Berkshire ~ England

History

The chalk hills and downs of southern England that now forms the Royal County of Berkshire were probably first settled by primitive man around 10,500 years ago during periods of the Palaeolithic or Stone Age. Covering The county as we now know it stands in the Thames and Kennet River Valleys to the west of London and is first recorded as 'Berkshire' or Beaurrucsir as it appears in the Saxon language, in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles written in the 9th century. The county seems to have then been the greater part of an estate in the possession of a Saxon Alderman or Lord. It was granted the title of 'Royal County' in 1958 and the county boundaries remained relatively unchanged until modern times when later in the 20th century, it firstly lost part of its northern boundaries to Oxfordshire and shortly after lost the right to its own central administration. Despite this, the county proudly retains a strong sense of its own importance in the development of the United Kingdom having served as the battleground in struggles for supremacy across the millennia between Celts and Romans, Saxons and Vikings, King Stephen and the Empress Maud and the Parliamentary Roundheads and the Royalist Cavaliers. The county of Berkshire certainly has many connections with Royalty and the ruling classes as within its boundaries stand Windsor Castle, Eton College and Her Majesty's favourite race course, Ascot.

Geography of Berkshire

The county's geographical make up is astonishingly varied. There are the enormous fertile sand and gravel river plains around the Thames Valley that suddenly transform into more hilly areas towards its eastern edges around the Windsor area where the Thames becomes a mature river flowing through water meadows and pleasant woodlands as it passes on to London and the sea.

The centre of the county is made up of downs and heathland in which ancient iron age burial barrows and the remains of Roman settlements are common.These then pass on towards the lush chalk lands of the north western parts of the county and the racehorse training 'gallops' of Lambourn and Newbury and up to where they join the Cotswold Hills. Further south, the chalklands and wooded hills still predominate below the Kennet valley where they link to the Marlborough Downs. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the county from the West Country and the Ridgeway, an ancient drovers' road, follows the line of the chalk hill crests from Salisbury Plain across the centre of Berkshire to Ivinghoe Beacon in Hertfordshire. The county is also home to some major commercial centres including Reading and the hi-tec manufacturing town of Bracknell, both served by the M4 motorway.

Industry in Berkshire

• Agriculture plays a major role, particularly arable farming and the raising of pigs.
• The breeding and training of race horses - especially around the Lambourn area.
• Berkshire is sometimes referred to as silicon valley thanks to the success of the electronics industry around Reading and Bracknell.
• Tourism throughout the county is vital to its economy.

Cities, towns and villages within Berkshire