Following the Dissolution of Reading Abbey in 1539 and the anti-Catholic legislation that followed, it became illegal to go to Mass. Priests and others helping them could be executed for treason. The laws against Catholicism were called the Penal Laws and those who refused to accept the Church of England and the English monarch as the Head of the Church were known as recusants. By the end of the 18th century, there were very few Catholics in Reading, maybe only 50 or so.
However, many of the large country estates around the town were owned by Catholics. In 1791 the Catholic Relief Act was passed. This removed most of the penalties for practising the Catholic faith and it became legal for Catholics to have their own chapels. St James Catholic Church, situated within the ruins of the pre-Reformation Reading Abbey, was built between 1837 and 1840. The building was the first church design of Augustus Welby Pugin, a convert to Catholicism, whose works include many churches and public buildings, including the Houses of Parliament. The original Church and some of the prominent features inside it were constructed partly out of stones from the Abbey ruins.
The foundation stone was laid on 14th December 1837, and the Church was opened on 5th August 1840 by Bishop Thomas Griffiths. A pilgrim way routes from Reading to Southampton; St James Way. it is 68.5 miles long and routes from Reading Abbey to Southampton, where pilgrims may then have sailed to France or Spain on their way to the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain.
The Confraternity of Saint James supports this route as part of the ever-growing European network of pilgrim routes to Compostela. If you have a Pilgrim Record (which can be obtained from the Confraternity of Saint James csj.org.uk ) you can get it stamped at St James church in Reading, and at other churches on the route. Note that sea scallop shells were symbols of the pilgrims and were, and still are, carried by pilgrims to the Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Santiago is Spanish for Saint James.
The relic of the hand of St James was given to Reading Abbey by Maud, daughter of Henry I. Scallop shell symbols may be found elsewhere in this pilgrim’s city. They can be found on the Palmer Park gate pillars on Wokingham Road. Palmer is an ancient word for Pilgrim. In fact, a Palmer was a pilgrim who had brought a palm leaf from the Holy Land.
The information here is a sample extracted from the website for St James Church at https://jameswilliam-reading.org.uk/about-us/
