Part 7

Besides these mail-coach routes there were several roads in the county which came under the head of "turnpike roads." The term turnpike road means a road having toll-gates or bars on it. The toll-gates were first constructed about the middle of the eighteenth century, and were called turns, and the turnpike road was one upon which those who refused to pay toll could be turned back. Turnpike roads are now practically extinct and a new species of highway called main roads has taken their place. The cost of repair is borne partly by the county and partly by the Local Highway Authority.

Canals and Rivers. Canals have to a large extent been superseded by railways in these days. It is, however, possible that the advent of cheap motor traction may cause them to revive. The Kennet and Avon Canal runs from Newbury, and entering Wiltshire near Hungerford furnishes a waterway from the Thames to the Severn. The navigation of the river Thames is improved by a number of weirs and locks, most of which have been re-made in recent times, and if more useful they are much less picturesque than in former days. The level of the river at Hambleden weir is just about 100 feet above the sea. The river Kennet is also provided with a series of weirs and locks. A canal which ran from Wantage to Abingdon is now disused.

The bridges over the rivers are for the most part modern, but many of them replace older structures, indeed most of the crossing-places are very old. The bridge at Abingdon was originally built in the fifteenth century, and was under the charge of the Guild of the Holy Cross, and Maidenhead Bridge was the property of a corporation from early days.

Railways. The Great Western Railway enters Berkshire at Maidenhead, and runs by way of Reading to near Goring, where it crosses the Thames into Oxfordshire, returning into Berkshire near Moulsford. It then passes by way of Didcot into Wiltshire, which county is entered a little before the line reaches Swindon. An important branch of the Great Western runs from Didcot to Oxford, and another branch of the same railway from Reading to Newbury, Hungerford, etc. Express trains to the west of England pass over both the Didcot and the Newbury line, and in these days they are frequently run from Paddington to far beyond the Berkshire border without a stop.

The Great Western has branch lines to Windsor, to Cookham for High Wycombe, to Henley, to Wallingford, to Abingdon, and to Faringdon, and also a rather important line from Reading to Basingstoke, giving a communication from Oxford to the south coast. There is also a light railway with auto-cars running between Newbury and Lambourn which belongs to the Great Western.

The Didcot, Newbury, and Southampton Railway runs from the first-named place in a southerly direction, crossing the Reading and Newbury line at right angles.

The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company have a branch line running to Reading. It enters Berkshire near the village of Sandhurst.

The London and South Western Railway have branches to Windsor and to Wokingham, and from the latter place run trains over the South Eastern line to Reading.

22. ADMINISTRATION AND DIVISIONS--ANCIENT AND MODERN.

The division of the county into Hundreds dates from Saxon times. Each Hundred was governed by a High Constable, or Bailiff, and formerly there was a Court of Justice, called the Hundred Court, which was held regularly for the trial of causes, but this court fell into disuse. By various Acts of Parliament the Hundred is made liable for damage caused to persons by riots.

In early days most of Berkshire was divided amongst different manors, and each manor had a Manorial Court or Court Baron.

It has been already explained in Chapter 3 that the present administrative county differs somewhat from the geographical county, and as the town of Reading with a tract around it has been formed into the "County Borough of Reading" it is not for most administrative purposes a part of the county of Berks.

The chief officials of Berkshire, under His Majesty the King, are the Lord Lieutenant, the Custos Rotulorum, and the Sheriff. The first two of these offices are usually held by the same person.

The office of Lord Lieutenant dates from about the time of Edward IV, and he was formerly the chief military officer of the Crown in the county. The Custos Rotulorum is the first amongst the justices, but the High Sheriff has precedence in the county. The Custos selects the county magistrates, and they are appointed by the Lord Chancellor. The office of Custos dates from the time of Edward III. He is nominally the keeper of the County Records, but in these days they are in fact in the charge of the Clerk of the Peace.

