When Henry I founded Reading Abbey on 18 June 1121, he intended it to be his final resting place. Nearly nine centuries later, the location of his tomb remains one of Berkshire's most intriguing historical mysteries.
A Royal Foundation in the Heart of Berkshire
Henry I established Reading Abbey in a prime position between the rivers Kennet and Thames. The foundation charter declared the abbey was created "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors." Monks from Cluny Abbey in Burgundy were brought to populate the new monastery.
The abbey quickly became one of Europe's largest royal monasteries. Its church ranked as the fourth largest in Britain and housed an extraordinary collection of over 230 relics. Archbishop Thomas Becket officially opened the completed abbey on 19 April 1164, with Henry I's grandson Henry II in attendance.
The King's Final Journey
Henry I died on 1 December 1135 in Saint-Denis-en-Lyons, Normandy. His body was returned to England and buried at Reading Abbey in 1136, laid to rest in front of the high altar of the then incomplete church. William of Malmesbury described the location as ideal for travellers, situated where people journeying to England's more populous cities would naturally pass.
For centuries, the abbey served as the king's memorial. Yet today, no marker identifies where one of England's most powerful Norman monarchs lies.
The Destruction of the Dissolution
The tomb's disappearance began with Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1538, Reading Abbey was mostly destroyed. The last abbot, Hugh Faringdon, was hanged, drawn and quartered before the Abbey Gateway on 14 November 1539. The buildings were systematically stripped, with lead, glass and facing stones removed for reuse elsewhere.
Further damage came in 1786 when a new County Gaol was constructed on the site, destroying the apse and Lady Chapel where the high altar had once stood. The prison's western car park now covers much of the area where Henry I was likely buried.
Modern-Day Search Efforts
The quest to locate Henry I's tomb has drawn international attention in recent years. In spring 2014, historian Philippa Langley, who successfully located Richard III beneath a Leicester car park, launched the "Hidden Abbey Project" to find Reading's lost king.
In June 2016, a ground-penetrating radar survey was conducted across the abbey site, St James's Church, Forbury Gardens and the former Reading Gaol car park. Initial results indicated potential grave sites behind the high altar in the eastern apse. However, Reading Borough Council noted that "no direct connection between these features and King Henry can be made using these results alone."
In 2020, Langley stated her belief that Henry I's grave lies beneath the western car park of the former Reading Gaol. By 2021, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, had joined fundraising efforts, with excavations requiring an estimated £55,000.
Why Henry I Remains Forgotten
Unlike Richard III, whose discovery captured worldwide attention, Henry I's tomb has faded from public memory. Several factors explain this. Reading Abbey's ruins are overshadowed by more intact monastic sites such as Fountains Abbey or Glastonbury Abbey. The thorough destruction during the Dissolution left no visible monument to attract visitors. Urban development has obscured the abbey's original layout, making the tomb's location difficult to visualise.
The ruins themselves offer only fragments of the former glory. The inner rubble cores of many walls still stand, though only fragments of the central tower piers and parts of the transepts survive. The site holds Grade I listed status and is a Scheduled Monument. Following a £3 million conservation project, the ruins reopened to the public on 16 June 2018.
St James's Church, built between 1837 and 1840 on part of the abbey site, incorporates stones from the ruins. Yet nowhere on the site is there a memorial to the king who founded it all.
The Search Continues
The Hidden Abbey Project represents a modern attempt to recover what the Dissolution erased. Archaeologists and historians continue to investigate the area, hoping to locate the burial of a monarch who ruled England for 35 years and established a royal monastery that once dominated Berkshire's landscape.
For now, Henry I remains the forgotten king of Reading Abbey; a founder whose final resting place, like so much of the abbey itself, has been lost to time.