103-520: Popeswood is a village in Berkshire , England , near Bracknell . The village is within the civil parish of Binfield approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Bracknell. The main part of Popeswood lies north of the B3408 west of Temple Park and south of Binfield village, with a smaller section south of the B3408 between Amen Corner and Farley Wood . Along London Road, the B3408, there are
206-408: A post office , a garage and a number of small businesses. Nearby Pope's Meadow is a countryside park that offers recreational facilities with open grassland, ponds, copse and mature oak trees. Binfield is home to Newbold College , a Seventh-day Adventist college and church. There are two Church of England churches , named All Saints' on Terrace Road North and St Mark 's on St Mark's Road. There
309-474: A 100% win record. In 2010–11 the club finished bottom of National League 2S, with a single win and twenty-nine defeats. The club was founded in 1928 and in 1996 moved to a new purpose-built ground at Monks Lane, which has since hosted England U21 fixtures. The Bracknell Bees Ice Hockey Club are former national champions, who play in the English Premier League . Slough Jets also play in
412-602: A Royal Mausoleum for Albert. She was later buried there upon her own death, along with a number of other subsequent members of the royal family. During the 19th and early 20th century, one of the main events for farmers near and far was the Christmas sale of stock from the Royal Windsor Estates. Held on the same week as the Smithfield Show , buyers came from all over the country to buy something from
515-514: A chalk downland and area of outstanding natural beauty , occupy the west of the county. They are the source of the River Kennet , which flows east through Newbury before meeting the Thames at Reading. The Thames then forms Berkshire's northern border, flowing past Maidenhead, before entering the county and flowing past Slough and Windsor . The south-east of the county contains Swinley Forest ,
618-459: A factory dispersal site (to minimize the risk of Luftwaffe bombing) for Vickers-Armstrongs , who built and maintained Wellington bombers here. Other wartime aviation activities included use as a Relief Landing Ground for de Havilland Tiger Moth trainers at nearby No. 18 Elementary Flying Training School at Fairoaks . The Smith's Lawn area of the Park was also used for housing troops. During
721-481: A few weeks later they moved to Twickenham . Where Popes House still stands to this day. Berkshire The Royal County of Berkshire , commonly known as simply Berkshire ( / ˈ b ɑː r k ʃ ɪər , - ʃ ər / BARK -sheer, -shər ; abbreviated Berks. ), is a ceremonial county in South East England . It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to
824-535: A large (for the time) twin-engine Imperial Airways airliner, the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy ("City of Glasgow"), at Smith's Lawn. In 2016, the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a memorial at Smith's Lawn to its use as an airfield. He himself had made his first solo flight from there in 1952, after regular use of the site as an airfield had ceased. During the war, aviation related activities included
927-706: A major draw; the highlight is the Ascot Gold Cup . The most prestigious race is the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes run in July. Newbury Racecourse is in the civil parish of Greenham , adjoining the town of Newbury. It has courses for flat races and over jumps. It hosts one of Great Britain's 32 Group 1 races, the Lockinge Stakes . It also hosts the Ladbrokes Trophy , which
1030-802: A remnant of Windsor Forest now used as a forestry plantation . There is evidence of prehistoric settlement on the Berkshire Downs, including the Iron Age Uffington White Horse , now in Oxfordshire. In the Anglo-Saxon period the region was contested by Mercia and Wessex , and Alfred the Great was born in Wantage , also now in Oxfordshire. Windsor Castle , which would become the official country residence of
1133-583: A rich history in horse racing, the well drained, spongy grass, open downs and long flats make the Lambourn Downs ideal for training racehorses. This area of West Berkshire is the largest centre of racehorse training in the UK after Newmarket , and is known as the 'Valley of the Racecourse'. Reading F.C. is the only Berkshire football club to play professional football . Despite being founded in 1871,
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#17327795123601236-553: A species protected by law in the UK. It is currently considered for inclusion in the SSSI register due to the diversity of fungi. The park has a healthy population of Red kite , which can be seen soaring all over the park on sunny days, and seeing and hearing Ring-necked parakeet is commonplace. Other birds recorded from the park include the nationally threatened Lesser spotted woodpecker and Mandarin duck . A new visitor centre designed by Glenn Howells Architects and Buro Happold
1339-543: Is a ceremonial county and non-metropolitan county , one of four currently in England that have no council covering their entire area; rather it is divided into six unitary authorities. Berkshire County Council existed from 1889 until its abolition in 1998. The ceremonial county has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff . The Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire is Andrew Try, and the High Sheriff of Berkshire for 2018/19
1442-742: Is a centre for rugby union football . The Premiership team London Irish were for 20 years tenants at the Madejski Stadium before their move back to SW London at a new stadium in Brentford. Newbury's rugby union club, Newbury R.F.C. (the Newbury 'Blues'), is based in the town. In the 2004–05 season, the club finished second in the National Two division earning promotion to National One. Newbury had previously won National Four South (now renamed as National Three South) in 1996–97 with