The Sheriff was originally elected by the people in the county, but since the time of Edward II he has been appointed by the Crown. He was the agent through whom the King collected his dues, and in time became the military as well as the judicial and executive head of the county and headed the posse comitatus or power of the county. During the Wars of the Roses his influence became less, and the Lord Lieutenant took his place to some extent. It is recorded in Domesday Book that Godric the Sheriff of Berkshire gave a lady with the name of Aluuid half an acre of the royal domain as a present for teaching his daughter the art of gold embroidery.

The Sheriff is the first man in the county, taking precedence of all peers and of the Lord Lieutenant. He is appointed annually.

The county is divided into Petty Sessional divisions for magisterial purposes, and the Court of Quarter Sessions is a general meeting of all the justices of the county. In boroughs, Reading, Abingdon, Newbury, and Windsor, the Court of Quarter Sessions is held by a Recorder.

The affairs of the county (not including Reading, which is a County Borough of itself) are managed by the County Council, which was established by statute of 1888, and by District and Parish Councils, which were established by an Act of 1894. The county is divided into eleven districts, Bradfield, Windsor, Cookham, Easthampstead, Wokingham, Newbury, Hungerford, Wantage, Wallingford, Faringdon, and Abingdon.

The affairs of the County Borough of Reading are managed by its Mayor and Corporation.

For purposes of Assizes, Berkshire is on the Oxford circuit, and the Court is held at Reading. County Courts are held from time to time at the various towns. The County Court circuits are quite different from the Assize Court circuits.

For Parliamentary elections the county is divided into three divisions, Abingdon, Newbury, and Wokingham, each of which returns one member to Parliament. Reading also returns a member to Parliament, and so does Windsor, but the Parliamentary borough of Windsor includes a considerable tract outside Berkshire.

23. PUBLIC AND EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS.

The municipal buildings at Reading were erected during the period 1875-1897, and consist of two Town Halls, the Borough Council offices, a Free Library, the Museum, and an Art Gallery. On the walls of the reading-room there is a good collection of views of Reading and of the river Thames.

The Town Hall at Windsor was built by Sir Christopher Wren. On the exterior there are statues of Queen Anne and her husband, Prince George of Denmark. The Town Halls at Wokingham and Newbury are modern brick buildings. The Cloth Hall at the latter place, now a museum, is very interesting. It was built by the Guild of Clothworkers of Newbury, which was incorporated in 1601, and has a picturesque wooden cornice and wooden pillars, and a red tiled roof.

The Town Hall at Wallingford dates from 1670, and is supported by pillars, leaving an open undercroft. The Abingdon Town Hall has also an undercroft and dates from 1677. It is said, however, to have been designed by Inigo Jones, who died in 1652. There is an interesting old Town Hall at Faringdon.

The Royal Berkshire Hospital at Reading was opened in 1839, and there are many hospitals, homes, and orphanages in various parts of the county.

The Prison at Reading stands upon part of the site of Reading Abbey. There is a large County and Borough lunatic asylum at Moulsford, and a very large criminal lunatic asylum at Broadmoor, in the eastern end of the county.

The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, is one of the chief Government institutions for the education of officers for the army. It was built in 1812, and though quite plain in style, the long frontage on a rising ground, above a fine lake, is distinctly effective. The Staff College is in the same grounds, but is in Surrey. Considerable additions are now (1910) being made to the buildings at the Military College.

Wellington College, also near Sandhurst, was built as a public school by public subscription in memory of the great Duke of Wellington, who died in 1852. By the end of 1858 a sum of £145,785 had been received. This included a grant of £25,000 from the Patriotic Fund. The buildings are of red brick with stone corners, etc., and were completed in 1859. They have, however, been greatly added to since. The chapel is by Sir Gilbert Scott. The first head master was Edward White Benson, who subsequently became Archbishop of Canterbury.

Bradfield College is another important public school, founded by Thomas Stevens in 1850. The buildings are of red brick and flint, and are partly old. There is an open-air theatre where Greek plays are performed.

Radley College is beautifully situated by the river Thames. The site was part of the property of the Abbots of Abingdon, and passed through the hands of the families of Stonehouse and Bowyer. Much of the old mansion is incorporated in the college buildings. The college was founded by the Rev. William Sewell, D.D.

