People will be allowed a sneak peak of the hidden history of Reading in the annual Heritage Open Days.

Thirty two venues will be throwing open their doors next weekend to historical buildings around the town.

Some are buildings the public normally have access to with tours arranged so people can find out more like Caversham Court Gardens which will be open on Saturday and Sunday between 2pm and 4.30pm.

People will also be allowed into buildings that had subsequently been turned into offices like the Tudor inn now home to solicitors Rowberry Morris, in Castle Street, who are allowing people to areas not normally open between 9.15am and 4.30pm on Saturday.

Not only is their centuries old building open in the day sponsored by Reading CIC and the Reading Chronicle. The Green Park Wind Tubine Tower will be open to mark its 10th anniversary in the town and people can book to have a look around between 11am and 1pm on Saturday and Sunday.

A spokesman for Saint James' Catholic Church, in The Forbury, said they will be letting people into "one of Reading's most exciting secrets".

The only Catholic church in the country that can claim to have a king, Henry I, buried within its grounds that will be open over the three days. The guided tours will be given around the first church ever to be designed by the great architect AWN Pugin built in the Norman Romanesque style.

Henry I, who reigned from 1100 to 1135, was the youngest son of William the Conqueror and founded the great Abbey of Reading, which was about the size of Salisbury Cathedral, to act as a royal burial place. The Abbey was dissolved in 1539, the great church was later demolished, and only a few remnants of the buildings now remain.

Saint James’ will be open on Friday September 11th and Saturday September 12th from 11.00 am until 4 pm and on Sunday September 13th from 1 pm until 4 pm.

On each of these days there will be a talk at 3 pm about Henry I and Reading Abbey and a display about Henry will be in the church throughout the weekend.

A glossy map has been created to tell people exactly what is open and when and a little synopsis of the building's history and is available at Reading Museum, Blagrave Steet, local libraries and the Civic Offices Bridge Street.