Douai Abbey Church is a Grade II* listed building in the West Berkshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 10 November 1983. A Modern Church. 12 related planning applications.
Douai Abbey Church
- WRENN ID
- deep-facade-willow
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- West Berkshire
- Constituency
- Reading West and Mid Berkshire MP: Olivia Bailey (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 10 November 1983
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Modern
- Address
- Douai Abbey Church, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, RG7 5TQ
- OS grid reference
- SU 577 682
- Coordinates
- 51.41002, -1.1717
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Douai Abbey Church is a church built between 1928 and 1933 by J. Arnold Crush. It is constructed of red brick with Bath stone dressings, featuring a string course that extends over the windows as a hoodmould, and has plinths and parapets made of chequered flint and stone. The choir roof is tiled, while the roofs of other sections are not visible. The church is designed in a Free Curvilinear Gothic style and includes a choir, aisles, a north aisle chapel, and a Lady chapel with a polygonal apse.
The choir consists of two bays, with the eastern bay being shorter. It has four-light aisle windows, while the eastern aisle features two-light windows. The clerestory has two-light windows, with the eastern section having a central three-light window flanked by cusped lancets. There is a low chapel that projects from the western bay to the north, which has two two-light windows. A newel turret is located at the north-east of the choir, complete with a parapet and lancet openings. The temporary west end has three lancets and a circular window above a lean-to porch.
The Lady chapel contains three bays with three-light windows, and the east window has four lights. The interior is faced with ashlar and features stone vaulting throughout. The choir arcades have moulded bases and capitals, along with moulded arches. The church remains unfinished. J. Arnold Crush was a pupil of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and Douai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey.
Local climate
Douai Abbey Church receives an average of 750 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 72% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 63% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 12 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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