University College, Reading, is a comparatively new establishment, and the buildings are still in process of construction. Higher teaching in literary and scientific subjects is given, and there is an Agricultural Department, a Dairy Institute, and a Horticultural Department. There has been a school at Reading from quite early times, but its history has been a somewhat broken one. In 1783 John Lempriere published his Classical Dictionary whilst an assistant master at the school, and Richard Valpy was its head master for 55 years (1781-1836).

In addition to the above there are several important recognised secondary schools at Abingdon, Bracknell, Clewer, Maidenhead, Newbury, Wallingford, Wantage and Windsor.

There are many almshouses in Berkshire, the most interesting of which is Christ's Hospital, Abingdon. It is of brick and timber with an open gallery (p. 63). It was founded under its present name by Charter of Edward VI, but had a previous existence. The almshouses near Wokingham, built 1663, and known as Lucas Hospital, are a good example of seventeenth century brickwork, and are very picturesque. The Jesus Hospital at Bray was founded in 1627 for 40 poor persons. It is a most attractive red brick building, with a quadrangle in the middle, and a small chapel, the windows of which have stone frames which were probably taken from an older building. The quadrangle is shown in the picture by Frederick Walker in the Tate Gallery, named "The Harbour of Refuge."

24. THE FOREST IN BERKSHIRE.

Windsor Forest consisted in early times of a tract of wood and heath which even before the Norman Conquest was looked upon as Crown property. It is one of the five forests mentioned by name in Domesday. It was no doubt of great extent, but its boundaries are not known even if they were ever very clearly defined. There is in the British Museum a volume of maps and plans of Windsor by John Norden, made in the early part of the reign of James I, and the map of the forest shows that it was at that time bounded by the Thames on the north, by the Loddon on the west, by the Blackwater on the south, and that it extended to the east into Surrey as far as the Hog's Back, Guildford, and the river Wey.

The forest was at that time divided into 16 walks, each under a Keeper. Two of these, Cranbourne and New Lodge Walks, appear to have been previously known as Cranbourne Chase, and together with Egham Walk were the part of the forest lying nearest to the castle, and including what is now the Home Park and the Great Park. The other walks in Berkshire were Swinley Walk, Easthampstead Walk, Sandhurst Walk, Bigshot Walk, Bearwood Walk, and Warfield Walk. There was also a large district extending from Maidenhead and Bray to Wokingham and Twyford, which was called the Fines Bayliwick, and of which Sir Henry Neville claimed to be Keeper by inheritance.

Several parks are marked in the forest. Of these the Little Park is now the Home Park, Windsor, and the Great Park and Moat Park are in the present Windsor Great Park. Sunninghill Park, Foliejon Park, Easthampstead Park, and Bagshot Park, the last mostly in Surrey, still remain.

Besides the Parks there were certain enclosed places called Rails. Cranbourne Rails is in Windsor Park. Swinley Rails was until recently the place where the deer for the Royal Hunt were kept, and Bigshot Rails is apparently the place now named Ravenswood, near Wellington College.

In the early part of the nineteenth century there was a great deal of discussion as to the rights of the Crown over Windsor Forest, and in 1813 an Act of Parliament was passed dealing with the matter, and the Forest is now enclosed either as Crown land or as the property of private persons. Ascot Race Course is in the old Swinley Walk.

Walter Fitz Other was appointed by William the Conqueror Castellan, or Governor of Windsor Castle, and Warden of the Forest; and the office, which has become known as that of Constable of the Castle, has existed from his appointment to the present day.

25. ROLL OF HONOUR.

King Alfred was born at Wantage in the year 849, and his statue by Count Gleichen stands in the market place. The exact site of the palace of the Kings of Wessex, in which he was born, is not known, probably it was a wooden building. Edward III and Henry VI were both born at Windsor; Henry I was buried at Reading; Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VIII, Charles I, George III, George IV, and William IV were buried at Windsor; and Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort lie in the mausoleum at Frogmore, in Windsor Park. King Edward VII was buried at Windsor May 20, 1910.