1545-676: Is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Berkshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling . Reading has a historical involvement in the information technology industry, largely as a result of the early presence in the town of sites of International Computers Limited and Digital . These companies have been swallowed by other groups, but their descendants, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard respectively, still have local operations. More recently Microsoft and Oracle have established multi-building campuses on
1648-592: Is a huge pedunculate oak known as King Offa's Oak , which grows in a private area of the estate. Tree experts estimate the tree's age as 1,300-1,500 years old, making this ancient tree the oldest oak in the United Kingdom since the collapse of the Pontfadog oak , surpassing the 1,000 year old Bowthorpe Oak , and the 1,200-year old Marton Oak in Cheshire, the latter of which also being the widest tree in
1751-515: Is also Binfield Free Church on Chapel Lane, behind the old Roebuck pub . In addition to the college, Newbold has its own Seventh-day Adventist primary school. Binfield also has a Church of England Primary School with about 420 pupils, and a day nursery. There used to be a Pre-school at Memorial Hall . Popeswood is named after the family of the poet Alexander Pope who lived in Pope's Manor, then called Whitehill House, between 1700 and 1715. Pope
1854-580: Is home to the Slough Ladies 1XI who play in the Women's Premier League, with five adult teams. In 2016, Bracknell and Wokingham Hockey Clubs merged to form South Berkshire Hockey Club. The team plays at Cantley Park in Wokingham and occasionally at Birch Hill, Bracknell. Other hockey teams in the county include Tadley, Yateley, Maidenhead, Windsor, and Newbury & Thatcham Hockey Clubs. Berkshire
1957-560: Is home to the central Waitrose distribution centre and head office, which is on a 70-acre (280,000 m ) site on the Southern Industrial Estate. Waitrose has operated from the town since the 1970s. The town is also home to the UK headquarters of Honda and BMW . Newbury is home to the world headquarters of the mobile network operator Vodafone , which is the town's largest employer with over 6,000 people. Before moving to their £129 million headquarters in
2060-589: Is home to the following universities: the University of Reading (which includes the Henley Business School ), Imperial College ( Silwood Park Campus), and the University of West London . It is also home to The Chartered Institute of Marketing , prestigious independent schools Ludgrove School , Eton College and Wellington College , and several grammar schools including Reading School , Kendrick School and Herschel Grammar School . See
2163-496: Is mostly based in the urban areas to the east and centre of the county: the largest towns here are Reading , Slough , Bracknell , Maidenhead , Woodley , Wokingham , Windsor , Earley , Sandhurst , and Crowthorne . West Berkshire is much more rural and sparsely populated, with far fewer towns: the largest are Newbury , Thatcham , and Hungerford . In recent years, Berkshire has seen consistent population growth, particularly in urban areas like Reading and Slough. Between 2011-21,
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#17327795123602266-473: Is nearer the castle. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century. Historically the park covered an area many times the current size known as Windsor Forest , Windsor Royal Park or its current name. The park is managed and funded by the Crown Estate , and is the only royal park not managed by The Royal Parks . Most parts of
2369-477: Is rural, and its largest town is Newbury (33,841). For local government purposes Berkshire comprises six unitary authority areas: Bracknell Forest , Reading , Slough , West Berkshire , Windsor and Maidenhead , and Wokingham . The historic county included the parts of Oxfordshire south of the River Thames , which formed its northern border, but excluded Caversham and Slough . The Berkshire Downs ,
2472-677: Is said to be the biggest handicap race of the National Hunt season apart from the Grand National . Windsor Racecourse , also known as Royal Windsor Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Windsor . It is one of only two figure-of-eight courses in the United Kingdom. (The other is at Fontwell Park ). It abandoned National Hunt jump racing in December 1998, switching entirely to flat racing. Lambourn also has
2575-435: Is the tranquil Heather Garden. The Savill Garden Visitor Centre houses a gift shop; toilets; restaurant; coffee shop; ice cream counter; and a shop selling many plants found in the garden. The gardens are open to visitors between 10:00 and 16:30 in the winter and 10:00 and 18:00 in the summer. Virginia Water Lake , in the south of the park, is an artificially-created lake of around 1 km (0.4 sq mi) dating from
2678-617: Is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It is one of the leading racecourses in the United Kingdom, hosting 13 of the UK's 35 annual Group 1 races. The course is closely associated with the British Royal Family , being approximately 6 mi (10 km) from Windsor Castle , and owned by the Crown Estate . Ascot today stages twenty-five days of racing over the course of the year, comprising sixteen flat meetings held between May and October. The Royal Meeting, held in June, remains
