Bradfield College is another important public school, founded by Thomas Stevens in 1850. The buildings are of red brick and flint, and are partly old. There is an open-air theatre where Greek plays are performed.
Radley College is beautifully situated by the river Thames. The site was part of the property of the Abbots of Abingdon, and passed through the hands of the families of Stonehouse and Bowyer. Much of the old mansion is incorporated in the college buildings. The college was founded by the Rev. William Sewell, D.D.
Gate of the Old Grammar School, Abingdon
University College, Reading, is a comparatively new establishment, and the buildings are still in process of construction. Higher teaching in literary and scientific subjects is given, and there is an Agricultural Department, a Dairy Institute, and a Horticultural Department. There has been a school at Reading from quite early times, but its history has been a somewhat broken one. In 1783 John Lempriere published his Classical Dictionary whilst an assistant master at the school, and Richard Valpy was its head master for 55 years (1781–1836).
In addition to the above there are several important recognised secondary schools at Abingdon, Bracknell, Clewer, Maidenhead, Newbury, Wallingford, Wantage and Windsor.
There are many almshouses in Berkshire, the most interesting of which is Christ’s Hospital, Abingdon. It is of brick and timber with an open gallery (p. 63). It was founded under its present name by Charter of Edward VI, but had a previous existence. The almshouses near Wokingham, built 1663, and known as Lucas Hospital, are a good example of seventeenth century brickwork, and are very picturesque. The Jesus Hospital at Bray was founded in 1627 for 40 poor persons. It is a most attractive red brick building, with a quadrangle in the middle, and a small chapel, the windows of which have stone frames which were probably taken from an older building. The quadrangle is shown in the picture by Frederick Walker in the Tate Gallery, named “The Harbour of Refuge.”
24. The Forest in Berkshire.
Windsor Forest consisted in early times of a tract of wood and heath which even before the Norman Conquest was looked upon as Crown property. It is one of the five forests mentioned by name in Domesday. It was no doubt of great extent, but its boundaries are not known even if they were ever very clearly defined. There is in the British Museum a volume of maps and plans of Windsor by John Norden, made in the early part of the reign of James I, and the map of the forest shows that it was at that time bounded by the Thames on the north, by the Loddon on the west, by the Blackwater on the south, and that it extended to the east into Surrey as far as the Hog’s Back, Guildford, and the river Wey.