The Marshals of Hampstead Marshall were a family of warriors. The most distinguished of them was William, first Earl of Pembroke. When he was a child his father, John Marshal, was besieged at Newbury by King Stephen, 1152, and William was given as a hostage for a truce and the surrender of Newbury Castle. The father did not keep his terms, and the child would have been killed had not Stephen taken a liking to him and saved his life. He became a great soldier and served Henry II, Richard I, John, and Henry III with the utmost fidelity, becoming Regent of England during the early part of the reign of Henry III. He died in 1219 at Caversham, and is buried in the Temple Church in London.

In later times another warrior owned Hampstead Marshall. This was William Craven, Earl of Craven (1606-1697). He fought in the German wars of 1632-37 and was the faithful champion of Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia, the only daughter of James I. At the Revolution of 1688, though over 80 years old, he was in command of the King's Guards, and Macaulay, in his History of England, describes how unwillingly the stout old soldier made way for the Dutch troops at Whitehall. Ashdown Park was another seat of the Earl, and is still in the possession of his descendant.

Radley belonged to a gallant sailor, Admiral Sir George Bowyer, Bart. (1740?-1800), who lost a leg off Ushant, June 1st, 1794. Another Admiral, Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), is buried at Shrivenham. He served under Hawke and Rodney, and was commander-in-chief in the West Indies.

The family of Norris or Norreys has long been connected with Berkshire. Richard de Norreys, a member of a Lancashire family, held the office of cook to Eleanor, wife of Henry III, and in 1267 the manor of Ockholt, near Maidenhead, was granted to him. One of his descendants, John Norris, who held office in the Court of both Henry VI and Edward IV, built the house Ockwells at Ockholt, which has been already mentioned on page 114. He was buried at Bray in 1467. One branch of the family settled at Fyfield, and another branch became Norris of Rycote, which is in Buckinghamshire, but they too held much Berkshire property. Hampstead Norris derives its second name from this family. Henry Norris was an intimate friend of Henry VIII, and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He, however, fell under the suspicion of being a lover of Anne Boleyn, and was in consequence executed in 1536. His son, also named Henry, was created Baron Norris of Rycote in 1572. He died at Englefield, and there is a monument to him and to one of his six soldier sons, Sir John Norris, in Yattendon church. Francis Norris, a grandson of Henry Lord Norris, was born at Wytham, and in 1621 was created Earl of Berkshire. He left no sons, and the earldom became extinct at his death, 1623. The barony descended through two ladies, Elizabeth and Bridget, to James Bertie, who was created Earl of Abingdon 1682. The present peer, whose seat is Wytham Abbey, is the seventh Earl of Abingdon.

St Edmund (1170?-1240), Archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Abingdon, and William Laud (1573-1645), also Archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Reading, the only son of William Laud, a clothier. He was educated at the Free School at Reading, and he gave a farm to Reading for charitable purposes. It was sold a short time ago, and the purchase money invested, producing some £330 a year. Another charity at Wokingham established by him also still exists.

John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury (1522-1571), was for some time vicar of Sunningwell. He was a voluminous writer on theological subjects. Another churchman connected with Sunningwell was John Fell (1625-1686), Bishop of Oxford, who was born either there or at Longworth. His father was rector of the parish. In 1648, at the time of the Civil War, he was turned out of his Studentship at Oxford, but continued to celebrate the rites of the church in a house opposite Merton College. He was a distinguished man, but is best known by the lines referring to him which begin "I do not love thee, Doctor Fell." Joseph Butler (1692-1752), Bishop of Durham, and the author of the Analogy of Religion Natural and Revealed to the Constitution and Course of Nature, was born at Wantage, the son of a retired draper who lived at the Priory.

Sir Philip Hoby (1505-1558) and his half-brother, Sir Thomas Hoby (1530-1566), were both distinguished diplomatists. The former received the manor of Bisham from Henry VIII, and they are both buried there. Queen Elizabeth was domiciled at Bisham under the charge of the Hobys for a time during the reign of her sister Mary.

Sir John Mason, another diplomatist of the same period, was the son of a cowherd at Abingdon. He is described as a paragon of caution, coldness, and craft, and held high office, diplomatic and political, under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, being in favour with all these sovereigns.