2781-584: The Blackwater draining parts of two counties south, and the Kennet draining part of upland Wiltshire in the west. Heading west the reduced, but equally large, part of the county extends further from the Thames which flows from the north-north-west before the Goring Gap ; West Berkshire hosts the varying-width plain of the River Kennet rising to high chalk hills by way of and lower clay slopes and rises. To
2884-608: The British monarch , was built after the Norman Conquest . The county has been the site of several battles, particularly during the First English Civil War , when Reading and Wallingford were besieged two battles took place at Newbury, in 1643 and 1644 . The proximity of the east of the county to London led to development from the nineteenth century, when Slough became an industrial centre and Bracknell
2987-574: The English Premier League winning the title in 2007. Slough Jets also won the play-offs in 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10 & 2011–12. They also won the EPIH Cup in 2010–11. Slough Jets have been in the EPIHL since 1999. Phoenix Reading Hockey Club, based at Reading University, has six adult teams and a large junior development section. Reading Hockey Club and Sonning Hockey Club are situated close to each other near Blue Coats School. Slough Hockey Club
3090-539: The Labour Party ) with employed executives, whereas Labour Party local councillors run both Bracknell Forest and Reading , with Slough being run by the Conservative Party . After the 2024 United Kingdom general election , 5 of the elected Members of Parliament (MPs) were Labour, 3 Lib Dem and one conservative. The prime minister between 2016–19, Theresa May represented Maidenhead . This
3193-628: The List of places in Berkshire , List of settlements in Berkshire by population and the List of civil parishes in Berkshire Windsor Forest Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of 2,020 hectares (5,000 acres), including a deer park , to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private 265 hectares (650 acres) Home Park , which
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3296-626: The M4 motorway , on the south side of Sonning Bridge , on the A404 southbound by Marlow, and northbound on the A33 past Stratfield Saye . A flag for the historic county of Berkshire was registered with the Flag Institute in 2017. All of the county is drained by the Thames. Berkshire divides into two topological (and associated geological) sections: east and west of Reading . North-east Berkshire has
3399-653: The Palace of Versailles during his exile from Britain when it was the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell . The creation of the Long Walk was one of his first improvement plans. In 1710 Queen Anne had the path through the centre of the trees replaced by a road so coaches could use the route to enter and leave Windsor Castle. The Long Walk runs south from Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse statue of King George III atop Snow Hill. The cast statue, which
3502-595: The Scout and Girlguiding camp WINGS ( W indsor I nter n ational G uides and S couts camp), last held in August 2014. At the 15th World Conference of WAGGGS it was decided to mark the centenary of the birth of Lord Baden-Powell , the founder of Guiding, by holding a World Camp with four locations — Doe Lake, Ontario , Canada; Quezon City , Philippines ; Lac de Conche , Switzerland; and Windsor Great Park, from 19 January to 2 February 1957. The Crown Estate has allowed
3605-645: The Thames Valley from the Hannington TV transmitter. Those parts of Berkshire closest to London such as Maidenhead , Windsor and Slough , receive BBC London and ITV London from the Crystal Palace TV transmitter. The county’s local radio stations are BBC Radio Berkshire , Heart South and Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire . Berkshire hosts more Group 1 flat horse races than any other county. Ascot Racecourse
3708-618: The Vale of White Horse district, and Didcot and Wallingford added to South Oxfordshire district. 94 (Berkshire Yeomanry) Signal Squadron still keep the Uffington White Horse in their insignia, even though the White Horse is now within the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire. The original Local Government White Paper would have transferred Henley-on-Thames from Oxfordshire to Berkshire: this proposal did not make it into
3811-711: The civil parish of Old Windsor , though the eastern regions are in the Borough of Runnymede and there are small areas in the parishes of Winkfield and Sunninghill . Areas associated with or attached to the Great Park, but not officially within its borders include the Home Park , Mote Park, Flemish Farm, Cranbourne Chase, Forest Lodge and South Forest. Windsor Great Park has one of the largest collections of ancient oaks remaining in Western Europe. The oldest
3914-407: The 1740s. Among the lakeside features are the 30-metre-high (100 ft) high Canadian totem pole , carved by Mungo Martin , Henry Hunt, and Tony Hunt Sr. , commemorating the centenary of British Columbia , and a collection of ornamental Roman ruins, transported from the site of Leptis Magna (modern-day Al-Khums ) in 1816 and installed at Virginia Water in 1826. Beside a smaller lake, known as
4017-484: The 18th century, and illegally inclosed (made private) by George III . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was reported to be "furious". Ubi and his allies repeated the festival in 1973 with at least 1,400 in attendance. In 1973, the Windsor Great Park regulations were introduced. In 1974, 7,000 people turned up but it was violently broken up by police, who made 220 arrests, and the festival was banned. Dwyer
