1999, including leaflets, books, press cuttings and photographs.
• Congregational Church:  
  • For the early history of the Berkshire churches, see The History of the Congregational Churches in the Berks, South Oxon and South Bucks Association by WH Summers, 1905, copies held by Reading Central Library and Berkshire FHS library and online at Open Library.  The book also includes some Presbyterian churches that later became Congregational.
• Roman Catholic Church:  
  • The Thames Valley Papists by Tony Hadlands is available free online and in hard copy from Reading Central Library.  It "tells the story of the Catholics of the Thames valley from Henry VIII's break with Rome until Catholic Emancipation nearly three hundred years later."  
  • Berkshire falls under the Catholic diocese of Portsmouth.  
• Religious Society of Friends (Quakers):  
  • Quaker Records in Berkshire are provided by the Quaker FHS.
  • Early Berkshire Quakers article in Berkshire Family Historian, Mar 2009, Vol 32, page 17.
  • Quakers in Britain provides a list of present Meeting Houses.  Their library was founded in 1673 and includes books, periodicals, manuscripts and pictures, as well as the archives of the central organisation of Quakers in Britain.
  • Mid-Thames Quakers. 
  • Quaker Enterprise in Biscuits - a history of Huntley and Palmers (biscuit manufacturers) of Reading.
  • Genguides. 
• Baptist Church:
  • The Baptists of Berkshire Through Three Centuries by Ernest A Payne, 1951, copies held by Reading Central Library.  Describes the history of the church in Berkshire from 1600s to 1950s, with a table listing churches existing in 1949 with the name of pastor, number of members, etc.   Includes pictures of famous ministers of the Reading King St Church: John Howard Hinton, William Anderson, Robert Gordon Fairbairn.
• Jews:  
  • See general information about Jewish records.
  • Jewish Genealogy article in the Berkshire Family Historian, Vol 25, Dec 2001, page 105.
• Historic Churches of Berkshire from Royal Berkshire History provides brief histories (sometimes with photographs) of many Berkshire churches, including the ruined Reading Abbey.
• For churches that are Listed Buildings, see also Dwellings. 
• Photographs of churches, see:
  • The various resources listed above often have photographs or drawings.
  • Churches of Britain and Ireland. 
  • Francis Frith's Berkshire Churches - Photographic Memories, David Parker, ISBN 1.85937-170.1, 2000, copy held by Reading Central Library
  • The GENUKI church database (see above) has links to the churches' own websites which usually have photographs, and also links to Geograph. 
  • Oxfordshire Churches & Chapels include photographs of some churches and chapels in present day Oxfordshire including some that are in what was historic Berkshire.
  • For monuments in church yards, see Cemeteries.
  • See also Historical Photographs under History.
• Reading Abbey- In medieval times, Reading was the site of a great royal abbey. The religious community was centred round a magnificent church and one of the largest monasteries in Europe. It was formed in 1121 by Henry I, who was later buried near the High Altar. Because of its royal patronage, the abbey soon became one of the important pilgrimage centres of medieval England and also one of the richest and most important.   It contained a number of religious relics, including the reputed hand of St James. Visited by successive kings, it was the venue for several important weddings and a meeting of Parliament in 1453. The abbey was closed in 1539, as part of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.
  • Reading Museum
  • Royal Berkshire History 
  • Friends of Reading Abbey.
  • Reading Abbey Collection and the 14th century Reading Abbey formulary is held by the RBA (see Vol 68, 2014 page 4 of the Berkshire Echo).

• UK & Ireland - Church History - links and information.