Under the Oracle: Excavations at the Oracle Shopping Centre site 1996-8: the medieval and post-medieval urban development of the Kennet floodplain in Reading

by Ben M. Ford, Daniel Poore, Ruth Shaffrey

Excavations carried out by Oxford Archaeology in advance of the building of the Oracle shopping centre revealed a long sequence of development of the Kennet floodplain at Reading. This volume reports on the substantial evidence recovered for medieval and post-medieval water management, milling at the Minster Mill and St Giles Mill, the tanning, leather working and dyeing industries, and an unusual building interpreted as the 12th- to 13th-century cookhouse of Reading Abbey. The stories of two well-known Reading sites, the Oracle Workhouse and the Yield Hall, are followed from the medieval period up to the 19th century. Substantial specialist reports include pottery, glass, leatherworking, dendrochronology and clay pipes.

340 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2013