Oracle (workhouse)

Oracle
The Oracle in Minster Street, 1845 by William Fox Talbot
Location within Reading Town Centre
General information
Type	Workhouse
Location	Reading, Berkshire, England
Coordinates	51°27′16″N 0°58′20″W / 51.454417°N 0.972203°W / 51.454417; -0.972203Coordinates: 51°27′16″N 0°58′20″W / 51.454417°N 0.972203°W / 51.454417; -0.972203
Completed	1628
Demolished	1850

The Oracle was a workhouse that produced cloth in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The Oracle shopping mall which occupies a small part of the site takes its name from the Oracle workhouse.

History

In the 17th century, clothiers in Reading were facing competition from the north of England as they could afford to make more coloured cloths due to a special agreement, in which they paid less tax.^[1]

On 30 December 1624, John Kendrick a clothier died leaving £7,500 to the Reading and £4,000 to Newbury to help their cloth industries. The money was to go to Christ's Hospital in London if it was not used properly.^[1] John Kendrick's brother William Kendrick was living in Minster Street, where he and his father had been making cloth for over 50 years. It was thought to be an ideal place to set up a workhouse to help the unemployed people in the town. The house was sold to the Council for £2,000 and in 1628 was opened after alterations were carried out to make it suitable for the workhouse with 100,000 bricks and tiles coming from Tilehurst costing twelve shillings and sixpence per 1000.^[2] It stretched from the top of Minster Street 30 m down along the Holy Brook. William Kendrick named the workhouse Oracle after his brother John, the man of vision.^[3]

The Oracle was used for the next 200 years, but by the 19th century it became derelict. Christ's Hospital was able to prove that the money was not used in the way John Kendrick had wished and claimed the greater part of both bequests. In 1850, the Oracle was demolished.^[4]

References