1033 



BERKHAMPSTEAD. 



BERKSHIRE. 



1034 



BERKHAMPSTEAD, or BERKHAMSTED ST. PETER'S, 

 frequently called GREAT BERKHAMPSTEAD, Hertfordshire, a 

 market-town and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Berk- 

 hamsted and hundred of Dacorum, is situated in a deep valley on the 

 right bank of the river Bulborn and the Grand Junction Canal, which 

 here run together in a line parallel to the high road; in 51 45' 

 N. Int., 33' W. long. ; 25 miles W. by S. from Hertford ; 264 miles 

 N.W. from London by road, and 28 miles by the North-Western 

 railway. The population of the parish in 1851 was 3395. The living 

 1 a rectory in the archdeaconry of St. Albans and diocese of 

 Rochester. It ia in the gift of the Prince of Wales. Berkhamsted 

 Poor-Law Union contains 10 parishes and townships, with an area of 

 24,933 acres, and a population in 1851 of 12,533. 



The town seems to be of Saxon origin : the name is certainly 

 Saxon, although its etymology is variously derived. The addition of 

 St. Peter's distinguishes it from Berkhamsted St. Mary's, otherwise 

 Northchurch, in the neighbourhood. To a palace which the kings of 

 Mercia had here may probably be ascribed the growth if not the 

 origin of the town. William the Conqueror was met here after the 

 battle of Hastings by Frederick, abbot of St. Albans, who caused 

 the tree.- that grew by the roadside to be cut down and thrown across 

 the way. Subsequently William met the nobles and prelates at 

 Berkhamsted, and in compliance with their demands took an oath to 

 rule according to the ancient laws and customs of the country. It is 

 matter of history how little William regarded this oath when he had 

 firmly seated himself on the throne. William's half-brother, the Earl 

 of Moreton, got possession of the castle and manor of Berkhamfited. 

 In the time of Henry I. the castle and manor reverted to the crown. 

 Henry II. held his court here at one time, and granted peculiar and 

 very valuable privileges and immunities "to the men and merchants of 

 the honour of \Vallingford and Berkhamsted St. Peter's." The castle 

 was rebuilt in the reign of King John, and was afterwards besieged 

 by Louis the Dauphin of France. The besieged held out till the 

 king sent them orders to surrender. When Edward III., in the 28th 

 year of his reign, created his eldest son Edward the Black Prince 

 Duke of Cornwall, the castle and manor of Berkhamsted were given 

 to him " to hold to him, and the heirs of him, and the eldest sons of 

 the kings of England, and the dukes of the said place." Accordingly 

 the property has since descended from the crown to the successive 

 princes of Wales, under whom it has for the last three centuries been 

 leased out to different persons. 



The mansion-house, now called Berkhamsted Place, is said to have 

 been erected out of the ruins of the castle, early in the 17th century. 

 The greatest part of this mansion was destroyed by fire about 1601, 

 nnd only about a third part was afterwards repaired, which forms 

 the present residence. The castle itself was situated to the east of 

 the town ; the buildings are now reduced to a few massive fragments 

 of wall, but enough remains to evince the ancient strength and 

 importance of the fortress. 



At the parliaments holden at Westminster in the llth and 13th of 

 I'M ward III., Berkhamsted had two representatives, but there is no 

 record of such return from this place on any other occasion. 



The town of Berkhamsted consists of two streets, High Street and 

 Castle Street. The houses in the town are mostly of brick, and 

 irregularly built, but there are several handsome residences. The 

 town Is lighted with gaa. The church, which is cruciform, with a 

 pqitare embattled tower rising from the intersection, stands in the 

 middle of the town. The style is chiefly perpendicular. Various 

 small chapels and chantries were founded here previous to the 

 Reformation, and are still partially divided from the body of the 

 church. Among other interesting monuments in the church is one 

 in memory of the mother of Cowper the poet, who was born at the 

 parsonage-house, his father Dr. John Cowper being then rector of 

 the parish. The Wesleyan Methodists, Baptists, and Quakers have 

 places of worship. 



Numerous donations have been made to this parish for the erection 

 of nlmshouses and otherwise providing for the relief of the poor. 

 The Free Grammar school was incorporated in the reign of 

 I'M ward III. The present school-house, a large and substantial brick 

 building near the church, was erected at the time of its foundation. 

 Tin! Warden of All Souls' College, Oxford, is visitor under the 

 charter of Edward VI. The annual income from endowment is now 

 al*>ut 'jjftl. a year. The salary of the master, who is appointed by 

 the crown, varies according to the number of boys, but has lately 

 been upwards of SOOl. For a long time this foundation was 

 altogether inefficient ; but it has been recently restored. The number 

 of scholars in 1852 was 64, of whom 59 were 'foundationers.' 



A Charity school was founded in 1727 under the will of Thomas 

 Bourne, who bequeathed 60001. for the erection and endowment of 

 a Hchooi. The property now yields about 3001. a year. Under this 

 charity 20 boys and 10 girls are taught, clothed, and provided with 

 books ; their parents also receive 1. a week each. There are 

 National and Infant schools, supported in part by voluntary contri- 

 l.Hti'iiia and in part by an endowment from the late Counter of 

 Rridgewater. There is also a mechanics institute. 



The petty Reunions for the Berkhamsted division are held in the 

 town. There is a market on Saturday, and fairs are held on the 

 Monday previous to Ash-Wednesday, Whit-Monday, August 5th 



September 29th, and October llth, the last two being statute fairs. 

