The Oracle was a workhouse

Workhouse

In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...

 that produced cloth

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 town of Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

, Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

. The Oracle

The Oracle, Reading

The Oracle is a large indoor shopping and leisure mall, located on the banks of the River Kennet on the site of a 17th century workhouse of the same name in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire...

 shopping mall

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 which occupies a small part of the site takes its name from the Oracle workhouse.

History

In the 17th century, clothiers

Cloth merchant

Cloth merchant is, strictly speaking, like a draper, the term for any vendor of cloth. However, it is generally used for one who owned and/or ran a cloth manufacturing and/or wholesale import and/or export business in the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries...

 in Reading were facing competition from the north of England

Northern England

Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...

 as they could afford to make more coloured cloths due to a special agreement, in which they paid less tax.

On 30 December 1624, John Kendrick

John Kendrick (cloth merchant)

John Kendrick was a prosperous English cloth merchant and patron of the towns of Reading and Newbury in Berkshire....

 a clothier died leaving £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

7,500 to the Reading and £4,000 to Newbury

Newbury

-In the United Kingdom:* Newbury, Berkshire**Newbury **Newbury Racecourse**Newbury F.C.**A.F.C. Newbury**Newbury R.F.C.**Newbury Building Society**Newbury Weekly News**Newbury College**Newbury railway station...

 to help their cloth industries. The money was to go to Christ's Hospital

Christ's Hospital

Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 if it was not used properly. John Kendrick's brother William Kendrick was living in Minster Street, where he and his father had been making cloth for over 50 years. It was thought to be an ideal place to set up a workhouse to help the unemployed people in the town. The house was sold to the Council for £2,000 and in 1628 was opened after alterations were carried out to make it suitable for the workhouse with 100,000 bricks and tiles coming from Tilehurst

Tilehurst

Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is also, with different boundaries as described below, a civil parish in West Berkshire district.-History:...

 costing twelve shillings and sixpence

Sixpence

Sixpence may refer to:*Sixpence *Sixpence *Sixpence *Flat cap, also called a sixpence*Sixpence None the Richer, an American pop/rock band...

 per 1000. It stretched from the top of Minster Street 30 m down along the Holy Brook

Holy Brook

The Holy Brook is a channel of the River Kennet in the vicinity of the English town of Reading, Berkshire. While of considerable historical significance, the origin and nature of the brook is still unclear...

. William Kendrick named the workhouse Oracle after his brother John, the man of vision.

The Oracle was used for the next 200 years, but by the 19th century it became derelict. Christ's Hospital was able to prove that the money was not used in the way John Kendrick had wished and claimed the greater part of both bequest

Bequest

A bequest is the act of giving property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is used of personal property, and "devise" of real property. In legal terminology, "bequeath" is a verb form meaning "to make a bequest."...

s. In 1850, the Oracle was demolished.