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Summary

Former location of a late 19th century museum, used as a mission room and church hall after its collections were transferred to Reading Museum; demolished in the later 20th century

Monument Type(s):

• MUSEUM (Late 19th century - 1874 AD to 1882 AD)
• MISSION HALL (Late 19th century to Late 20th century - 1886 AD to 1975 AD?)
• PARISH HALL (Late 19th century to Late 20th century - 1886 AD to 1975 AD?)
• CHURCH? (Mid 20th century to Late 20th century - 1950 AD? to 1975 AD?)

Full Description

The Second Edition Ordnance Survey mapping <1> marks a Mission Room on Burghfield Common, next to Mrs Bland's Infant School; by the 5th Epoch OS of 1970 <2> the building is named as St Mary's Church. This label denotes that small rectangular building was linked to the parish church of St Mary the Virgin in Burghfield village, but it may also have been used for services.

Both the small church room and school (and its teacher's house) were demolished in the later 20th century, perhaps just before the sheltered accommodation named Blands Court was built on the site of the old school in 1975.

The room had originated as the second purpose-built museum housing the collections of Horatio Bland, who lived at Hillfields in Burghfield <3>. Bland was a wealthy merchant and trader who had collected many ethnographic and anthropological artefacts on his global travels. He first created a museum in an outbuilding at Hillfields. The Dictionary of National Biography's entry for Bland <4> notes that his collection was eclectic, with no obvious theme, ranging from artefacts from Herculaneum to taxidermied animals, an extensive collection of mineral samples and shells to jewelry from Palestine and Kashmir, inscribed sheep's bladebones from a Buddhist temple to three silver amalgam figures of (American) Indians from Peru. The museum appears to have been largely for the entertainment and education of his neighbours.

Horatio's wife Emily died in 1868 whilst on an expedition to the Holy Land, leading to the local school being built and named after her by her husband in 1872. In 1874 Bland built this new museum for his growing collection next to the school on Reading Road. It contained one large gallery, 60 feet by 26 feet <3>. After his death in 1876 the artefacts were offered to Reading Corporation by his nephew Thomas Bland Garland, who was one of the subscribers giving funds to build the new museum galleries at the Town Hall. The Horatio Bland collection was transferred over in 1882, forming the nucleus of Reading Museum when it opened in 1883. Dr Joseph Stevens, who was the first curator of Reading Museum, recorded the somewhat eclectic arrangement of Bland's objects prior to their removal. However at least one large object, an 18th century Japanese temple bell, was not given to Reading as it served as the school bell before being presented to the Ashmolean Museum in 1953 <5><6>.

The Bland Collection museum in Burghfield was then refitted by the trustees of Bland's estate to be a parish hall or mission room.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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