signed to Calleva in the Itinerary of Antoninus cannot be made to agree with Wallingford, the Roman name of which is therefore unknown to us. Calleva has also been fixed by conjecture at Coley Manor, near Reading, but Silchester in Hampshire, just on the border of this county, is more generally preferred.

number of parishes in Berkshire has been given above. The number of vicarages is considerable; in Lysons's Magna Britannia, where the parishes are given at 148, the number of vicarages is given at 67. The county is wholly in the diocese of Salisbury, and in the ecclesiastical province of Canterbury, and forms an archdeaconry by itself; the archdeacon takes his title from the county. It is divided into The vallum, which appears to have surrounded the town four rural deaneries-Abingdon, Newbury, Reading, and of Wallingford, was unquestionably a Roman work; at the Wallingford. south-west angle it is very entire for the space of about 270 Berkshire is in the Oxford circuit: Reading and Abing-paces on the south side and 370 on the west. This vallum don are the assize towns. The Lent, or Spring assizes are is single, and appears to have had a wet ditch, which ren held at Reading, the Summer assizes at Abingdon. The dered it very secure. quarter sessions for the county are held as follows: Epiphany at Reading, Easter at Newbury, Hilary at Abingdon, and Michaelmas either at Abingdon or Reading, as the magistrates shall determine.

There are remains of camps in several parts of the county, supposed to have been occupied by the Romans, though some of them are probably of British origin. Uffington Castle, an oval earth work on the summit of White Nine members are returned to parliament from Berkshire Horse Hill, 700 feet in diameter from east to west, and 500 -three for the county itself, two each for Reading and feet from north to south, is one of these. It is surrounded New Windsor, and one each for Abingdon and Wallingford. by a double vallum, or embankment, the inner one high The only change in the number of members made by the and commanding an extensive view in every direction, the Reform Bill, was to reduce the members for Wallingford outer one slighter. Letcome or Sagbury Castle, on Letfrom two to one, for Abingdon previously returned only one. come Downs, north-east of Lambourn, is almost circular, The county members are nominated at Abingdon, and the has a double vallum, and encloses an area of nearly twentypoll for the county is taken at Reading, Abingdon, New- six acres, but whether this is independent of the space ocbury, Wantage, Wokingham, Maidenhead, Great Faring-cupied by the entrenchments and ditches does not appear. don, and East Ilsley. Abingdon was the place where the Another camp or earth-work, called Hardwell Camp, is poll was taken in case of a contest before the Reform about half a mile north-west of Uffington Castle; it is an Bill. entrenchment of square form, where not broken by the steep edge of the hill, surrounded by a double vallum, and in size about 140 paces by 180. Near Little Coxwell, in the neighbourhood of Faringdon, are the remains of a square camp; and at the other extremity of the county there is a strong entrenchment, of irregular form, on Bagshot Heath, near Easthampstead, 560 paces in length, and 280 in breadth near the middle: it is supposed to be a Roman work, and is commonly called Cæsar's Camp. Remains of works British or Roman are also found near the road from Abingdon to Faringdon, five or six miles from the latter (Cherbury Camp), and on Sinodun Hill, near Wittenham, on the Thames. There are circular camps near Ashdown Park, a little way from Lambourn (Ashbury Camp or Alfred's Castle), and on Badbury Hill, not far from Faringdon; but of the probable origin of the former we have no information -perhaps it was Danish, as also the latter is supposed to be.

Civil History and Antiquities.-The Atrebates or Atrebatii are considered to have been the tribe inhabiting this district; their name points them out as a colony of the Atrebates (people of Artois) in Gaul, who were, as Cæsar informs us, Belgae, and of Germanic origin. (De Bell. Gall. . 4.) Mr. Whitaker, and some other modern antiquaries, consider that the Bibroci inhabited the hundred of Bray, and the Segontiaci a small part of the county bordering on Hampshire. The Bibroci and Segontiaci, and perhaps the Atrebates (for some consider these to be the people mentioned by Caesar under the name of Ancalites), submitted to Cæsar when he crossed the Thames in pursuit of Cassivelaunus, and advanced into the heart of the country. In the division made by the Romans of that part of the island which they reduced to subjection, Berkshire appears to have been included in Britannia prima.

