B E R 



miles ; but from th winding course of the stream, the dis- 

 tance measured along the bank is 105 to 110 miles. The 

 navigation of the stream commences soon after it touches 

 the border of Berkshire, viz. t St. John's Bridge, near 

 Lechlade, where the river is 258 feet above the sea at low 

 water ; but the navigation, though much improved since 

 the year 1795, is still tedious and uncertain, especially for 

 Urge boats. The Thames produces barbel, trout, pike, and 

 various other common fish, besides carp and tench, sup- 

 posed to be brought into it by floods. 



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

 near Hungerford, having previously served for a short dis- 

 tance as a boundary between Wiltshire and Berkshire. 

 From Hungerford the stream runs eastward (being much 

 divided, and flowing in several channels : see Ordnance 

 Maps, No. XII.) by Avington and Kentbury to Newbury, 

 below which it receives the Lambourn, which rises in the 

 chalk hills above the town of the same name. The Kennet 

 then continues its course (being still frequently divided into 

 several smaller streams which again unite) to the village of 

 Aldermaston, and there bending to the north-east to Read- 

 ing, falls into the Thames a little below that town. That 

 part of its course which can be considered as belonging to 

 this county is about thirty to thirty-two miles ; the course 

 of the Lambourn to its junction with the Kennet is about 

 fifteen miles. Both of these rivers produce trout, pike, bar- 

 pel, eels, crayfish, perch, chub, roach, and dace. 1 he trouts 

 of the Kennet are of great size ; those of the Lambourn are 

 of a paler colour and not so much esteemed. The Kennet 

 is made navigable from Newbury to the Thames, a distance, 

 by the stream, of about twenty miles. In the course of 

 this navigation there are twenty-one locks; the highest 

 point is 264 feet above the level of the sea at low water ; 

 the fall from thence to Reading is about 134 feet. 



The Loddon rises in Hampshire, and for some distance 

 separates that county from Berkshire, (lowing towards the 

 W.N.W. Near the village of Swallowfield it turns to the 

 N.N.E. and flows to Hurst Park, receiving by the way the 

 Emrae Brook. From Hurst Park it turns to the N.W. and 

 flows into the Thames between Reading and Henley. Its 

 whole length is nearly thirty miles, of which about six miles 

 are along the border of Berkshire and twelve within that 

 county. Above its outfall its waters divide and How into 

 the Thames by several channels. Leland, in his Itinerary, 

 observes that ho crossed its different arms by four bridges. 



The Ock rises in the western part of the county, runs 

 a general E.N.E. course, and receiving many tributaries by 

 the way, falls into the Thames near Abingdon. Its whole 

 course is about twenty miles.* The fish in it are pike, es- 

 teemed remarkably fine, perch, gudgeon, roach, dace, and 

 crayfish. 



The Auburn, or Emborne, rises in the south-western 

 corner of the county, and flowing eastward divides it from 

 Hampshire. Near Brimpton it turns to the north, and 

 falls into the Kennet after a course of about eighteen 

 mile*. The other streams are too small to claim particular 

 notice. 



Besides the navigation of the Thames and the Kennct, 

 Berkshire has two canals, viz. the Wilts and Berks Canal, 

 and the Kennet and Avon Canal. The former com- 

 mences in the river Thames just below Abingdon, and is 

 carried through the vale of White Horse post Wantage into 

 Wiltshire : crossing this county near Swindon, Wootton 

 Bassett, Calne, Chippenham, and Melksham, it joins the 

 Kennet and Avon Canal not far from the last-mentioned 

 town. The height of the Thames at the commencement of 

 this canal is 160 feet above the sea at low water, and the 

 canal rises in its course through this county till it enters 

 Wiltshire, where it attain* its summit level of 345 feet. It 

 supplies with fuel the district through which it passes, and 

 enables the agriculturist to send his corn and other pro- 

 duce to market The Kennct and Avon Canal commences 

 at Newbury, forming a continuation of the River Kennet 

 Navigation, and passes up the Vale of Konnet by Hunger- 

 ford and Great Bedwin to Crofton in Wilts, near which its 

 summit level begins. From this level it continues its course 

 l.y IM-izcs, Semington (a village at which it is joined by 

 the Wilts and Berks Canal), Trowbridge, and Bradford to 

 Bath. The elevation of the highest point of the Kennet 

 navigation is 264 feet, and the summit level of the Kennet 

 and Avon Canal, at Crofton tunnel, is '210 feet more. A 

 littlo way above Hungerfurd the ranal it carried over the 

 Kennet by an aqueduct of three arches. 