 Many of the inhabitants are employed in straw-plaiting. Malting is 

 carried on. There is an iron-fouudry. The making of shovels, 

 powder and shaving boxes, spoons, and other articles of wood, 

 employs some of the inhabitants. 



BERKSHIRE, or, as it is written by our older topographers, 

 BARKSHIRE, an English county in the midland district, lying 

 between 51 20' and 51 48' N. lat., 35' and 1 43' W. long. It 

 is included within the basin of the Thames ; which river forms, in 

 its sinuous course from the neighbourhood of Lechlade in Glouces- 

 tershire to below Windsor, the northern boundary of the county, and 

 separates it from the counties of Gloucester, Oxford, and Bucks, 

 which lie on the other side of the river. The county of Wilts borders 

 Berkshire on the west ; the line of division between them, though 

 irregular, has a general bearing N.N.W. and S.S.E. from the bank of 

 the Thames to a few miles south of Hungerford. A line, running 

 with tolerable regularity east ' and west, and coinciding in one part 

 with the course of the river Auborne or Emborne, a feeder of the 

 Kennet, and in another part with the course of the river Loddon, a 

 feeder of the Thames, separates the county from Hampshire ; and on 

 the south-east a line running north-east and south-west separates it 

 from Surrey. 



The dimensions of the county are as follows : length, east and west 

 from the border of Wiltshire between Hungerford and Lambourn to 

 Old Windsor on the Thames, 43 miles, nearly; breadth, north and 

 south from the bank of the Thames north-west of Oxford to the 

 border of Hampshire, near Newbury, nearly 31 miles. The area of 

 the county is 752 square miles. The population in 1841 was 161,147 ; 

 in 1851 it was 170,065. Reading, the county town, is 39 miles W. by 

 S. from London by the road. 



In Leland's 'Itinerary' (vol. ii. fol. 2) the county is called Barkshir. 

 The name, whatever be its original meaning, seems to be included in 

 the appellation given by Caesar (' Bell. Gall.' lib. v. cap. 21) to a tribe 

 which inhabited this county the Bi-broc-i : for bark and broc are in 

 fact the same. 



Surface, Hydrography, Communications. The principal high land 

 in this county consists of a range of downs running west by north 

 from the banks of the Thames between Reading and Wallingford, into 

 the northern part of Wiltshire. These hills, which, with the Marl- 

 borough Downs in Wiltshire and the Chiltern Hills of Buckingham- 

 shire, form one chalky range, rise in some parts to a considerable 

 elevation. At Scutchamfly, on the Ctickhamsley Hills, a part of this 

 range, a short distance south-east of Wantage, the height is 853 

 feet, and the White Horse Hill, which forms a part of the range, and 

 is near the western border of the county, is 893 feet high. The 

 western part of the chalk range, which is most elevated, is used for 

 sheep-walks. These are of good quality, but not to be compared in 

 extent with those of Wiltshire or Dorsetshire. The eastern part of 

 the raugo is sufficiently covered with soil to become arable. The 

 streams which rise on the northern declivity flow into the Thames ; 

 those which rise on the southern slope flow into the Kennet, which 

 drains the waters of the south part of the county, or into the Pang, 

 a small stream which falls into the Thames at Pangbourn a few miles 

 above Reading. There are some hills which skirt the valley of the 

 Thames in the northern part of the county, from the neighbourhood 

 of Faringdon to below Oxford. These hills consist of shelly oolite, 

 and calcareous and shelly sand with gritstone and Oxford clay. 

 Between these hills and the chalk range already described, is the 

 fertile vale of White Horse, which is drained by the Ock. 



The south and east sides of Berkshire have a large proportion of 

 woodland. The predominant wood is hazel, intermixed with oak, 

 ash, beech, and alder. The whole of the south part of the county 

 was once occupied by the forest of Windsor, which extended in one 

 direction into Buckinghamshire, and in another into Surrey, and 

 reached westward as far as Himgerford along the Vale of Keunet. 

 The Vale of Kennet was disforested by charter in the year 1226 ; 

 and a considerable part of Windsor Forest is now in a state of cultiva- 

 tion, an Act having passed for its inclosure in the year 1813. 



The principal river of Berkshire is the Thames, which forms, as 

 already noticed, its northern border. The direct distance between 

 the point where the river first touches and that where it finally leaves 

 the county is about 52 miles ; but from the winding course of the 

 stream the distance measured along the bank is at least 105 miles. 

 The stream is navigable soon after it touches the border of Berkshire, 

 namely, at St. John's Bridge, near Lechlade, where the river is 258 

 feet above the sea at low water ; but the shallowness of the stream 

 renders the navigation tedious and uncertain, especially for large 

 boats. The Thames produces barbel, trout, pike, and various other 

 common fish, besides carp and tench, supposed to be brought into it 

 by floods. 



The Kennet, which rises in Wiltshire, enters the county near 

 Hungerford, having previously served for a short distance as a 

 boundary between Wiltshire and Berkshire. From Hungerford the 

 stream runs eastward (being much divided and flowing in several 

 channels) by Avington and Kentbury to Newbury, below which it 

 receives the Lambourn, which rises in the chalk hills above the town 

 of Lambourn. The Kennet then continues its course (being still 

 frequently divided into several smaller streams which again unite) to 