Of this remote period Berkshire retains some memorials in the traces of ancient roads and other antiquities. The roads or parts of roads run in different directions. The most marked is a part of that which led from Glevum (Gloucester) to Londinium (London). It enters Berkshire from Wiltshire, not far from Lambourn, and runs S.E. to Spina (Speen), where it appears to have met another Roman road from Aquæ Solis (Bath) to Londinium (London). From Spinæ its course to Londinium does not appear to have been ascertained, though some traces of it appeared a few years since on Bagshot Heath, where it was vulgarly called the Devil's Highway.' The traces of other Roman roads are not of any great extent or importance. The Ikening Street (of British origin) passed through Berkshire, but its course is disputed. Some consider the Ridge Way, which runs along the edge of the chalk range over East and West Ilsley Downs, Cuckhamsley Hills, &c., to be the true Ikening Street; while others contend for a line of road under the same range through or near Blewbury, Wantage, Sparsholt, &c. To the west of Wantage, where this last line is most clearly to be traced, it is called Ickleton Way. (Lysons's. Magna Britannia; Wise's Account of some Antiquities in Berkshire.)

Many barrows are found, especially one on the chalk hills N. of Lambourn, covered irregularly with large stones; three of the stones have a fourth laid on them in the manner of the British cromlechs. Mr. Wise inclines to think this is a Danish monument, while Messrs. Lysons would assign to it a British origin. By the country people

The only Roman station in the county, the site of which has been satisfactorily settled, is Spine. The name and the distances agree in identifying it with Speen, a village near Newbury. Yet it is remarkable that no Roman remains appear to have been discovered here-none at least sufficient to show the existence of such a station. Bibracte, mentioned in the twelfth iter of Richard of Cirencester, is fixed by Whitaker at Bray; though the distance between Londinium and Bibracte differs so much from that between London and Bray as to occasion great difficulty. Pontes, another Roman station, has been fixed by Horsley (Britannia Romana) near Old Windsor, but others prefer Staines in Middlesex. Calleva or Caleva was thought by Camden to have been Wallingford; but though the remains of Roman antiquity found there point out Wallingford as the it is called Wayland Smith; and they have a tradition site of an important Roman station, yet the situation as- of an invisible smith residing here, who would shoe a tra

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veller's horse if it was left here for a short time with a length. When the afternoon sun shines upon it, it may be piece of money by way of payment. Whether what is seen at a considerable distance-ten, twelve, or even fifteen called the Dragon Hill, just under the White Horse, miles; and from its immense size forms a remarkable object. is a natural or an artificial mound, is a matter of doubt. A It has given name to the hill on which it is carved and to number of barrows clustered together on Lambourn Downs the vale above which that hill rises. The inhabitants of the go by the name of the Seven Barrows, but they are more neighbourhood have an antient custom of assembling to numerous than the name implies. A curious stone, called scour the horse,' i. e. to clear away the turf where it has 'the blowing stone,' is situate at Kingston Lisle, five miles encroached upon it. On such occasions a rural festival is due north of Lambourn. At the back of this stone grows an held, and they are regaled by the lord of the manor; but it old elm tree: the stone itself is a species of red sandstone. does not appear that they have observed this custom since It is about three feet high, three feet six inches broad, and 1780. Nearly above the White Horse, on the summit of the two feet thick, but it is rough and of rather irregular surface. hill, is the antient camp or earthwork called Uffington It has several holes in it of various sizes. There are seven Castle; and in its vicinity are the antiquities-Hardwell holes in the front, three at the top, a large irregular broken Camp, Alfred's Castle, Dragon Hill, the Seven Barrows, hollow at the north end (for it stands north and south), and Wayland Smith, already described. Mr. Wise thought and one if not more holes at the back. If a person blows that Wayland Smith was the monument of a Danish King in at any one of three of the holes, an extremely loud slain in the Battle of Æscesdun. noise is produced, something between a note upon a French horn and the bellowing of a calf, and this can be heard in a favourable state of weather at Faringdon Clump, a distance of about six miles; and a person standing at about a yard distant from either end of the stone while it is blown into will distinctly feel the ground shake. The holes in the stone are of various sizes, but those which if blown into produce the sound easily admit a person's finger. The hole most commonly used to produce the sound is at the top of the stone; and if a small stick, eighteen inches long, be pushed in at this hole it will come out at a hole at the back of the stone, about a foot below the top, and almost immediately below the hole blown into. It is evident that this is the place at which the air finds its exit, as after the stone has been blown into at the top for a considerable time this hole becomes wet. There seems, however, no doubt that there are chambers in the stone, as the irregular broken hollow at the north end of it has evidently formed a part of another place, at which a similar sound might once have been produced. In the neighbourhood there exists a tradition that this stone was used for the purpose of giving an alarm on the approach of an enemy.

We believe that there is no account of this very singular stone either in Lysons's Magna Britannia, or any other publication. It is marked in the Ordnance Map.

When the Saxons became possessed of South Britain, Berkshire was included in the kingdom of the West Saxons. It was partly wrested from them by the powerful and ambitious Offa, king of the Mercians. At what time it returned under the sway of the West Saxon kings we are not aware; probably it was when Egbert elevated Wessex to a permanent superiority over the other parts of the Saxon Octarchy. It formed part of Wessex under the reign of Ethelwulph (son of Egbert), whose youngest son, the great Alfred, was born at Wantage in this county. In the reign of Ethelred I., the brother and immediate predecessor of Alfred, the Danes invaded Berkshire, and possessed themselves of Reading. Here they were attacked by the West Saxons; in the first engagement the Danes were defeated, but in the second they repulsed their assailants. Four days afterwards at Escesdun, i.e. Ash-tree-hill, a more important battle was fought, in which both Ethelred and Alfred were present, and in which the Danes were defeated with great slaughter. The site of this Escesdun has been much disputed. Wise, in his Letter to Dr. Mead concerning some Antiquities in Berkshire, contends for the ridge of the chalk hills extending from Wantage into Wiltshire, and thinks that the White Horse, cut on the hill, is a memorial of the victory. Aston, a village near Wallingford, and Ashampstead, a village about equally distant from Wallingford, Newbury, and Reading, have each their partizans. Mr. Turner (History of the Anglo-Saxons) inclines to the opinion that Merantune (where shortly afterwards the Saxons sustained a severe defeat, in which Ethelred was mortally wounded) was Moreton, near Wallingford.

As the White Horse has been connected by Mr. Wise with the above-mentioned battle of Escesdun, and as it is a work either of Saxon original, or of still higher antiquity, it seems not out of place to give a brief account of it here. The White Horse is the figure of a horse cut in the turf on the north-west face of the range of chalk downs which cross this county at a part where the declivity is at once lofty and steep. Mr. Wise is in raptures with the skill displayed in the work, and in the admirable choice of a situation where it is little exposed to injury or decay. More sober judges, however, describe it as a rude figure, about 374 feet in

Messrs. Lysons have given some weighty reasons, urged by Dr. Beke, professor of modern history in the university of Oxford, for identifying the Ethandane of the Saxon Chronicle, where King Alfred gained the victory that restored him to his throne, with Eddington, near Hungerford in this county; this is contrary to the general opinion which has supposed Ethandane to be Eddington, near Westbury in Wilts.

In the war with the Danes during the reign of Ethelred II., Berkshire was laid waste with fire and sword. The barbarous invaders burnt Reading, Wallingford, and other places. This was in 1006. At the time of the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror received at Wallingford the submission of the archbishop Stigand and of the principal barons, before he marched to London; and shortly afterwards a strong castle was built at Wallingford by Robert D'Oyley, one of the followers of the conqueror. In the civil war consequent upon the usurpation of Stephen, Berkshire was again the seat of war. Brian Fitzcourt, who had come by marriage into possession of Wallingford Castle, early took the side of the Empress Maud; and his castle afforded her a secure retreat when she fled from Oxford. Faringdon Castle, which was erected by Robert earl of Gloucester, natural brother of the Empress, was taken by Stephen, and so completely demolished, that not a vestige now remains. When John rebelled against his brother, Richard I., he seized Wallingford and Windsor Castles, but they were taken from him again by the barons in the king's interest, and placed in the hands of the queen dowager. The strength of these two fortresses rendered them important as military stations, in the troubles which took place during the latter part of the reign of John, and during the reign of Henry III. In 1263 Windsor Castle was taken by Simon de Montfort. During this early part of our history, the palace at Old Windsor, or the castle at New Windsor, was the frequent residence of the king.

Of the castles of this period there are few remains except at Windsor. The antient castle there, still the abode of royalty, will be described under the article WINDSOR. Of Wallingford Castle, the ditches and earthworks, which are of great extent, and a fragment of a wall, are the only remains. Donnington Castle, near Newbury, is said to have been founded in or near the time of Richard II. It has been asserted, that Chaucer the poet was possessor and inhabitant of this place, but the assertion is not borne out by evidence. Camden, who calls its Dennington or Dunnington, describes it as a small but elegant castle, on the top of a woody hill, commanding a pleasant prospect, and lighted by windows on every side. It suffered so much, however, during the civil war, that only a gateway with two towers is remaining now. The very sites of the castles at Reading, Newbury, Faringdon, and Brightwell near Wallingford, are unknown. Aldworth Castle, about five miles south-east of East Ilsley, has scarcely a vestige left: some 'foundations of walls built with flints have been lately dug up.

There is an old manor-house at Appleton, not far from Oxford, supposed to be of the time of Henry II.; and there are other antient manor or other dwelling-houses at Withams and Cumnor, near Oxford; Little or East Shefford, between Newbury and Lambourn; Sutton Courtney, near Abingdon; and Ockholt manor-house, near Maidenhead. Ockholt manor-house is an antient seat of the Norreys family, now a farm-house. It appears to have been built before the Reformation. In the hall is a large bay window filled with coats of arms, which appear coeval

with the building; among them are those of the abbey of
Abingdon and of the Norreys family, with their motto,
Feythfully serve,' frequently repeated. (See Lysons's
Magna Britannia.)

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of the buildings for the priests and clerks of a former collegiate church at Wallingford, though the church itself has been entirely destroyed. The parish church at Shottesbroke, near Maidenhead, once belonged to the college of St. John the Baptist there. St. George's Chapel, at Wind sor, will be mentioned in the article WINDSOR.

Of the churches of earlier date, Avington deserves mention, from its remarkable specimens of Norman (or as it is sometimes termed Saxon) architecture. The arch which divides the chancel from the nave is a portion of two arches, and each portion being more than a quadrant, the arch has a depending point in the middle. Portions of the Norman style may be observed in St. Nicholas Church at Abingdon, and in other places. Wilford Church, between Newbury and Lambourn, has a Norman round tower, surmounted by a portion in the early English style, and a spire in the decorated English. As some part of the body of the church is in the perpendicular style, this church contains examples of all the different styles of what is usually called Gothic architecture. Great Shefford Church, not far from Welford, has a round tower, surmounted by an octangular story. Shottesbroke Church is a beautiful miniature cross church, with a tower and spire at the intersection. Uffington church, also in the shape of a cross, is large and handsome St. Lawrence's Church at Reading has a fine tower of checquered flint-work in the perpendicular style.

