The town was seriously affected by the English Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, but played a pivotal role in the Glorious Revolution, whose only significant military action was fought on its streets.

Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period, possibly in the form of a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum.

On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences.

[9] It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death that swept through England in the 14th century, but it is known that the abbot, Henry of Appleford, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby Henley lost 60% of its population.

The last abbot, Hugh Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church.

[17] Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country.

[19][20] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was one of the southern termini of the Hatfield and Reading Turnpike that allowed travellers from the north to continue their journey to the west without going through the congestion of London.

[24][25] In the 19th and 20th centuries, the town's three largest industries were known as the Three Bs: beer (1785–2010, H & G Simonds),[26][27] bulbs (1837–1974, Suttons Seeds),[26][28] and biscuits (1822–1976, Huntley and Palmers).

Reading suffered much less physical damage than many other English towns and cities during the two world wars of the 20th century, although many citizens were killed or injured.

In one significant air raid on 10 February 1943 a single Luftwaffe plane strafed and bombed the town centre, causing 41 deaths and over 100 injuries.

[48] The borough boundaries, which had not been changed since 1560, were enlarged in 1887 to take in Southcote, Whitley, the north-western parts of Earley, and the eastern end of the parish of Tilehurst.

[55] As part of those reforms, the Local Government Commission had initially recommended expanding Reading's boundaries to include Earley, Tilehurst parish, Purley on Thames and the parts of the parishes of Shinfield, Burghfield and Theale north of the M4 motorway, but it was ultimately decided to leave Reading's boundaries unchanged.

[60] For some 400 years up to the 1970s, this was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration through the successive rebuilds that eventually created today's Town Hall.

Just above the confluence, the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep-sided gap in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames flood plain.

[64][65] As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs as far as Calcot, Tilehurst and Purley; to the south and south-east on the south side of the River Kennet as far as Whitley Wood and Lower Earley and as far north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills as far as Caversham Heights, Emmer Green and Caversham Park Village.

[66] Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climate, with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year.

The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the United Kingdom offices of foreign multinationals, as well as being a major retail centre.

[97] Reading has a significant historical involvement in the information technology industry, largely as a result of the early presence in the town of sites of International Computers Limited[98] and Digital Equipment Corporation.

[108] There are three major department stores in Reading: John Lewis & Partners (known as Heelas until 2001),[109] Debenhams (now closed down), and House of Fraser.

[136] Mary Russell Mitford lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the rest of her life just outside the town at Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield.

The town's other local newspaper, the Reading Post, ceased publication on paper in December 2014, in order to transition to an online only format under the title getreading.

In the town centre is Forbury Gardens, a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey.

[188][189] Reading's location in the Thames Valley to the west of London has made the town a significant element in the nation's transport system.

[201] London City Airport can be reached via a direct train to Custom House on the Elizabeth line followed by a short bus connection.

Further afield, Southampton Airport can be accessed directly by rail in around 50-70 minutes depending on the service, or reached by road in approximately the same timeframe.

[214][215] St James's Church was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837 and 1840, and marked the return of the Roman Catholic faith to Reading.

On 31 October 1900, Reading Hebrew Congregation[222] officially opened in a solemn public ceremony, packed to capacity with dignitaries, led by the Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler.

Reading Hebrew Congregation, which still stands on its original site at the junction of Goldsmid Road and Clifton Street near the town centre, is a Grade II-listed building, built to a traditional design in the Moorish style.

[229] Reading also has places of worship of other religions: the Shantideva Mahayana Buddhist centre,[230] a Hindu temple,[231] a Sikh gurdwara,[232] a Salvation Army citadel,[233] a Quaker meeting house,[234] and a Christadelphian Hall.

[254] Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood in 1983 and was revived 10 years' later by Banana Leisure with one of the original organisers as Event Director.