READING is a modern, prosperous town on the south bank of the River Thames, ten miles south of Henley. Guarding the western approaches to London, it has always been important, long a stopping-off point for kings and queens and once home to one of the country's richest abbeys. Henry VIII took care of the abbey, seizing its lands and hanging the abbot from the main gate, and today almost nothing remains of the old town except the shattered remains of the aforementioned abbey, a short ... [More]