4120-475: The 1940s, much of the deer park was ploughed and farmed for food, which involved the felling of hundreds of ancient trees. Over 200 large bombs fell on the land, including several V-2 rockets . During the 1948 Summer Olympics , the park was used as the road cycling venue. In the 1950s, the Park was gradually turned into the recreation area open to the public that it is today. This involved the re-planting of Savill Gardens (which had been allowed to run wild during
4223-593: The Bill as introduced. On 1 April 1998 Berkshire County Council was abolished under a recommendation of the Banham Commission , and the districts became unitary authorities . Unlike similar reforms elsewhere at the same time, the non-metropolitan county was not abolished. Signs saying "Welcome to the Royal County of Berkshire" exist on borders of West Berkshire, on the east side of Virginia Water , on
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4326-570: The Chilterns, and often contain layers of chalk rock. Less consolidated Palaeogene clays , sands , gravels and silts of the Lambeth , Thames and Bracklesham Groups overlie these rocks in some areas. These hills, and the valleys that surround them, were shaped by the rivers Kennet , Lambourn , Pang and Enborne , and the Quaternary sands and gravels they brought with them and (in
4429-528: The Copper Horse (depicting George III ) and the Obelisk (in honour of William, Duke of Cumberland ). George III had a set of 2,000-year-old Roman ruins imported from Libya and placed in the park. Virginia Water was begun in 1746 by William, Duke of Cumberland who was then Ranger of the Park. Few details are recorded of the building of the lake; however it has been suggested that prisoners of war from
4532-549: The Crown Estate, a public body established by Act of Parliament in which the monarch and family members associated with its particular parts have non-executive, advisory roles. The Grade I listed park is on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens . Windsor Forest and Great Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest . Windsor Great Park is a nationally important site for fungi. Over 1,000 species have been found on
4635-496: The Long Walk was originally a path from Windsor Castle to Snow Hill. The high ground is said to have been the location where Henry VIII waited to hear the news that his second wife, Anne Boleyn , had been executed. Following the Restoration in 1660, Charles II had double rows of elm trees planted along the entire length of the path. The king was inspired to develop Windsor Castle and the surrounding parkland after he lived at
4738-641: The Norman Conquest, when William the Conqueror established Windsor as a royal residence. On 1 April 1974, Berkshire's boundaries changed under the Local Government Act 1972 . Berkshire took over administration of Slough and Eton and part of the former Eton Rural District from Buckinghamshire. The northern part of the county came under governance of Oxfordshire , with Faringdon , Wantage and Abingdon and their hinterland becoming
4841-653: The Obelisk Pond, is the Obelisk memorial to the Duke of Cumberland . This is inscribed This Obelisk raised by command of King George the Second commemorates the services of his son William Duke of Cumberland The success of his arms and the gratitude of his father This tablet was inscribed by His Majesty King William the Fourth. It was originally inscribed "Culloden" but this was erased on Queen Victoria's orders and replaced with "Cumberland", inscribed within an inset in
4944-416: The Park ", the current title-holder being Charles III . Kings Edward I and Edward III used the park for jousts and tournaments and the latter had his Royal stud there to supply horses for the Hundred Years' War . The moat at Bear's Rails contained the manor house of Wychamere, the home of William of Wykeham while he was building the castle. It was later used for bear-baiting . By the 18th century,
5047-600: The Queen ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1894 At One o'Clock precisely Carriages will meet the Trains at both Windsor Stations The Smith's Lawn area of the Park began to be used for flying in the 1920s, an activity which continued in various forms until the early 1950s. Improvements were made to the grass landing area in the mid 1930s, when it was used by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII ). He operated several different types of aircraft from here, including several types of de Havilland airplanes, ranging from Moths to Dragon Rapides . On 29 April 1931, Gordon Olley landed
5150-513: The Thames near Datchet. The River Bourne runs through a number of ponds to the south. Chief amongst these are Great Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond, near the great lake of Virginia Water . The most prominent hill is Snow Hill and the avenue of trees known as the Long Walk runs between here and Windsor Castle. The area is accessed by a number of gates: Queen Anne's Gate, Ranger's Gate, Cranbourne Gate, Forest Gate, Sandpit Gate, Prince Consort's Gate, Blacknest Gate, Bishop's Gate and Bear's Rails Gate and
5253-613: The UK headquarters is still based there. Bracknell is a base for high-tech industries, with the presence of companies such as Panasonic , Fujitsu (formerly ICL ) and Fujitsu-Siemens Computers , Dell , Hewlett-Packard , Siemens (originally Nixdorf ), Honeywell , Cable & Wireless , Avnet Technology Solutions and Novell . Firms spread into the surrounding Thames Valley or M4 corridor , attracting IT firms such as Cable & Wireless , DEC (subsequently Hewlett-Packard ), Microsoft , Sharp Telecommunications , Oracle Corporation , Sun Microsystems and Cognos . Bracknell
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#17327795123605356-592: The UK headquarters of Mars, Incorporated are based in Slough . The European head offices of major IT companies BlackBerry , CA Technologies , are in the town. The town is home to the National Foundation for Educational Research , which is housed in The Mere. Other major brands with offices in the town include Nintendo , Black & Decker , Amazon , HTC , SSE plc and Abbey Business Centres . Dulux paints were manufactured in Slough by AkzoNobel , which bought Imperial Chemical Industries in 2008. Manufacturing ceased in 2018 with operations moving elsewhere, however
5459-424: The UK, and has not been recorded in Europe as well. Collection of fungi for consumption has been long forbidden in the park to safeguard the population of rare fungi, with significant sanctions in place if this law is ignored, much like with Epping Forest . Other fungi which have been reported from the park include Boletus aereus , Gyroporus castaneus and six species of tooth fungi such as Hericium coralloides ,
5562-418: The UK. Other famous and ancient trees in the park include the popular Conqueror's oak in Cranbourne Park. Windsor Castle was begun in the 11th century by William the Conqueror as it afforded a good defensive point over the River Thames . A vast area of Windsor Forest to the south of the castle became reserved by the King for personal hunting and also to supply the castle with wood, deer, boar and fish. It
5665-542: The area after which it was named). The heaths and woodland south and east of Bracknell are mostly covered by (Eocene) Bracklesham Group sands and clays, and Quaternary sands, silts and gravels. After the Thames broke through the Goring Gap that river and its tributaries the Loddon , Emm Brook , Blackwater and (to some extent) Wey shaped the geography of eastern Berkshire but have not yet eroded away its Eocene cover. According to 2003 estimates there were 803,657 people in Berkshire, or 636 people/km . The population
5768-417: The area to the west of Reading and the western edge of the Chiltern Hills . The lower (early) Cretaceous rocks are sandstones and mudstones (now visible only on the slopes of Walbury Hill ) whilst those of the upper (late) Cretaceous are the various formations that comprise the Chalk Group . In Berkshire, White Chalk Formation beds tend to be shallower than those further west ( Wiltshire ) or those in
5871-423: The case of the Kennet) left behind when they changed course. The early Eocene London Clay (Thames Group) generally gets thinner as we proceed westwards, though the thickness of beds can vary considerably over short distances. Where rivers have cut through these beds Lambeth Group layers are found (notably, the Palaeocene Reading Formation , used for brick-making since Roman times but now increasingly scarce in
5974-428: The club did not join the Football League until 1920, and first played in the top tier of English football in the 2006–07 season . Newbury was home to A.F.C. Newbury , which was one of only two football clubs to be sponsored by Vodafone (the other being Manchester United ). In 2006 Vodafone ended its sponsorship of the club, following which the club collapsed. A local pub team from the Old London Apprentice took over
6077-419: The county's downlands , south and east of which the London Clay spans almost the whole county, and in the south-east corner sandy Palaeogene heath covers the London Clay. This is an oversimplification, however. A gently folded succession of sedimentary rocks dating from the Cretaceous period, with some surviving Palaeogene cover and extensive Quaternary deposits, characterise the downlands, which cover
6180-408: The county's early history is recorded in the Chronicles of the Abingdon Abbey , which at the time of the survey was second only to the crown in the extent and number of its possessions, such as The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay . The abbot exercised considerable judicial and administrative powers, and his court was endowed with the privileges of the hundred court and freed from liability to interference by
6283-447: The directories company Hibu . The insurance company Prudential has an administration centre in the town. PepsiCo and Holiday Inn have offices. As with most major cities, Reading also has offices of the Big Four accounting firms Deloitte , Ernst & Young , KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers . The 110-year old charity, Berkshire Vision is also located within Reading city centre. The global headquarters of Reckitt Benckiser and
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#17327795123606386-438: The economy of Slough in east Berkshire. Abingdon Abbey once had dairy-based granges in the south-east of the county, Red Windsor cheese was developed with red marbling. Some Berkshire cheeses are Wigmore, Waterloo and Spenwood (named after Spencers Wood ) in Riseley ; and Barkham Blue, Barkham Chase and Loddon Blewe at Barkham . Local news and television programmes are covered by BBC South and ITV Meridian for
6489-438: The food value of the parkland to Windsor had decreased in importance and the new Hanoverian monarchs preferred to build on and garden the land rather than hunt in it. The Long Walk had been laid out by King Charles II and the planting of its trees completed by William of Orange in the 1680s, with double rows of elms which lasted until World War II , but the Georges extended it and built numerous features and monuments, such as
6592-426: The grassy and wooded bends a large minority of East Berkshire's land mirrors the clay belt, being of low elevation and on the left (north) bank of the Thames : Slough, Eton, Eton Wick, Wraysbury, Horton, and Datchet. In the heart of the county Reading's northern suburb Caversham is also on that bank, but rises steeply into the Chiltern Hills . Two main tributaries skirt past Reading, the Loddon and its sub-tributary
