Berkshire


 * "Berks" redirects here. For the county in Pennsylvania, see .



Berkshire (: or  say: Baak-shuh/-sheer); sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a   in the  of . It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of  in the county; this usage, which goes back to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1958, and  issued confirming this in 1974.

Berkshire borders the counties of, , , , and.

History
The county is one of the oldest in England. It may date from the 840s, the probable period of the unification of "" (East Berkshire) and "Ashdown" (the Berkshire Downs, probably including the Kennet Valley). The county is first mentioned by name in 860. According to, it takes its name from a large forest of box trees that was called Bearroc (believed, in turn, to be a word meaning "hilly").

Berkshire has been the scene of many battles throughout history, during 's campaign against the s, including the Battle of, the and the. During the there were two  in. During the of 1688, there was a second, also known as the "Battle of Broad Street".

became the new county town in 1867, taking over from   which remained in the county. Under the, Berkshire County Council took over functions of the Berkshire , covering an area known as the administrative county of Berkshire, which excluded the of. Boundary alterations in the early part of the 20th century were minor, with Caversham from becoming part of the Reading county borough, and cessions in the  area.

On, , following the , the northern part of the county became part of , with , and  and hinterland becoming the  district, and  and  going to form part of the  district. In return, Berkshire obtained the towns of and  and part of the former  from Buckinghamshire. The original Local Government White Paper would have transferred from Oxfordshire to Berkshire: this proposal did not make it into the Bill as introduced.

On  Berkshire County Council was abolished under a recommendation of the, and the districts became. Unlike similar reforms elsewhere at the same time, the non-metropolitan county was not abolished. Signs saying "Welcome to the Royal County of Berkshire" have all but disappeared but may still be seen on the borders of West Berkshire District, on the east side of, and on the.

Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross of Berkshire at current basic prices published (pp.240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British.


 * Notes
 * 1) Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
 * 2) Includes hunting and forestry
 * 3) Includes energy and construction
 * 4) Includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Geology, landscape and ecology
From a landscape perspective, Berkshire divides into two clearly distinct sections with the boundary lying roughly on a north-south line through the centre of.

The eastern section of Berkshire lies largely to the south of the, with that river forming the northern boundary of the county. In two places ( and Reading) the county now includes land to the north of the river. Tributaries of the Thames, including the and  increase the amount of low lying riverine land in the area. Beyond the flood plains, the land rises gently to the county boundaries with and. Much of this area is still well wooded, especially around and.

In the west of the county and heading upstream, the Thames veers away to the north of the (current) county boundary, leaving the county behind at the. This is a narrow part of the otherwise quite broad river valley where, at the end of the last, the Thames forced its way between the (to the north of the river in ) and the.

As a consequence, the western portion of the county is situated around the valley of the, which joins the Thames in Reading. Fairly steep slopes on each side delineate the river's flat floodplain. To the south, the land rises steeply to the nearby county boundary with, and the highest parts of the county lie here. The highest of these is at 297 m (974 ft), which is also the highest point in.

To the north of the Kennet, the land rises again to the. This is a hilly area, with smaller and well-wooded valleys draining into the, and their tributaries, and open upland areas famous for their involvement in  and the consequent ever-present training gallops.

As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity chose the  as the.

Sport
The county is represented at professional level by one football club,, who were formed in. They were regular promotion winners in the lower divisions of the during the, before winning the  with an English record of 106 league points in  and gaining promotion to the  for the very first time. They finished eighth in their first-ever season of top division football, just missing out on a place. For more than 100 years, they played at before relocating to the impressive new  in. The new stadium was named after chairman, who bought the club in having made his fortune with.

Demographics
According to 2003 estimates there are 803,657 people in Berkshire, or 636 people / km². The population is mostly based in the urban areas to the east and centre of the county (,, , , , , , and  being the largest towns) with  being much more rural and sparsely populated, with far fewer towns (, ,  and ).

The population has increased massively since 1831, this may be in part due to the sweeping boundary changes however. In 1831 there were 146,234 people living in Berkshire, by 1901 it had risen to 252,571 (of which 122,807 were male and 129,764 were female).

Population of Berkshire:
 * 1831: 146,234
 * 1841: 161,759
 * 1851: 170,065
 * 1861: 176,256
 * 1871: 196,475
 * 1881: 218,363
 * 1891: 238,709
 * 1901: 252,571

Politics
Berkshire is a and  and it is unusual in England in that it is the only such county with multiple districts but no. The district councils are unitary authorities but do not have county status.

In the the  control the, ,  and  councils,  control  council. is under no overall control.

Since the, the dominates, controlling 6 out of 8 constituencies. and are both represented by the.

See also: