A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



called ' Kings Arms,' transporting goods from 

 Abingdon to London.' The claimants had 

 paid duty on the malt and appealed to the 

 sessions for rebatement thereof. A ' draw- 

 back ' or allowance of $s. 6d. for each quarter 

 was ordered to be given them. At the same 

 time there were six other similar orders 

 granted ; and similar items appear in the 

 accounts of subsequent years, showing the 

 unsafe condition of the Thames as a highway 

 for traffic in the early part of the eighteenth 

 century. The owners of mill-dams or weirs 

 facilitated navigation by having openings in 

 these constructions by means of which barges 

 could be floated over the shallows, and the 

 barge-makers paid an acknowledgment to the 

 owners of the weirs for the convenience thus 

 afforded to navigation. The fees charged 

 gradually grew to be excessive, and statutes 

 were enacted to regulate these charges, and 

 to prevent impositions at the weirs 1 on the 

 part of their owners, who levied heavy toll 

 on all barges, boats and other vessels. At 

 the beginning of the eighteenth century 

 complaints by the barge-masters were made, 

 and the Commissions appointed by Parlia- 

 ment in 1729-30 found that ' the water 

 carriage was much raised.' 



In 1772 the first great effort was made to 

 improve the system of the Thames navigation. 

 About that time the trade on the river, owing 

 to the general prosperity of the country, was 

 rapidly increasing, and it was proposed to cut 

 a canal from Reading to Isleworth which 

 would have shortened the distance between 

 Reading and London by 33 miles. The 

 owners of lands adjoining the river, fearing 

 the diversion of trade, opposed this project, 

 and obtained an Act of Parliament 3 for the 

 appointment of Thames Commissioners who 

 should borrow money in order to erect pound- 

 locks, the interest on the money and the 

 repairs being defrayed from the tolls collected. 



In 1795 an Act of Parliament was passed 

 to explain and amend two former Acts of 

 1771 and 1775, and to give new powers. 

 Since the passing of that Act the navigation 

 has been improved by the removal of shoals 

 and the building of locks and the reduction 

 of the rates and prices levied by riparian 

 owners. 



The trade at the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth century was considerable, and the 

 number of barges registered by the surveyor 

 of upper districts of the Thames navigation 

 as constantly or occasionally trading on that 



' 6 and 7 Will. III. cap. 16 ; 3 Geo. II. 

 II ; 24 Geo. II. cap. 8. 

 II Geo. III. cap. 45. 



cap. 



part of the river, amounted in 1805 to 195, 

 and their tonnage was 15,037 tons. 



Other Berkshire rivers, the Loddon, Kennet, 

 and the smaller streams, the Ock, Enborne, 

 Emme, Broadwater, Ginge Brook, Black- 

 water, contributed to the development of 

 manufacturers and to the cultivation of 

 industry. The lesser streams could be easily 

 adapted to turn the wheels of the many mills 

 which existed from an early period. At that 

 time the riverside fisheries probably con- 

 stituted the staple industry. The osiers 

 which grew thickly on the river marshes by 

 Twyford, Reading, and the banks of the 

 Kennet, to which attention has already been 

 given, were an obvious inducement for the 

 existence probably at an early date of a 

 considerable basket-making industry. 



As a means of communication for the traffic 

 of merchandise the great roads passing 

 through the county were largely used. 

 Strings of pack-horses and wains conveyed 

 along them the cloth goods and other products 

 of Berkshire to London. This circumstance 

 led to the construction of bridges which have 

 exercised a considerable effect on the trading 

 centres of the county. The construction of 

 the bridge at Maidenhead in the thirteenth 

 century called that town into being. 3 Pre- 

 vious to its erection there was a ford and ferry 

 at Babham End, whereby passengers from Lon- 

 don crossed the river going through Cookham. 

 The Great Western road passed on thence to 

 Maidenhead thicket, where it diverged, one 

 branch going to Reading and Bristol, and the 

 other to Henley and Gloucester. The con- 

 struction of the bridge diverted the road at 

 Two-mile Brook from Burnham, it being 

 carried over the new bridge through the 

 hamlet, now the town, of Maidenhead to the 

 Thicket. Camden remarks that ' after they 

 had built a wooden bridge here upon piles 

 Maidenhead began to have inns, and to be 

 so frequented as to outvie its neighbouring 

 mother Bray, a much more ancient place.' 

 The erection of bridges also made consider- 

 able alterations in the course of trade in other 

 parts of the county. The old Wallingford 

 bridge, one of the most important on the 

 Thames, contributed in early times to the 

 prosperity of that town. But in 1416 it lost 

 its special trading advantages owing to the 

 public spirit of two worthies of Abingdon, 

 John Brett and John Houchons, or Huchyns, 

 who were far-seeing enough to understand 

 that to improve their town, trade should flow 

 through it and not by it. They therefore, 



376 



3 ' Pontagium pro ponte de Maidenheith ' (Cal. 

 of Pat. 26 Edw. I.). 



