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Solitary Life in the Centre of
Reading?
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- St. Edmund's Chapel stood at the top end of New Street (now called Friar
Street), near the Franciscan Friary,
in Reading.
- It was built along with a small 'cell' (house) by Laurence Burges in 1204.
- He was a bailiff (who enforced court decisions) in Reading, but wanted to retire and become a
hermit.
- A hermit was someone who gave up all their possessions and devoted
their life to God, like a monk. However, they lived on their own &
relied on the charity of others to survive.
- Most hermits lived in remote places, not in the centre of big towns
like Reading.
- Laurence gave Reading Abbey a house
to pay for his upkeep.
- He would have been visited by pilgrims travelling between the abbey
and the relic chapel on Caversham
Bridge.
- A priest called a chaplain held regular services in the chapel.
- By 1376, the Abbot stopped appointing chaplains. The chapel stood
empty.
- By 1481, it had been converted into a barn!
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