In the civil war between Charles I. and the Parliament, During the prevalence of the Roman Catholic faith, many Berkshire became the scene of several remarkable contests. religious houses were built and endowed in Berkshire. Tan- Windsor was garrisoned by the Parliament, and continued ner's Notitia Monastica contains a list of thirty-five reli- in their possession throughout the war. It was once attacked gious establishments of all kinds; three of which were by Prince Rupert, but he was unsuccessful. Wallingford numbered at the Reformation among the greater monaswas garrisoned for the king, and continued in the hands of teries, and possessed a clear revenue of 2001. per annum." the Royalists as long as they were capable of making any The most important by far of these establishments were the stand. In 1642, the first year of the war, the King's army Benedictine abbeys at Abingdon and Reading. Abingdon gained possession of Reading, the Parliamentary garrison Abbey appears to have been originally founded upon a hill retiring upon their approach, and the county, with the excalled Abendune, about two miles from the present town, ception of the parts round Windsor, came into the power of nearer Oxford, by Cissa, a West Saxon, governor of great the Royalists; but in April, 1643, the Parliamentary forces, part of Berks and Wilts, under Kentwin, king of the West under the Earl of Essex and Major-General Skippon, reSaxons. Five years after its foundation this monastery took Reading by capitulation. In the latter part of the same was removed to a place then called Sevekisham or Seove-year was fought the first battle of Newbury, between the chesham, or Seusham, and since then Abbendon or Abing- Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex, and the Royalists don, and enriched by the munificence of Ceadwalla and commanded by the king in person. The victory was doubtIna, kings of Wessex, and other benefactors. The abbey ful, but the action has been rendered memorable by the fall was destroyed by the Danes, and the monks deprived of of the accomplished Lord Falkland. The town of Reading their chief possessions by Alfred the Great; but the posses- fell into the hands of the Royalists soon after, and was garrisions were restored, and the rebuilding of the abbey com- soned by them, but evacuated the following year. In 1644, menced at least, by Edred, grandson and one of the Donnington Castle, which was held for the king by a garrisuccessors of Alfred. Numerous benefactions increased son under Captain John Boys, was besieged by a strong dethe wealth of the establishment, and the abbot was mitred. tachment of the opposite party; but though the place was The yearly income at the time of the suppression was reduced to a heap of ruins, the gallant defenders held 20421. 28. 8d. gross, or 18761. 10s. 9d. clear. Reading out, and the Parliamentarians raised the siege upon the Abbey was also for Benedictines, and the abbot was mitred. king's approach. Shortly after (viz. 27th October, 1644) This abbey was founded by King Henry I., A.D. 1121, and a second battle was fought at Newbury, with the same inrichly endowed. At the suppression it had 21167. 38. 9d. decisive result which attended the former one. The king gross, or 1938. 14s. 3a. clear yearly income. There are commanded his own troops, and the Earls of Essex and some remains of both these great establishments. Those at Manchester, and Sir William Waller, those of the parliaReading consist of the gateway and of some other ruins, ment. which are little more than rude heaps of stone, all architec- the Earl of Essex wintered this year in the county, at AbingNo person of note fell in the battle. The army of tural decoration having been defaced. The Abbey Mills don, Reading, &c. The rest of the war was not marked by are still remaining. At Abingdon some antient rooms are any great event. In 1645 Sir Stephen Hawkins made an occupied as a brewery; and the gateway of the abbey is unsuccessful attempt on the Parliamentary garrison_at still used as a prison. Abingdon; and Cromwell failed in an attack upon Faringdon, but fought a successful skirmish at Radcot Bridge in that neighbourhood, and took 200 prisoners. In 1646 Prince Rupert attacked Abingdon again, but without success.

At Bustlesham, or Bysham Montague, now Bisham, on the banks of the Thames, nearly opposite Marlow in Buckinghamshire, was a priory for canons of the order of St. Austin, founded 1338, by William Montacute, earl of Salisbury. Their yearly revenue at the suppression was 3271. 4s. 6d. gross, or 285. 11s. clear. Upon the surrender of this monastery to Henry VIII., it was refounded for the Benedictines, its revenue more than doubled, and the abbot mitred; but this new establishment was also suppressed four or five years after. There are no remains of the conventual buildings except an antient doorway, now the entrance of a somewhat later edifice, the seat of a branch of the Vansittart family.

Of the minor establishments there are some remains. Of the church of the Grey Friars (Franciscans) at Reading, there are considerable remains now used as a Bridewell; there are also some ruins of the Benedictine monastery at Hurley, between Maidenhead and Henley-upon-Thames, and

It may be mentioned here that Speed's valuation is that of the gross intome; Dugdale's valuation is the clear yearly income.

A slight skirmish occurred at Reading in 1688, and a trifling affair at Twyford, between Reading and Maidenhead. These were the only actions which occurred during the Revolution by which that year was distinguished.

Population.Berkshire is essentially an agricultural county, and ranks in this respect fourteenth among the counties of England. At the census of 1831 it was found that among 37,084 males, twenty years of age and upwards, residing within the county, no more than 521 were employed in manufactures, or in making manufacturing machinery. Out of this number, nearly 300 are employed in making mats and sacking at Abingdon, and sail-cloth there and elsewhere; about 100 are engaged in silk-manufactures at Reading and Newbury, and 25 in copper-mills at Bisham. The proportions in which the inhabitants of the county were divided into the leading classes of employment at the enumerations of 1811, 1821, and 1831, were as follows