BERKSHIRE
THE irregular shape of the inland county of Berkshire
lends itself to convenient subdivision. The northern
boundary is formed by the winding Thames which, in the course of a hundred miles, provides many towns and villages with a superlative setting in this, as in the shires of Oxford and Buckingham on the opposite bank. The county’s greatest length, as the crow flies, is just over fifty miles from Wiltshire to Surrey ; the widest part is in the west (about thirty miles across), whereas from Reading it is no more than seven miles into Hampshire.
The ancient inhabitants were the Attrebatti and Belgae tribes of Britons, before the Romans came. The West Saxons gained it in the sixth century, and in their time the principal boundaries of the shire were established. It is a geographical unit, comprising 23 hundreds, yet deriving its name neither from the people nor the chief town but from the “ barked shire oak ” already described in our introduction to Wessex. The analogy is a sound one, for this leafy county is adorned with oak and beech trees.
Windsor Castle and St. George’s chapel are the chief monuments. Bisham Abbey is an Elizabethan mansion, and Reading Abbey the ruin of one of the earliest and greatest monasteries. Abingdon and the vale of White Horse, Newbury and Wantage, are ancient centres from which many others are easily reached. Perhaps The Bell at Hurley is the oldest inn in England, but there are many riverside inns and taverns that are very old. Among churches, ancient and noble, the beautifully preserved thirteenth-century wall paintings at Ashampstead and Hampstead Norris arc the most remarkable recent discoveries.
From the Thames valley the land rises towards a spur of the Chilterns in the south and south-west; to the White Horse hill (856 feet), and Inkpen Beacon, which at ion feet is the highest chalk down in England. From “ the fruitful vale of White Horse, not plentiful of wood,” but watered by the river Ock, to the valley of the Kennet, which skirts Inkpen and flows eastward to the Thames and Reading, lie the rich agricultural and dairy farming lands for which the county is famed. The river Loddon, another Thames tributary, east of Reading, marks off the only barren portion covered by Windsor forest.
BERKSHIRE
Berkshire is among the drier districts of England, and, in the fertile regions, oats and wheat are grown ; sheep, pigs and dairy farming generally prosper, and agricultural machinery is manufactured in the larger towns; in Reading, the largest, biscuits and seed are produced by world-famous firms.
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Administration. The county town is Reading, which has also its university. The royal borough of Windsor is within the county, which comprises 23 hundreds and 192 civil parishes in all.
Communications. The best-known highway is the Bath road (A4) which traverses the entire southern section of the county for over fifty miles, from Maidenhead to Hungerford. On this old road are the famous coaching inns which, in these motoring days, are regaining something of their former bustle. The riverside road to Wallingford and Abingdon touches some of the loveliest reaches of the Thames.
The Great Western railway—the old London and Bristol has just passed its centenary—serves the county, and all its main lines, except the new Birmingham route, pass through it.
Earldom. The earls of Suffolk and Berkshire have combined, since 1621, the titles that have descended from a younger branch of the Howards of Norfolk, and are described in our reference to that county, and to Suffolk.
Regiment. The Royal Berkshire Regiment is the 49th (Hertfordshire) Foot, raised in 1714, formerly the Jamaica Volunteers who fought in the American War, and the 66th (Berkshire) Foot, raised in 1758. The regiment saw service in Holland, and then at Copenhagen, and the dragon and the word “ China ” in their colours were conferred for services in the war with China in 1841. In 1881 they were united, and the depot is Reading.
County Badge. Having no arms, the device is used of a shield, on it a stag plucking leaves from the lower branches of a tree. Above the shield a royal crown, with sprays of laurel and <>ak, and, beneath, a scroll inscribed Berkshire.
The allusion is to the barked oak, from which the name of the county is derived. The royal crown denotes Windsor Castle and Forest.
Newspapers. The Berkshire Chronicle, founded in 1770, and issued at Reading, is the oldest newspaper of the county, but the Reading Mercury dates from 1723, and this, with the more recently established Reading Standard (1885) cover the chief centres of news.