6695-413: The ground temporarily and now compete in the Hellenic Football League as Newbury F.C. There are several amateur and semi-professional football clubs in the county. These include Maidenhead United , Slough Town , Hungerford Town , Thatcham Town , Ascot United , A.F.C. Aldermaston , Sandhurst Town , Windsor F.C. , Wokingham & Emmbrook F.C. , Bracknell Town F.C. and Reading City . Reading
6798-400: The house and its surroundings. Throughout her life Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor. Her daughter Princess Helena of the United Kingdom lived at the Lodge for over fifty years, presiding over elaborate re-building after a major fire in 1869 and extensive alterations in 1912. Lord FitzAlan , last British Viceroy of Ireland, was the last private person to be entrusted with the Lodge. It
6901-411: The latter of which has not been encountered for many years. Windsor Great Park is the only place in the UK where a confusing form of R.legaliae with entirely yellow pores occurs, and is the type locality for Boletus immutatus, as suggested by Ainsworth et al. a variable colour morph of Neoboletus luridiformis with metabolic abnormalities, which occurs exclusively at Windsor Great Park and nowhere else in
7004-494: The laws against Catholics and had a census made of the Number of Papists in every Parish , with their Qualities, Estates and Places of Abode. The Catholic population of the Thames Valley area remained fairly static at about 1 per cent. In Berkshire , for example, there were 293 known or suspected Catholics. In the city of Oxford there were fourteen. In the spring of 1714 Pope returned to his parents' home in Binfield from one of his frequent periods in London . With him came
7107-528: The low calciferous (limestone) m-shaped bends of the Thames south of which is a broader, clayey, gravelly former watery plain or belt from Earley to Windsor and beyond, south, are parcels and belts of uneroded higher sands, flints, shingles and lightly acid soil and in the north of the Bagshot Formation , north of Surrey and Hampshire . Swinley Forest (also known as Bracknell Forest), Windsor Great Park , Crowthorne and Stratfield Saye Woods have many pine, silver birch, and other lightly acid-soil trees. East of
7210-538: The masonry. Due to the presence of ancient trees and ancient grasslands, Windsor Great Park is an important wildlife site in the UK, and is nationally important for its fungal diversity. 250 rare species have been found in the park, some of which are confined exclusively to the park and occur nowhere else. Windsor Great Park is regarded as an important bolete site by mycologists, and a few nationally rare species occur here, including Imperator rhodopurpureus , Rubroboletus legaliae and Butyriboletus fuscoroseus , although
7313-451: The monarch. The sale in 1850 was held on 17 December by Messrs Buckland & Sons of Windsor. It included Superior Fat Heifers for £20 each; 10 fat ewes, fed by Prince Albert, for 33/10; Fine Old Wether Sheep, fed by His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch , for 40/6. The sale made a total of £226. On 12 December 1894, Messrs Buckland & Sons were proud to announce: The Prince Consort's Flemish Farm A Xmas sale of fat stock belonging to HM
7416-498: The new county town in 1867, taking over from Abingdon , which remained in the county. Under the Local Government Act 1888 , Berkshire County Council took over functions of the Berkshire Quarter Sessions , covering the administrative county of Berkshire, which excluded the county borough of Reading . Boundary alterations in the late 19th century and early 20th century were relatively rare, but included ceding
7519-502: The north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town . The county has an area of 1,263 km (488 sq mi) and a population of 911,403. The population is concentrated in the east, the area closest to Greater London, which includes the county's largest towns: Reading (174,224), Slough (164,793), Bracknell (113,205), and Maidenhead (70,374). The west
7622-412: The organisation is simply known as Cumberland Lodge. Cumberland Lodge today is an educational charity dedicated to initiating fresh debate on questions facing society. The grounds are not generally open to the public, but the house is continually holding conferences, open days and lectures. The private Cranbourne Tower is easily viewed from surrounding paths. It is all that survives of Cranbourne Lodge,
7725-561: The original medieval park pale can still be seen in places. The main road known as Sheet Street (A332) into Windsor runs through the northeast of the park. On the western side of the park is The Village, built in the 1930s to house Royal estate workers. It has a village shop and infant/junior school. Other buildings include the Royal Lodge , Cumberland Lodge , the Cranbourne Tower and Norfolk Farm. The park lies mostly within
7828-619: The outskirts of Reading. Other technology companies with a presence in the town include Huawei Technologies , Agilent Technologies , Audio & Design (Recording) Ltd , Bang & Olufsen , Cisco , Comptel , Ericsson , Harris Corporation , Intel , Nvidia , Rockwell Collins , Sage , SGI , Symantec , Symbol Technologies , Verizon Business , Virgin Media O2 , Websense , Xansa (now Sopra Steria ), and Xerox . The financial company ING Direct has its headquarters in Reading, as does
7931-523: The outskirts of the town in 2002, Vodafone used 64 buildings spread across the town centre. As well as Vodafone, Newbury is also home to National Instruments , Micro Focus , EValue , NTS Express Road Haulage, Jokers' Masquerade and Quantel . It also is home to the Newbury Building Society , which operates in the region. In Compton , a small village, roughly 10 miles from Newbury , a chemical manufacturing company called Carbosynth
