470 BERK 



lifrkshire. and spoons, which are made of beech wood. Num- 

 ^ "-v~ ' ber of houses 333. Population ir>9(), of whom 167 

 were returned as employed in trade. See Salmon's 

 Hist, of Hertfordshire. ( ;' ) 



BERKSHIRE, one of the most beautiful of the 

 inland counties of England, is bounded on the north 

 by the Thames, which divides it from Oxfordshire 

 on the westward, and Buckingham on the eastward ; 

 on the east by part of Surrey and by the Thames, which 

 there separates it from Buckinghamshire ; on the south 

 by Surrey and Hampshire, and on the west by Wilt- 

 shire, and a small portion of Gloucestershire. It extends 

 from 51 19' to 51 48' North Lat. and from 34V to 

 1 43' West Long. Its extreme length from Old 

 Windsor to Buscot is about 48 miles ; and its ex- 

 treme breadth from Witham to Sandhurst (which, 

 by the way, is taking rather an oblique line) is about 

 29 miles. Its circumference is nearly 208 miles. 

 The boundaries which nature has assigned to Berk- 

 shire are in general highly picturesque. The Thames, 

 meandring in a very varied line along it6 northern and 

 eastern sides, throws it into such an irregular form, 

 that, while in some places it is nearly thirty miles in 

 breadth, in others it is less than four. On the south, 

 the hills of Surrey and Hampshire afford a charming 

 variety of landscape ; and from the eminences in its 

 western extremity, the eye is gratified with many en- 

 chanting scenes in the adjoining counties of Glouces- 

 ter, Oxford, and Wiltshire. Dr Beeke, Professor of 

 Modern History in the University of Oxford, from 

 astronomical observations which determined the lon- 

 gitude of that place, and from the trigonometrical 

 survey taken by order of government, makes Berks, 

 including some insulated parts, to contain about 

 464,500 square acres, according to the following 

 distribution : 



Acres. 



Arable land about 255,000 



Meadows and dairy land in the Vale . 72,000 

 Sheep walks, chiefly uninclosed .... 25,000 



Other dry pastures, parks, &c 30,000 



Wastes, chiefly barren heaths 30,000 



Woods, copses, &c 30,000 



Other space occupied by buildings,! _ - 

 courts, fences, roads, rivers, &c. J 



Total 469..500 

 From the report published by order of the House 

 of Lords in 1805, it appears, that, " the area of Berk- 

 shire is 744 square statute miles, equal to 476,160 

 statute acres ; the number of inhabitants on each 

 square mile, containing 640 acres, is 147 persons, 

 making a total of 109,368." This county is dis- 

 tributed into eight political divisions, viz. Faringdon, 

 Wantage, Abingdon, Wallingford, Maidenhead, 

 Oakingham, Newbury, and Reading. These again 

 are subdivided into twenty-five hundreds ; containing 

 in all twelve market- towns, 148 parishes, 67 vicar- 

 ages, and about 670 villages and hamlets. The 

 names of the market-towns are Abingdon, Faring- 

 don, Hungerford, Haley, Lambourn, Maidenhead, 

 Newbury, Oakingham, Reading, Wallingford, Wan- 

 tage, and Windsor. Abingdon, Reading, Walling- 

 ford, and Windsor, are parliamentary boroughs, but 

 Abingdon returns only one member. Reading and 



SHIRE. 





Abingdon are both considered as county towns. Berkshire. 

 With regard to its ecclesiastical connections, Berk- ' v * 

 shire lies within the province of Canterbury, -and the 

 diocese of Salisbury. It is subject to an archdeacon, 

 whose jurisdiction extends no further than the limits 

 of the county : it is divided likewise into four dean- 

 eries, Abingdon, Newbury, Wallingford, and Read- 

 ing. The grand divisions of Berkshire marked out 

 by nature are four. 1. The Vale, generally called 

 the White Horse Vale, extending from Buscot to 

 Streatly, and bounded on one side by the Thames, 

 and on the other by the Wiiite Horse Hills, a con- 

 tinuation of the Chiltern range. 2. The Chalky 

 Hills, which run nearly through the centre of the 

 lower part of the county. 3. The Vale of Ken net. 

 4. The Forest Division, commencing on the east 

 of the Loddon, and extending the breadth of the 

 county to Old Windsor. The principal rivers and 

 streams in Berkshire are the Thames, the Kennet, 

 the Loddon, the Lambourn, the Ock, the Aubourn, 

 the Emme, and the Broadwater. Most topographi- 

 cal writers take notice of a peculiarity in the Lam- 

 bourn, that its stream is always full in summer, and 

 almost lost in winter. Mr Lyson, who denies this 

 peculiarity, admits at the same time, that it preserves 

 throughout the whole year a pretty equal degree of 

 fulness, being seldom affected by the drought of. 

 summer, or subject to inundation in the winter. 

 Berkshire has no stagnant waters of any consequence. 

 In the track of the Broadwater there is one particu- 

 lar spot, where it spreads in winter over a surface of 

 about 100 acres; and this is called the Rascombe 

 Lake ; but in summer, it is generally left dry. 



The substratum of this county may be said to con- 

 sist, in general, either of chalk and other calcareous 

 matter, or of gravel, with clay at greater or less 

 depths, according to the quality of the soil. The 

 Vale is remarkably fertile, and its prevailing soil, is a 

 strong, grey, calcareous loam, in which vegetable 

 mould is intimately mixed with cretaceous earth. 

 Among the chalky hills, there are some intermediate 

 tracks of considerable fertility, where the superficial 

 stratum is composed of vegetable mould, mixed with 

 chalk, flint, and gravel. In general these hills form 

 excellent sheepwalks, being covered with a fine turf. 

 In the Vale of Kennet, gravel soils predominate, vary- 

 ing, however, considerably in their qualities, admix- 

 tures, and depths from the surface. In this district 

 there is a peculiar kind of peat, which is equally valu- 

 able as fuel or manure. The northern parts of the 

 Forest district are distinguished by a soil of gravel, 

 strong loam, and clay ; the central parts by a tena- 

 cious clay; and the southern parts by sand and 

 gravel. 



Berkshire can boast of no valuable minerals, nor of 

 any variety of curious fossils. In the chalk-hills no- 

 thing remarkable has been discovered, except the 

 substance from which they take their name. At 

 Catsgrove, near Reading, there is a stratum of chalk, 

 30 feet in thickness, lying upon a bed of flint. 

 Above the chalk is a stratum of sandy clay, about a 

 foot thick, covered by a layer of oyster-shells, two 

 feet in depth. Above these shells there is a stratum 

 of sandy clay, one foot and a half thick ; next suc- 

 ceeds a greenish sand, to the depth of four feet ; 



