Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/255

Rh BERKHAMPSTEAD ST. MARY. 245 BERKSHIRE. ailway station. The village is email, but neatly laid nit, and in the neighbourhood are several handsome >illas. The living is a reot. * in the dioc. of Rochester, if the val. of 249, in the patron, of the Marquis of Salisbury. The church is dedicated to St. Andrew. The .Vesleyan Methodists have a chapel at How Green. -here is a National school and a provident society. ?he parochial charities produce about 15 a year. There rected on a hill here, from which there is a wide and cuutiful view. The chief residence is Bcrkhampstead BERKHAMPSTEAD ST. MARY, or NORTH- 'HTJRCH, a par. in the hand, of Dacoram, in the co. f Hertford, 1 mile from the town of Great Berkhamp- tead. The village, which is neatly built, is situated on le high road from Great Berkhampstead to Tring, from hich latter place it is about 5 miles distant. The living i a rect. in the dioc. of Rochester, of the val. of 794, i the patron, of the Prince of Wales. The church is edicated to St. Mary. There is a Baptist chapel, and jveral charitable endowments, which produce about '30 per annum. A priory and chapel formerly stood in lis place, the remains of which have been converted to a farm-house. The London and North- Western rail- passes through a tunnel of 300 yards in length. BERKSHIRE, an inland co. of England, bounded on e N. by the river Thames, which separates it from the is. of Oxford and Buckingham; on the S.E. by Surrey, i the S. by Hampshire, and on the W. by "Wiltshire, extends in length from E. to W. about 42 miles, and s greatest breadth from N. to S. is about 30 miles, s form is very irregular, the north boundary following le remarkably winding course of the Thames from near echlade to Old Windsor, a length of about 105 miles, he co. is about 16.5 miles in circuit, and comprises i area of 705 square miles, or 451,040 acres. It lies Btween 51 20' and 51 48' N. lat, and between >' E. and 1 43' W. long. The name of the county is aced back through the older form Barkahire to the ixon Earotscire, and the Roman name of a tribe which cupied part of the district JSibroci. During the riod of the Roman dominion in Britain, this county rmcd part of the division called by them Britannia iaia. Under the rule of the Saxons, it was included the kingdom of Wessex. Part of it was seized and Id for a time by Ofla, the ambitious king of Mcrcia. uring the latter years of the 9th, and the early part of e 10th centuries, Wessex, of which this county again rmed part, was invaded by the Danes, who got posses- m of Reading in 871. Three battles were fought .thin a very short period, at the last of which the ines sustained a great defeat. It took place at Acsces- n (Ash-down), and the Saxons were led by Ethelred. -fred also was present on that occasion. The invaders, wever, shortly afterwards gained a victor}' over the .sons, and Ethelred received a mortal wound. The unty suffered severely from the Danes in 1006, when .ey laid it waste, and burnt the most important towns, battle was fought near the Kcnnet, and the Saxons
 * a tower 100 feet in height, called the Observatory,
 * touse.
 * re defeated. During the civil war in the reign of

iephen, Wallingford Castle, which had been erected on after the Conquest by Robert D'Oyley, one of the arman nobles who came over with the Conqueror, was irrisoned for the Empress Matilda, and was frequently isieged by Stephen, who did not succeed in taking it. I furnished a safe retreat for Matilda when she had to it Oxford ; and when the armies of Stephen and Prince with a view to a lasting peace, the conditions of iich were settled shortly after at a great council held Winchester. The castle, erected at Farringdon by 'bert, Earl of Gloucester, was taken and destroyed by phen. The castles of Wallingford and Windsor fell o the hands of John, when, taking advantage of the =ence of his brother, Richard I., he came over from '. 'i-umndy to raise a rebellion against him. But he only 1 .d them a short time. Conferences were held between '. rig John and the barons, in 1213, at Reading and Wallingford. In 1263 the barons', under Simon de Montford, took Reading and Windsor Castle, the latter being already a royal residence. Richard II. met the barons at Reading in 1389, when a temporary arrange- ment of their disputes was made. Berkshire was the scene of important military operations during the civil war of the 17th century. Each of the contending parties held throughout the war one of the two fortresses in the county ; Windsor being garrisoned for the parliament, and Wallingford for the king. Prince Rupert made an unsuccessful attempt to gain possession of the former place, which was not attacked again during the war. Reading was at first in the hands of the parliamentary forces, but came into the possession of the royalists in the autumn of 1642. They were then masters of the whole county, with the exception of Windsor. In April, 1643, they lost Reading, being compelled to capitulate to the parliament. Eive months later, the first battle of Newbury was fought, in which the Earl of Essex com- manded on one side, and the king himself on the other. The result was indecisive. It was on this occasion that the amiable Lord Falkland was killed. The royalists got possession of Reading immediately afterwards, and dismantled the fortifications. Donnington Castle, near Newbury, was then garrisoned for the king, and was the object of numerous attacks. In 1644 the whole county, with the exception of Wallingford, was in the possession of the parliament. A second indecisive conflict took place at Newbury in October of that year. Abingdon was twice attacked by the royalists in 1645 by Sir Stephen Hawkins, and the following year by Prince Rupert ; on both occasions unsuccessfully. At the Revolution in 1688, a skirmish took place near Reading, and an affair of trifling importance occurred at Twyford. Berkshire is one of the most beautiful counties of England, presenting in its scenery a charming variety of landscapes : the noble river Thames, with border of L : i ( 11 meadows, lofty chalk downs, rich woodlands and copses, many small streams and -broad pasture lands, picturesque villages, scattered farmhouses, and a great number of villas and residences of the gently. The highest grounds are in the north-west, the most wooded in the south-east. A range of chalk hills, part of the same chain as the Chiltern hills, crosses the county from the Thames south of Wallingford in a westerly direction to Wiltshire. Their elevation gradually increases towards the west, and they rise at some points to a height of nearly 900 feet. The well-known White Horse Hill, not far from the border of Wiltshire, is one of the loftiest in the range its height is 893 feet. These hills are mostly sheep-walks, only the eastern part of the range being susceptible of cultivation. To the south of this range is the broad valley of the Kennet, and to the north the valley of the Ock, or as it is usually called, the Vale of the White Horse. A low chain of hills extends along the northern part of the county, between the Thames and White Horse Vale. Windsor Forest, which formerly extended over the whole southern part of the county, and into the neighbouring counties, is now limited to the eastern corner, and since 1813 has been partly brought under cultivation. Its present area is about 60,000 acres, and is mostly enclosed. The Vale of Kennet, many parts of which are still well wooded, was included in the Forest until the year 1226, when it was disafforested. Oak, beech, and ash, are the principal trees, and the copses consist chiefly of hazel or alder. The rivers of Berkshire are the Thames, the Kennet, the Lambourn, the Loddon, the Ock, the Auborne, and the Pang. The Thames is navigable throughout its course, along the border of this county, and receives the waters of all the other streams. The Ock rises near the western border, and receiving several tributary streams, runs by Stanford audLyford to the Thames at Abingdon, having a length of about 20 miles. The Lambourn rises among the Lambourn Downs on the western border, runs in a south-easterly direction by East Garston, East Stafford, and Boxford, and after a course of 15 miles, joins the Kennet below Newbury. The Kennet, rising in Wilt- shire enters this county at Hungerford, and pursuing
 * -nry met in 1153 beneath its walls, a truce was agreed