Most of its built-up area lies within the Borough of Reading , although some outer suburbs are parts of neighbouring local authority areas. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet , Reading is 40 miles 64 km east of Swindon , 28 miles 45 km south of Oxford , 40 miles 64 km west of London and 16 miles 26 km north of Basingstoke. Reading is a major commercial centre, especially for information technology and insurance.
It is home to the University of Reading. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival , one of England's biggest music festivals. Reading has a professional association football team, Reading F. Reading dates from the 8th century. It was a trading and ecclesiastical centre in the Middle Ages , the site of Reading Abbey , one of the largest and richest monasteries of medieval England with royal connections, of which the 12th-century abbey gateway and significant ancient ruins remain.
By , Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tenth in England for taxable wealth. 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.
The 18th century saw the beginning of a major ironworks in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed-growing businesses, and the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre.
Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period , possibly in the form of a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum. The name probably comes from the Readingas , an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English [ 5 ] the Anglo-Saxons often had the same name for a place and its inhabitants. In late , an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January , in the first Battle of Reading , King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences.