B E R 



The principal road* which pass through Berkshire are 

 those from London to Bath anil Oxford. Both these enter 

 the county at Maidenhead, a little beyond which they sepa- 

 rate, the Oxford road running nearly due wetto Henley, just 

 before entering which it leuve~ tin- county, and the Bath road 

 running south-west to Heading. There are two nth'-r ronds 

 from London to Reading, both of which pass through Egharo 

 in Surrey, and, separating there, run nearly parallel to each 

 other, until they reunite a few miles before they reach 

 Reading. From this town the Hath road poises through 

 Newbury and Hungerford. just after which it enters Wilt- 

 shire. The principal other roads arc one from Londuu to 

 Cirencester. which, branching off from the Oxford road 

 near Nettlebed in Oxfordshire, runs through Wallingford 

 and AVantagc: another road to Cirencester. which, branch 

 ing off from the Oxford road at Dorchester (Oxfordshire), 

 runs through Abingdon. anil uniting with the first-men- 

 tioned road at Farinstdon, crosses the Thames at St. John's 

 Bridge, near Lcchlade, into Gloucestershire : one from Ox- 

 ford to Kingsclere and \Vhitchmvh (Hants), and so to 

 Winchester and Southampton, which entering Berkshire 

 near Wallingfonl, runs through it in a southern direction 

 into Hampshire, without passing through any market-town 

 except Wallingford: one frotn Oxford by Abingdon and 

 Eastllsley to Newbury, from which town two branches run, 

 one to Andover (Hants) and the other to Whitchurch 

 (Hants) ; two from Oxford to Hungerford, one by Wantage, 

 and one by Abingdon ; one from Lambourn to Newbury , 

 and one from Reading to Basingstoke in Hampshire. 



The turnpike roods in this county are good, as are also 

 the private roads in the south-eastern part, especially about 

 Reading. The private roads in the Vale of White Horse 

 are deep and miry, and in winter almost impassable. (Ly 

 sons' s Mmgna Britannia.) 



Climate, Soii, Agriculture. The climate of Berkshire is 

 one of the most healthy in England. The chalky hills in 

 the western part of the county are remarkable for the in- 

 vigorating and bracing qualities of the air. The vales being 

 milder may perhaps suit delicate constitutions better, and 

 having pure streams running through them, which make 

 the air circulate and purify it, they are considered as healthy 

 as the hills. Fevers and epidemic diseases are very rare. 



The soil, as may be expected in a country of such extent 

 and so irregular a shape, is extremely varied. The prin- 

 cipal hills are composed of chalk ; the valleys of different 

 sorts of loam, in which clay predominates, with gravel and 

 sand upon it rising into small elevations. Along the rivers 

 there are alluvial deposits. The whole county seems to lie 

 over chalk or lime-stone. Windsor Castle, at one extremity, 

 stands on a solitary mass of chalk surrounded by stiff clay. 

 This clay, in some places, has a depth of 3UO feet over the 

 chalk, as was found in boring for water near Winkfield 

 plain. The chalk rises to the surface near Maidenhead 

 and Marlow. The chalk, which dips so deep under Windsor 

 Forest, appears again in Hampshire. The clay of the forest 

 is a compact blue clay, of the same nature as that which is 

 usually called the Ixmdon clay, and in which nearly the 

 whole bed of the Thames lies, from near Reading to the 

 sea. 



Over this clay lies the poor sand and loam impregnated 

 with iron, known by the name of Bagshol heath land, which 

 extends into Hampshire and Surrey; and also the richer 

 alluvial soils in the valleys, and along the banks of the 

 Thames and the Kennct. Under the vale of White Horse, 

 where the richest soils occur, the chalk runs into a harder 

 lime-stone of a blue colour, and a free-stone or oolite, which 

 composes the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire. (See 

 Mavor's Survey of Herkshirf, Appendix vi.) 



In the vale of White Horse are some of the most 

 fertile lands in England. The western part of the vale 

 is chielly covered with rich pastures, the soil being a good 

 loam on a sound and dry subsoil. Along the bottom of 

 the White Horse hills lies the rich corn land, for which the 

 vale is renowned, intermixed with gravel and sandy loams 

 of an inferior quality, and some very stiff clays. This land 

 is chiefly arable, and is called white land, from the admix- 

 ture of finely divided calcareous earth in its composition. 

 It has the appearance of an alluvial deposit, enriched by the 

 finer parts of the chalk washed down from the neighbouring 

 hills. Along the Thames is a belt of rich meadows, ex- 

 tending in some places only to a very short distance from 

 the river, ami no where above two miles. These meadows 

 have not been improved bv irrigation so much as they 



