Stratford sub Castle Village Website
Salisbury, Wiltshire UK
The Stratford Reading Room is available to hire - click for details
St Lawrence Church's Historic Reading Room
Introduction
The Reading Room was built in the early 1880’s on land belonging to Mawarden Court which was then the Rectory for the St Lawrence Church priest. The Reading Room is now owned by the Incumbent and Churchwardens of St Lawrence Church and managed by a sub committee of the Parochial Church Council.
History
Why is it called the Reading Room and not the Church Hall? Because it was built as part of an important social movement of the 19th century. Reading Rooms were set up mainly by the clergy to help entertain and educate working men and boys, and especially to provide an alternative to the Public House! Until after the First World War a reading room could be found in most rural communities. They eventually gave way to village halls and public libraries. An excellent book about the Wiltshire Reading Rooms has been written by Ivor Slocombe (Referenced below). Apparently there were at least 170 in Wiltshire, with the first ones dating from the mid 1800’s. Stratford sub Castle’s one features very prominently in the book because of the wealth of historical information available on how it was managed, and its numerous activities.
The driving force behind the construction of the building was Mrs Mary King, the wife of the then incumbent of St Lawrence Church, Canon King which is recorded on a Commemorative Plaque on the wall inside the Hall.
Ever since the end of the First World War the Church Hall has been run as a very valuable facility for Church activities and also as a hireable room for other organisations and groups in the local community.
The Church has a Reading Room Committee who manage the Hall on behalf of the PCC. A constant feature for the management team is the Hall’s upkeep. In recent years its roof had to be replaced. After a life of nearly 130 years the original structure was in danger of collapsing. Consequently in 2009 it was decided to replace the roof and at the same time modernise the kitchen and toilets.
The Project, managed by a Church Committee under the Chairmanship of Ted Uren, was given the name “Raising the Reading Room Roof” (4R). The project was carried out in 2010 at a total cost of around £150,000. The Project is commemorated on the gates leading into the Hall (see image).
David James
Reference:
‘Wiltshire Village Reading Rooms’, Ivor Slocombe.((2012). Published by Hobnob Press for Wiltshire Buildings Record.
The Article above was first published in The Friends of St Lawrence Newsletter no. 41 , Spring 2024, and appears here with the kind permission of the Trustees.
The Friends of St Lawrence is a Registered Charity no. 1063271 which was set up to involve the community in fundraising to assist with the maintenance costs for the Grade 1 Listed St Lawrence Church.
Landscaping of the Reading Room grounds took place in 2018, along with further maintenance of the building's interior.
The Stratford Reading Room is available to hire - click for details
Reading Room Founder - Mrs Mary Elizabeth King
Mary Elizabeth King seems to have been a remarkable lady. She was born, and lived all her life, in the Salisbury area. When she was 19 she married Charles King, 10 years her senior, and they had 8 children, all but one of whom survived to adulthood. As the vicar's wife she lived in Stratford sub Castle for 36 years and must have played a significant role in the village.
Her most lasting achievement was the erection of the Reading Room in 1881. This shows her dedication to the education and cultural life of her husband's parishioners. From the 20th century onwards, the Reading Room has been used as a village hall, available to hire.
This image of Mary King has been taken from a photograph which hangs in the Reading Room. The original was presented to the Reading Room by two of Mrs King's great-grand-daughters, Dorothy Mangetts and Elizabeth King, on 17th August 1989.
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The image shows the Reading Room and to the left Mawarden Court which was the vicarage at the time the Reading Room was built but is now a private house.
The following details have been gleaned from the census returns and the birth, marriages and deaths registers.
Mary King (née Hodgson) was born in about 1820 in Salisbury. We first come across her in 1839 when her marriage at Alderbury to Charles King is recorded that spring.
In the 1861 census we find her living with Charles in Mawarden Court. Charles was the vicar of St Lawrence Church, Stratford sub Castle. They have 8 children, 6 girls sandwiched between two boys. The younger boy, Reginald, seems to have died as an infant.
Ten years later Arthur and the eldest girl, Edith, have left home. Alice, Rosalind, Elsie, Jessie and Adeline are still living with their parents. The situation is unchanged in 1881, all the girls remain unmarried and range in age from 31 to 22.
Charles died in 1885 and Mary moved to The Hermitage in Durnford where she is found living with Alice in 1891. By 1901 she has moved to Wyndham Cottage in Milford and Alice and Elsie are living with her.
Mary King died on June 18th 1901, aged 81, two months after the census.
The Hermitage
Image: Google Streetview
The Stratford Reading Room is available to hire - click for details
Details of other buildings in Stratford sub Castle of historical interest, are on this webpage: