A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



parts of sand beds of Tertiary age, are found 

 in many parts of the county, especially on the 

 chalk downs north of Lambourn, where, the 

 softer sands having been removed by denuda- 

 tion, the hard masses of stone lie exposed on 

 the surface. They also occur occasionally in 

 the gravel beds of the river valleys and have 

 been used for road-mending, for pitching and 

 paving, and also for building. The church- 

 yard wall at Lambourn contains some very 

 fine specimens of these stones. Wayland 

 Smith's cave, the principal prehistoric monu- 

 ment in the county, is a cromlech built of 

 sarsens. They are also frequently made use 

 of to keep vehicles from running against the 

 banks by the roadsides, or against corners of 

 houses. Mr. Bristow * mentions one at 

 Thatcham which had received a polish from 

 the constant use of it as a seat by the village 

 children. 



Peat has been dug at many places in the 

 Kennet Valley, chiefly in the neighbourhood 

 of Newbury, both for use as fuel and also to be 

 burnt for the sake of the ashes which are 

 applied as a top dressing to the land. The 

 quantity usually put on an acre of young 

 clover is from 15 to 20 bushels. In 1862 

 the price at Newbury was about 4^. the 

 bushel. 3 In the early part of the nineteenth 

 century the burning of the peat was a con- 

 siderable industry, and it was no uncommon 

 thing for farmers to fetch the ashes in wagons 

 from long distances. 



In the seventeenth century, when the 

 cloth industry of Reading and Newbury was 

 in a flourishing condition and the difficulty 

 of getting fullers' earth from a distance was 

 considerable, it was usual for the local cloth- 

 iers to make use of a bed of loamy clay found 

 in the Reading Beds at Katesgrove Brick- 

 yard. 3 



As some compensation for lack of mineral 

 wealth Berkshire has for centuries possessed a 

 large supply of timber. Leland in his de- 

 scription of Maidenhead, written in the year 

 1538, states : ' There is a grate warfeage of 

 tymbere and fierwood on the West ende of 

 the bridge ; and this wood cummith out of 

 Barkshir and the great woddis of the forest of 

 Windelsore and the greate frithe.' * The 

 far extending woodland of Windsor Forest 



1 Geology of Parts of Berks, etc. (Mem. Geol. 

 Survey), p. 51. 



2 H. W. Bristow, in Geology of Parts of Berks, 

 etc. (Mem. Geol. Survey), p. 50. 



3 Letter from Dr. Brewer to Dr. Sloane, Phil. 

 Trans, xxii. 485 (1700), reprinted in Geology of 

 Reading, by Blake and Monckton (Mem. Geol. 

 Survey, 1903). 



4 Itinerary, ii. 28, 29, ed. 1769. 



was as late as the thirteenth century only 

 separated from the great Berkshire forests by 

 the valley of the Loddon. 5 Berkshire coppice 

 wood used to be in great demand, especially 

 in the Vale of the Kennet, where the trade 

 was considerable. A hundred years ago the 

 demand for hoops and brooms, which were 

 sent in large quantities to London, furnished 

 a staple employment for the poor in winter, 

 especially in the neighbourhood of navigation. 

 The hoops had various names, such as Mid- 

 dling, Long pipe, Short pipe, Hogshead, 

 Barrel, Kilderkin, Firkin, Long pink, Short 

 pink, Tumbril, Bottle. The hoops were 

 made of willow, ash and hazel. Birch was 

 sometimes used, and also for brooms, which 

 were sold to the dealers in London by the 

 load. The wharf at Aldermaston was the 

 principal seat of this considerable trade. 

 Extensive osier beds have been cultivated along 

 the banks of the Kennet, in the neighbourhood 

 of Aldermaston, Wasing, Woolhampton, 

 Brimpton and Thatcham, and Dr. Mavor 

 stated in 1808 that the osier was cultivated 

 with a degree of care and success unknown 

 in any other part of the kingdom. The 

 proprietors used to sell the osiers to the 

 whiteners, who stripped and whitened the 

 rods, preparing them for the basket-makers. 

 Many women and girls were employed in 

 this industry and earned z\d,. per bolt, the 

 measure of which is 42 inches girt, 14 inches 

 from the butts. The basket-makers of 

 London received their principal supply from 

 the Berkshire beds. Willows were also exten- 

 sively grown for laths, gates, hurdles, poles, 

 etc., and fashion a century ago decreed that 

 pollard willows should be made into ladies' 

 hats. Dr. Mavor saw many trunks lying on 

 the wharf at Lechlade in order to be carried 

 to London for that purpose. 6 



This plentiful supply of timber was the 

 source of considerable revenue to the county. 

 A large amount was sent from Reading, 

 Maidenhead and Windsor to London, and in 

 the accounts of the building of portions of 

 Windsor Castle and of Eton College we find 

 several items relating to Windsor. Wargrave 

 furnished some oaks for the repair of the 

 castle in the time of Henry III., 7 and Godfrey 

 de Lyston, keeper of the forest of Windsor, 

 was ordered to give out of the forest to Gil- 

 bert, the king's carpenter, as much timber as 

 he required to repair the halls and chambers. 8 

 Upton and Sunninghill supplied timber for 



B Cooper King, History of Berkshire, p. 12. 

 Mavor, Agriculture of Berks, p. 320. 

 ' Rot. Claus. 27 Hen. III. 

 s Ibid. 40 Hen. III. 



374 



