CITArTER V 



THE BERKSHIRE STREAMS 



The Berkshire streams which will come undef 

 notice are the Kennet, with its tributaries, the 

 Lambourne and the Emborne, and the Pang, a 

 small tributary of the Thames. All four streams 

 water the southern part of the county. The Loddon 

 is also in the south, with a small tributary or two, 

 but it is only in its upper parts in Hampshire that 

 it deserves mention as a trout stream. In the north 

 there is the Ock, flowing through the Vale of the 

 White Horse country. It contains some good trout, 

 I believe, in two or three of its many branches, but 

 it is essentially a coarse fish water, and Ock pike 

 were long ago celebrated for their alleged special 

 excellence of flavour. It was in the county of 

 Berkshire with its chalk hills and clear waters that 

 the late Thomas Hughes laid some of the scenes 

 of that popular book, Tom Brown at Oxford. 

 Like his friend Charles Kingsley, a keen angler, he 

 was very fond of the chalk streams of the counties 

 near London. The " Englebourne " may remind 

 the angling reader of Tom Brozvn at Oxford of 

 either the Emborne or the Lamborne. 