Sir Henry Unton, or Umpton, who died in 1596, was both diplomatist and soldier of the time of Elizabeth. He was born at Wadley Hall, near Faringdon, where the Queen visited him in 1574. The house is still standing. There is a fine alabaster monument to him in Faringdon church.

In 1626 the title of Earl of Berkshire was conferred on the Hon. Thomas Howard, of Charlton, Wilts. He was a son of the Earl of Suffolk, and in 1745 the two titles passed to one man, and are so held at the present day.

William Lenthall (1591-1662), the Speaker of the House of Commons in the Long Parliament, bought Besselsleigh, the house of the ancient family of Besils, and his descendants still own it.

William Penn (1644-1718), the Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania, though London-born, lived at Ruscomb, near Twyford, for some time towards the end of his life and died there.

Passing now to authors, Henry Hallam (1777-1859), the historian, was born at Windsor, the son of one of the canons. Catherine Sawbridge (1731-1791), who became in turn Mrs Macaulay and Mrs Graham, was the authoress of a History of England. In her later years she lived at Binfield and is buried in the churchyard there. The antiquary, Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), was the son of the parish clerk at White Waltham, and was born at Littlefield Green.

Jethro Tull (1680-1741), a well-known writer on agriculture, was born at Basildon, and farmed land first near Wallingford, then in Oxfordshire, and finally near Hungerford. About the year 1701 he invented a horse-drill for sowing seed. He is buried at Basildon.

Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780), of the Commentaries, was buried in St Peter's, Wallingford, at which place he had spent much of the latter part of his life. John Shute, first Viscount Barrington (1678-1734), author of the History of the Apostles, lived at Beckett House, Shrivenham, which was left to him by Sir John Wildman.

Several poets were connected with Berkshire, but chief of them all was Alexander Pope (1688-1744), whose father owned a small property at Binfield. Here the poet lived for much of the early part of his life. His poem Windsor Forest contains many lines dealing with the district around Binfield. Sir William Trumbull (1639-1716), the friend of Pope, and Secretary of State in 1695, lived at Easthampstead, not far from Binfield; and Elijah Fenton (1683-1730), another of Pope's friends, himself a poet, lived with the Trumbull family during his last years.

Henry James Pye (1745-1813), though Poet Laureate, wrote but poor verses. He commuted the tierce of canary to which the Poet Laureate was entitled for £27 a year. He was a son of Henry Pye of Faringdon, and at one time was M.P. for Berkshire. Joshua Sylvester (1563-1618), also a poet, is said to have lived at Lambourn as steward to the ancient family of Essex, and one of his volumes is dedicated to Mistress Essex of Lambourn.

Mrs Elizabeth Montague (1720-1800), whose London house was a centre of intellect and fashion, where the term "Blue-stocking" was first applied to her conversation parties, lived a good deal at Sandleford Priory, near Newbury, and built a large house there from plans by Wyatt.

She cannot, however, claim the close connection with Berkshire, both as regards life and writings, which is so characteristic of Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855) who lived for a time at Reading, then at Three Mile Cross, and finally at Swallowfield, in the churchyard of which place she lies buried. Her best known work is Our Village, the scenes in which are laid in the district at and around Three Mile Cross.

Thomas Day (1748-1789), the author of Sandford and Merton, was the owner of Bear Hill, Wargrave.

John Winchcombe, alias Smalwoode (died 1520), was a pioneer of the clothing manufacture at Newbury, and acquired thereby great wealth. He built a house at Bucklebury on land which had belonged to the Abbey of Reading. His descendant, Frances Winchcombe, married in 1700 the celebrated Viscount Bolingbroke, who resided at Bucklebury for a time. John Winchcombe is buried in Newbury church. He was popularly known as "Jack of Newbury" and many fables are told about him. Thomas Deloney, a weaver by trade, who lived in the latter part of the sixteenth century, wrote the ballad "The Pleasant History of John Winchcomb, in his younger days called Jack of Newbury."

26. THE CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF BERKSHIRE.

(The figures in brackets after each name give the population of the town or parish in 1901, and those at the end of the sections give the references to the text.)