B i 





n i: 



with the building: among them nro those of the ab 

 Abinpdon and of the Norruys family, with their inott.>. 

 Fcuhtnll) serve.' frequently repeated, (See Lysonsit 

 Ma gnu Britannia.) 



[Ockholt Mnor-hon*.] 



During the prevalence of the Roman Catholic faith, many 

 religious houses were built and endowed in Berkshire. Tan- 

 ner's fi'otitia Monantica contains a list of thirty-five reli- 

 gious establishments of all kinds : throe of which were 

 numbered at the Reformation among the ' greater monas- 

 teries,' and possessed a clear revenue of 20 O/. per annum. 

 The most important by far of these establishments were the 

 Benedictine abbeys at Abingdon and Reading. Abingdon 

 Abbey appears to have been originally founded upon a hill 

 called Abendune, about two miles from the present town, 

 nearer Oxford, by Cissa, a West Saxon, governor of great 

 part of Berks and Wilts, under Kentwin, king of the West 

 Saxons. Five years after its foundation this monastery 

 was removed to a place then called Scvokisham or Se;ive- 

 chesham, or Seusham, and since then Abbendon or Abing- 

 don, and enriched by the munificence of Ceaihvulla an-1 

 Ina, king* of Wessex, and other benefactors. The abbey 

 was destroyed by the Danes, and the monks deprived of 

 their chief possessions by Alfred the Great; but the posses- 

 sions were restored, and ihc rebuilding of the abbey com- 

 menced at least, by Edred, grandson and one of the 

 successors of Alfred. Numerous benefactions increased 

 the wealth of the establishment, and tlie abbot was mitred. 

 The yearly income at the time of the suppression was 

 204-:/. 2. 8d. gross or I*7G/. I"*- 9< *- clear. Reading 

 Abbey was also for Benedictines, and the abbot was mitred. 

 Tbis abbey was founded by King Henry I.. A i). 1131, and 

 richly endowed. At the Bupprcssiti it bud 2llf>/. 3?. 9rf. 

 gross or I9.'<6/. 14*. 30. clear yearly income. There are 

 nome remains of I will these j; rc.il establishments. Those at 

 Realing ronMt of th.> gateway and of some other nuns, 

 which are little more thin rude heaps of stone, all architec- 

 tural decoration having been deiacc 1, The Abbey Mills 

 are still remaining. AtAbinadofl some anticnt rooms ure 

 occupied at a brewery; arid the gateway of the abbey is 

 still used at a prison. 



At Buslh'sham, or Bysbam Montagu*, now Bisliam, on 

 the banks of the Thames, nearly opposite Marlow in 

 Buckinghamshire, was a priory for canons of the order of 

 St. Austin, founded 1338, by William Montacutc, carl of 

 Salisbury. Their yearly revenue at the suppression was 

 3111. 4*. 6d. gross, or 285/. 1 1*. clear. Upon the surrender 

 of this monastery to Henry VIII., it was refounded for the 

 Bi-ii'-lr tines, its revenue more than doubled, and the abbot 

 mitred ; but this new establishment was also suppressed 

 four or five years after. There nrc no remains of the con- 

 ventual buildings except an anticnt doorway, now the en- 

 trance of a somewhat later edifice, the scat of a branch of 

 the VansitUrt family. 



Of the minor establishments there arc some remains. 

 Of the church of the Grey Friars (Franciscans) at Reading. 

 there are considerable remains now used as a Bridewell : 

 there are also some ruins of the Benedictine monastery at 

 Hurley, between Maidenhead and Henlov-upon-Tliames.and 



ll njr b Bmttowd brrr Oial SprnTi nlulion it thil of the grtxi in- 

 MW; Dv|*d*'i TClMttM fa Ik* clnr ytly IUOM. 



of the buildings fur the priests and clerks of a former col- 

 legiate church at Walltngford, though the church itself has 

 been entirely destroyed. The. parish church at Sh .ties- 

 broke, near Maidenhead, once l>elonged to the college of 

 St. John the Baptist there. St. George's Chapel, at Wind- 

 sor, will be mentioned in the article WINDSOR. 