8034-482: The park are open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dusk, although there is a charge to enter Savill Garden . Except for a brief period of privatisation by Oliver Cromwell to pay for the English Civil War , the area remained the personal property of the monarch until the reign of George III when control over all Crown lands was handed over to Parliament . The Park is owned and administered by
8137-490: The park's territory, including 43 species confined exclusively to Windsor. Several of Britain's rarest and most endangered species of fungi occur on the park's territory. The Great Park is a gently undulating area of varied landscape. It has sweeping deer lawns, small woods, coverts and areas covered by huge solitary ancient oak trees. There is a small river in the north of the park called the Battle Bourne running to
8240-439: The parts of the borough of Oxford south of the Thames in 1889, and gaining Caversham from Oxfordshire in 1911. The administrative county's full legal name was "Berks" rather than "Berkshire" until 1967, when the government changed the name to Berkshire at the county council's request. Berkshire received the title "Royal County" in 1957 due to the presence of Windsor Castle. The area has historical ties to royalty dating back to
8343-535: The poet Thomas Parnell , a charming Irish Anglican clergyman who was greatly liked by the Catholic household. Two months later Parnell revisited Binfield and from there he and Pope travelled to Letcombe Bassett , 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Wantage . In the spring of 1715, Alexander Pope paid his last visit to the family home in Binfield, Windsor Forest . Whitehill House, his parents' home, had been sold and
8446-416: The population increased by 6.7%, largely due to migration and economic opportunities in the region. Reading has experienced significant growth due to its reputation as a technology and business hub. In 1831, there were 146,234 people living in Berkshire; by 1901 the population had risen to 252,571 (of whom 122,807 were male and 129,764 were female). Below were the largest immigrant groups in 2011. Berkshire
8549-413: The recent Jacobite risings, who were encamped at the nearby Breakheart hill, were involved. The original lake was much smaller than the current form, and was destroyed in a flood in 1768. In 1780, Paul and Thomas Sandby began construction of a much larger lake at the site, and went on to add an artificial waterfall , Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond. The lake replaced a small stream of the same name which
8652-531: The residence of the Keeper of Cranbourne Chase. It is thought to date back to the 16th century. In the south-east of the park, near Englefield Green , are the Savill Garden Garden and Valley Gardens which were designed and built by Eric Savill in the 1930s and 1940s. They include an extraordinary range of flowers and trees from around the world. Smith's Lawn and Polo Grounds are also nearby, as
8755-473: The sheriff. Berkshire and Oxfordshire had a common sheriff until the reign of Elizabeth I , and the shire court was held at Grandpont . The assizes were formerly held at Reading, Abingdon, and Newbury, but by 1911 were held entirely at Reading. Berkshire has been the scene of notable battles. Alfred the Great 's campaign against the Danes included the battles of Englefield , Ashdown and Reading . Newbury
8858-720: The south, the land crests along the boundary with Hampshire ; the highest parts of South-East and Eastern England taken together are here. The highest is Walbury Hill at 297 m (974 ft). To the north of the Kennet are the Berkshire Downs . This is hilly country, with smaller and well-wooded valleys: those of the Lambourn , Pang , and their Thames sub-tributaries. The open upland areas vie with Newmarket, Suffolk for horse racing training and breeding centres and have good fields of barley, wheat, and other cereal crops. Berkshire’s surface can be divided into three bands:
8961-659: The war) and the new Valley Gardens. In 1951, a large wall for creeping plants was built at Savill using bricks from bombed-out London buildings. In 1958, a Totem pole was installed nearby, a gift from British Columbia to the Queen. In 1972 the Irish anarchist Ubi Dwyer organised the "People's Free Festival", the first of the Windsor Free Festivals in the Park, attended by 700 people. A co-organiser Sid Rawle claimed that Windsor Great Park has been common land until
9064-515: Was Graham Barker. The six unitary councils formed a joint Berkshire Prosperity Board in February 2024 and submitted an expression of interest in forming a non-mayoral combined authority in September 2024. As of the 2023 local elections, Liberal Democrat groups of local councillors run the unitary authorities of West Berkshire , Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham (in coalition with
9167-545: Was born to Alexander Pope Snr. (1646–1717) a linen merchant of Plough Court, Lombard Street, London , and Edith Pope (née Turner) (1643–1733), who were both Catholics . Shortly after William III and Mary II became joint monarchs in 1689, Catholics were expelled from the City of London . The Popes moved up river to Hammersmith , but in 1700 they relocated Popeswood in Binfield . There, the principal manor house, Binfield Manor,
9270-527: Was built in 1825 by Jeffry Wyattville and regularly used by George IV during the refurbishment of Windsor Castle. It was later remodelled in the Gothic Revival style by Samuel Sanders Teulon and Anthony Salvin . Queen Victoria often attended the chapel as did the Duke and Duchess of York before their accession as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It was regularly used by Queen Elizabeth II when she
