Sunday, January 22nd, 2017 - Deeper Roots in Reading

Within the last several years, I learned that the Chesterman family (my paternal grandmother's family and the branch who is having the reunion) had traced their roots back as far as a Steven Chesterman whose birth had been registered in 1609, at St. Giles Church, Berkshire. When Googling showed me the church is still in Reading, only an hour and a half out of London, I determined to visit the place to see if I could discern how life may have been for him and the four subsequent generations who were also registered there. 

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It was a cold and frosty morning when I arrived in Reading for the 10:30 am service at the church. I had spoken with the church secretary, Sue Mott, who was willing to tell me about church history, as well as show me other places related to my ancestry. In contract to London, there were far fewer trees in the streets of Reading, and the houses were less elaborate.

The view looking along the Kennett River was pretty, especially with the low morning light catching the red buildings.

The church was nestled in among houses and newer development. It was established in the 12th Century. Sue told me it used to be on the outskirts of the town and served the marginal people - lepers, poor, sick etc. She said although it is no longer physically on the outskirts of town it has been isolated by the construction of a freeway nearby and continues to serve marginalized populations. 

There was no record of any of my ancestors being buried there, but the graveyard felt very ancient. The wall on the left is the only original wall remaining. Most of the present structure is a Victorian re-design. I stayed for the mass, which was very high Church-of-England with lots of incense, chanting, choral singing and traditional order of service. There was definitely a timelessness about it that was very comforting. St. Giles Church reluctance to change could be rooted in having had one their own vicars executed by King Henry VIII in 1539 for refusing to acknowledge him as the head of the Church-of England.

This lower part of the tower still contains some of the original structure, too. You can see the arch of bricks that are different from the flint and sandstone that make up the rest of the wall. The upper part of the tower was garrisoned by the king in 1643 and was destroyed in the ensuing Civil War.

I wanted to think that the wooden cross might resemble something that my ancestor, Steven Chesterman might have also seen there, even though this is not that old.

Following the service, Sue and her husband Christopher Mott took me to see a wall in their yard that has a plaque indicating it had been built in the late 1800's by a Chesterman. I could not read the lettering, but could discern the probability that it was as they said. She indicated that the wall surrounds the entire property, which now encloses a number of terrace houses which are on the historic register. It is bounded to the south by Chesterman Street. They think it enclosed a builders yard, which intrigued me, as my great grandfather, Henry Chesterman was a timber merchant in Hobart. I don't know if he knew the man who built this wall, but it is lovely to think so.

Here is the wall on the left, going down to the street.

And here is Chesterman Street. The ugly sign behind me is advertising the Chesterman's Garage. Sue said they are not well liked in town because they put toxic substances into the sewers. I'd like to think that was another branch of the family!

And this is the row of houses that are in the front of the area that was the building materials lot. Sue thinks it probable they were built by Chestermans. The house furthest on the left was the largest and most ramshackle. There were signs of it being under repair. It appears to be the part associated with the garage - another reason to hope it's a different branch of the family not taking care of things!

 Following my visit to the church and Chesterman Street, I went to the Museum of English Rural Life nearby at the University of Reading. It covered a period of time more recent that the 1600's, but was interesting nevertheless. The farm wagon above was the type used in Berkshire. Each area had different elements of design depending on the type of soils, width of ruts etc. I didn't retain all of the design details, but particularly liked the color of this Berkshire farm wagon at the museum.

Mission completed, I had a very pleasant walk back to the train station, passing near the ruins of Reading Abbey, which had been built by Henry 1 in 1121. It is now closed to the public as it is unsafe.

The last section was passing through a very interesting garden - the Forbury Gardens. This wall intrigued me with the combination of red brick, flint stone and sandstone. It was a most pleasant way to end the day. While the world that had been inhabited by my ancestors has changed greatly, I came away with a sense that they had probably been sturdy people who had been industrious in their world. I suspect the environment had been kinder on their eyes, but harder on flesh and bone when they lived here.