Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire. 1911. pg2

2

[

B E R K S J ÍfR E -

th e Kennefc and A ron canal a t S em in gton ; the Kenno*
and Avon canal rnns through South Berks from Ne’w'
bury by H ungerford into W ilts and thence by perizes
to Bath, and so by the A ron to Bristol.
Berkshire is now well supplied with raibra>r com m unioation; the chief railw ay is the Great W estern,
the m ain line of which enters this county by Slough
(Bucks), with a branch through Eton to Windsor, thence
proceeds to Maidenhead by Twyford to Beading, which
is a principal station, thence by Pangbourne, Moulsford,
Didcot Junction and Steventon, and so near Wantage
and Uffington to Swindbn and Bath; it has branch lines
from Didcot to Oxford (with a short line to Abingdon)
and from Didcot to Newbury, thence to W inchester,
giving access to the South of E ngland; from Maiden­
head, down the Thames to High Wycombe (Bucks),
through Cookh am ; from Cookham to M arlow ; from
Moulsford to W allingford; from Uffington to Faringd o n ; from Twvford to H en ley; from Beading to
Basingstoke on the London and South W estern, and
from Beading through Newbury to Hungerford and
Devizes, by the Berks and Hants Extension, thence to
Bath. The lines from Oxford to the north place Bead­
ing in direct communication w ith the northern parts of
the kingdom.
The Beading, Guildford and Beigate line of the South
Eastern and Chatham and South W estern railways,
connecting the towns from which it is named, crosses
the South W estern at Guildford and joins the South
Eastern and Chatham and Brighton lines near Beigate,
thus uniting the town of Beading w ith the whole of the
southern system of railways.
T he South W estern line starts from the same station
in Beading as the South Eastern and Chatham , and
passes by Wokingham, Ascot and Staines (from which
place is a branch to Windsor), and afterwards through
Bichmond to London.
The Lambourn Valley railway, opened in 1898, con­
nects Lambourn with Newbury, on the G reat W estern
line.
The county is healthy, with a good soil, though the
hills run into chalk. The valley of the Tham es has
very rich ground, particularly meadow, and so have
the vales of the W hite Horse and the Kennet.
The m anufactures are not of im portance— some m at
and m atting and sail cloth being the principal—
though Beading, Newbury and Abingdon used to be
great clothing tow ns; this trade is revivin g at Abing­
don. A t Beading are the large biscuit works of
H untley and Palm ers, the Beading Iron Works and
the great seed establishment of Sutton and Sons.
W h iting is made at Kintbury from the soft upper
chalk. Some considerable amount of boat building is
Carried on. The produce of Berkshire is chalk, chert
and flint, clay, gravel and sand, corn, beans, apples,
cherries, onions, asparagus, timber, hoops, broomsticks,
osiers, carthorses, calves, butter, pigs, sheep, wool,
besides trout and other fish.
The county derives benefit from its position on the
river Tham es, which attracts numerous visitors for boat­
ing purposes, and also for inspection of the royal Castle
of Windsor.
The number of parishes is 195. Berkshire is in the
Oxford C ircu it and has one court of quarter sessions
and 12 p etty sessional divisions. The shire towns are
Beading and A bingdon: by an order in Council of
Septem ber 14, 1868, the assizes and sessions are to
be held exclusively at Beading.
The county was
separated from Salisbury diocese in 1836, and is now in
the diocese of Oxford and archdeaconry of Berks, which
is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Abingdon,
Bradfield, Maidenhead, Newbury, Beading, Sonning, Vale
of W hite Horse, Wallingford and Wantage.

kelly’s

The m unicipal boroughs a r e :— Abingdon, population
in 1911, 6,810; Maidenhead, 15,218; Newbury, 12,108;
Beading (county borough), 75,214; W allingford, 2,716;
New Windsor, 12,681; and W okingham , 4,352. Other
towns are— Faringdon (1901), 2,770; Hungerford (1901),
2,906; and W antage, 3,628.
The shire is divided into twenty hundreds (at Domes­
day Survey, tw enty-two). They are Beynhurst, in the
e a s t; Bray, in the e a s t; Compton, in the M idland;
Charlton, in the so u th ; Cookham, in the so u th -east;
Faircross, in the Midland ('formerly T h a tch a m );
Faringdon, in the north -w est; Granfield, in the north­
w est; Hormer (form erly Hornimere), in the n o rth ;
Lam bourn, in the w e st; Kin tbury Eagle, in the south­
west Midland (form erly Kennetbury and E g le y ) ; Moreton (form erly Brewbury), in the north-east; Ock, in
the north -east; Beading, in the north -east; Bipplesm ere, in the east; Shrivenham , in the n orth-w est;
Sonning, in the east; Theaie, in the north-east; W an­
tage, in the M idland; and W argrave, in the east.
The registration districts are :—
Area. Pop. in 1911.
Place.
No.
22,867
44,216
Newbury
114
16,121
96,430
Hungerford
115
12,947
Faringdon
64,984
116
Abingdon
5 S*7 io
117
i 8, 73Î
Wantage
118
76,978
IS.SS*
42,696
14,976
Wallingford
119
20,238
64,369
Bradfield
120
Reading
121
5,876
75,214
W okingham
44,401
21,005
122
29,926
123
Maidenhead
27 , 5I9
Easthampstead
124
17,550
27,033
40,602
Windsor
21,070
125
The following list gives the several poor law unions, with
the parishes contained in them :—
A b in g d o n Un io n .

Abingdon
Abingdon St. Helen Without
Appleford
Appleton with Eaton
Baldón Marsh (Oxon)
Baldón Toot (Oxon)
Besselsleigh
Binsey (Oxford Co. borough)
Burcot (Oxon)
Chislehampton (Oxon)
Clifton Hampden (Oxon)
Culham (Oxon)
Cumnor
Draycot Moor
Drayton
Frilford
Fy field
Garford

Hinksey, North
Hinksey, South
Kingston Bagpuze
Lyford
Marcham
Milton
Nuneham Courtenay (Oxon)
Radley
Sandford-on-Thames (Oxon)
Stadhampton (Oxon)
Steven ton
Sunningwell
Sutton Courtenay
Sutton Wick
Tubney
Wootton
Wytham

B r a d f ie l d U n io n .

Aldermaston
Ashampstead
Basildon
Beech Hill
Beenham
Bradfield
Bucklebury .
Burghfield
Englefield
Frilsham
Goring (Oxon)
Grazeley
Mapledurham (Oxon)
Pad worth
Pangbourne
i Pur ley

Stanford Dingley
Stratfield Mortimer
Streatley
Sulham
Sul hamstead-Abbots
Sulhamstead-Bannister, Lower
End
Sulhamstead-Bannister,Upper
End
Theaie
Tidmarsh
Tilehurst
Ufton Nervet
Whitchurch (Oxon)
Wokefield
Y attendon