In 2016 the HAP group commissioned a Ground Penetrating Radar Survey (GPR) of the Abbey church area. We encountered several difficulties. The first was obtaining the necessary permissions from the various landowners and of course from Historic England. Reading Borough Council and the Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth own most of the land but the Government in the shape of the Ministry of Justice own the area to the far east.
After many months of negotiation all the legal niceties had been settled and we were able to undertake the GPR scan.
What, if anything, would it reveal? It certainly gave us food for thought. The following is my analysis of the results for the nave. There are other anomalies which require further investigation, but in the meantime I hope this will be of interest.
To see the latest analysis of the GPR survey follow the two following links. The first starts at the west end of the Abbey church and looks at the possible features which showed up in its nave.
THE NAVE AND WEST END
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_COHBQ_oUX22boIn9JzXgq3SLrKyU_jv/view?usp=sharing
The second is about the GPR findings at the east end. This looks at two very different interpretations that have been made about the scan's findings.
THE APSE AND EAST END
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d1bAGOx0V7Ti0gtqB8cm6AcXfz_Ni7KT