9373-430: Was designated a new town . Software development and high-tech industry dominate the economy in the east, but the west remains an agricultural region. According to Asser 's biography of King Alfred , written in 893 AD, Berkshire takes its name from a wood of box trees , which was called Bearroc (a Celtic word meaning "hilly"). This wood, perhaps no longer extant, was west of Frilsham , near Newbury . Much of
9476-735: Was erected 1829, is 2.65 miles (4.26 km) from the George IV Gateway at Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse. Other equestrian statues in the park include one of the Prince Consort , to the west of the polo grounds, and one of Queen Elizabeth II near the Village. The Royal Lodge was built in the centre of the park as the Deputy Ranger's house. It was made into a retreat for the Prince Regent from 1812, but
9579-403: Was for some years the southern headquarters of the construction company Bryant Homes (later Taylor Wimpey ), who refurbished the then much neglected property. But if Queen Anne was capable of acts of clemency towards individual Catholics , she showed no compromise to Catholics in general. In 1706 she made it a treasonable offence to convert anyone to Catholicism. She ordered the enforcement of
9682-418: Was founded, in 2006. Since 2019, it has merged with a Swiss company called Biosynth AG to form a key global organisation within the fine chemical industry and operates under name Biosynth Carbosynth . Biosynth Carbosynth, along with its acquired companies, vivitide and Pepscan rebranded to Biosynth in 2022. London Heathrow Airport , in the neighbouring London Borough of Hillingdon, is a major contributor to
9785-642: Was held by the Catholic Dancastle family. The village was also only seven miles across the heath from Hall Grove, Bagshot , in Surrey . This was the home of Magdalen Rackett, Mr Pope's daughter by his first wife. It was through Magdalen's husband Charles Rackett that Pope had been able, in 1698, to purchase Whitehill House, a small manor house in fourteen acres of land in Binfield . The house has been known successively as Binfield Lodge, The Firs and Arthurstone. Now much altered, and renamed Pope's Manor, it
9888-635: Was in his time, in 1936, that the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin , discussed the crisis over King Edward VIII 's desire to marry Wallis Simpson , talks which led to his abdication of the crown a few weeks later. In 1947, the King made the Lodge available to the newly established St. Catharine's Foundation, later known as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation of St Catharine's. Today
9991-465: Was in residence at Windsor. Other notable buildings in the park include Cumberland Lodge , built in 1652 during the Commonwealth . After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the Lodge quickly became the home of the Ranger of the Great Park, an office in the gift of the sovereign. Each Ranger made his – or in one case, that of Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough, her – own mark on the features of
10094-447: Was jailed the next year for distributing leaflets to promote another festival and Rawle was given three months for reproducing parts of Ubi's leaflets in the underground newspaper International Times . The modern enclosed deer park is at the northern end of the Great Park. It is home to a large herd of semi-wild red deer , reflecting the original medieval purpose of the park. The tree-lined 2.64 miles (4.25 km) avenue known as
10197-511: Was largely pulled down after his death. The remains were renovated, in the 1930s, as a home for the Duke and Duchess of York before their accession as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth . It is now the official residence of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and not accessible by the public. The Royal Chapel of All Saints was built after the chapels of the Royal and Cumberland Lodges proved too small for growing numbers of household staff. The chapel
10300-490: Was not until later that it became necessary to formally define this area. In 1129, the first parker was appointed, and in 1240, King Henry III officially set out the borders of the "Park", a region many times larger than the current Great Park. The castle was a mere fortress at this time and, when hunting, King Henry would have been resident at the more comfortable manor house of Old Windsor (what later became known as Manor Lodge). The title "Parker" exists today as " Ranger of
10403-461: Was opened in June 2006, and was nominated for the 2007 Stirling Prize . Park access via Rangers Gate is strictly for authorised vehicles only. There are several other road, horse and foot entrances. Access to some of the private areas of the Great Park is available, on application, for an annual key rental fee. Access to the park is governed by Windsor Great Park Regulations 1973. Every five or six years since 1993 Windsor Great Park has been home to
10506-486: Was probably named after Queen Elizabeth I , who was known as the "Virgin Queen". Queen Victoria created the park that still exists. The Windsor Castle Act 1848 was implemented to reform land use and rights around Windsor Castle . This led to the removal of existing roads and the creation of new ones to redirect people away Home Park . The changes were the result of the death of Prince Albert , when Queen Victoria largely withdrew from public life. At Frogmore she built
10609-670: Was the site of English Civil War battles: the First Battle of Newbury , at Wash Common in 1643, and the Second Battle of Newbury , at Speen in 1644. Donnington Castle was reduced to a ruin in the aftermath of the second battle. Another Battle of Reading took place on 9 December 1688. It was the only substantial military action in England during the Glorious Revolution and ended in a decisive victory for forces loyal to William of Orange . Reading became
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