Of the churches of earlier date, Avington deserves men- 

 tion, from its remarkable specimens of Norman (or as it is 

 sometimes termed Saxon) architecture. The arch which 

 divide* the chancel from the nave is a portion of two arches. 

 and each portion being more than a quadrant, the arch ba& 

 a depending point in the middle. Portions of the NormanX 

 style may be observed in St. Nicholas Church at Abingdon, \ 

 arid in other places. Wilford Church, between Newbury \ 

 and Lambourn, has a Norman round tower, surmounted 

 by a portion in the early English style, and a spire in the \ 

 decorated English. As some part of the body of the church 

 is in the perpendicular style, this church contains examples 

 of all the different style's of what is usually called Gothic 

 architecture. Great Shefford Church, not far from \\ el- 

 ford, has a round tower, surmounted by an octangular sti.ry. 

 Shottesbrokc Church is a beautiful miniature cross churob, 

 with a tower and spire at the intersection. Ulfinglon 

 church, also in the shape of a cross, is large and handsome 

 St. Lawrence's Church at Reading has a fine tower of 

 rhecqucred flint-work in the perpendicular style. 



In the civil war between Charles I. and the Parliament, 

 Berkshire became the scene of several remarkable (nte-t--. 

 Windsor was garrisoned by the Parliament, and continued 

 in their possession throughout the war. It was once attacked 

 by Prince Rupert, but he was unsuccessful. Wallinjrford 

 w as garrisoned for the king, and continued in the hands of 

 the Royalists as long as they were capable of makin.- 

 stand, "in 1642, the first year of the war, the Kings army 

 gained possession of Reading, the Parliamentary garrison 

 retiring upon their approach, and the county, wilh the ex- 

 ception of the parts round Windsor, came into the power of 

 the Royalists; but in April, 1G43, the Parliamentary forces, 

 under the Earl of Essex and Major-General Skippon, re- 

 took Reading by capitulation. In the latter pait of the same 

 year was fought the first battle of Newbury, between the 

 Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex, and the Royalists 

 commanded by the king in person. The victory was doubt- 

 ful, but the action has been rendered memorable by the fall 

 of the accomplished Lord Falkland. The town of Reading 

 fell into the hands of the Royalists soon after, and w as garri- 

 soned by them, but evacuated the following year. In 1644, 

 Donnington Castle, which was held for the king by a garri- 

 son under Captain John Boys, was besieged by a strong de- 

 tachment of the opposite party: but though the place was 

 reduced to a heap of rums, the gallant defenders held 

 out, and the Parliamentarians raised the siege upon the 

 king's approach. Shortly after (viz. 27th October, 1644) 

 a second battle was fought at Newbury, with the same in- 

 decisive result which attended the former one. The king 

 commanded his own troops, and tlic Earls of Esex and 

 Manchester, and Sir William Waller, those of the parlia- 

 ment. No person of note fell in the battle. The army of 

 the Earl of Essex wintered this year in the county, at Abing- 

 don, Reading, &c. The rest of the war was not marked by 

 any great event. In 164S Sir Stephen Hawkins made an 

 unraceetthl attempt on the Parliamentary garrison at 

 Abingdon; and Cromwell failed in an attack upon Fa- 

 ringdon, but fought a successful skirmish at Radcot Bridge 

 in that neighbourhood, and took 200 prisoners. In IG4G 

 Pi ince Rupert attacked Abingdon again, but without success. 



A flight skirmish occurred at Reading in 1688. and 

 a trilling affair at Twyford, between Reading and Maiden- 

 head. These were the only actions which occurred during 

 the Revolution by which tliat year was distinguished. 



Population. "Berkshire is essentially an agricultural 

 county, and ranks in this respect fourteenth among the 

 counties of England. At the census of 1831 it was found 

 that among 37.084 males, twenty years of age and up 

 residing within the county, no more than 521 were employed 

 in manufactures, or in making manufacturing machinery. 

 Out of this number, nearly :tOO arc employed in making 

 mats and sacking at Abingdon, and sail-cloth there and 

 elsewhere: aboilt 100 are engaged in silk-manufactures at 

 .g and Ncwlmry, and 25 in copper-mills at Bisliam. 

 The proportions in which the inhabitants of the county were 

 divided into the leading classes of employment at the enu- 

 merations of 1811, 1821, and 1831, were as follows- 



