Spoken versionCaversham Court
Caversham Court is a public garden of about 1.3 hectares, located on the north bank of the River Thames near the centre of Caversham in Reading. It has been owned by Reading Borough Council since 1933. The gardens are included in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest as a Grade II landscape.
A private garden has been on the site since the 12th century when the rectory of St Peter’s Church was built, and many of its remaining features date from the 17th century. The house (now demolished) and garden were connected with some of Reading’s more distinguished citizens, like the Simonds family, as well as with some of England’s most significant historical events, like the Civil War and the Gunpowder Plot.
The main attraction of the site is that history has preserved a private garden and made it available as an intimate and charming public space in an attractive riverside position. As such, it is unique in Reading, and, indeed, in the Thames Valley.
In 2002 the Council initiated a project to restore and enhance the gardens and successfully bid for development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Public Parks Programme for a restoration project estimated to cost £1.6 million. The restoration site works commenced in autumn 2008, and the Gardens reopened to the public on Friday 7 August 2009.
| Article | Description | |
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Caversham Court Gardens Restoration | We are delighted to be able to announce that work on restoring Caversham Court Gardens will commence in September 2008. |
Downloads
Some of the following documents are in pdf format. You can download and install a free PDF reader to enable you to read and print them. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Reader from the Adobe website.
| File | Type | Size | Download Time |
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| Restoration Project Update February 2009 | 14 KB | 56Kbps Modem: 3 Seconds Broadband : 1 Second |
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| Caversham Court Management and Maintenance Plan | 1,692 KB | 56Kbps Modem: 7 Minutes Broadband : 34 Seconds |
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| Birds and the Bees - An ecological guide to the gardens | 584 KB | 56Kbps Modem: 2 Minutes Broadband : 11 Seconds |
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| Self Guided Tour of the Gardens | 265 KB | 56Kbps Modem: 1 Minute Broadband : 5 Seconds |
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| The Griffin's Trail - A garden walk for younger children | 98 KB | 56Kbps Modem: 25 Seconds Broadband : 2 Seconds |
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| The Caversham Tree Trail | 45 KB | 56Kbps Modem: 11 Seconds Broadband : 1 Second |
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| The Detective Trail - A garden walk for children | 148 KB | 56Kbps Modem: 37 Seconds Broadband : 3 Seconds |