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Berkshire, England
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974. Berkshire is a county of historic origin, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. The county town is Reading. The River Thames formed the historic northern boundary, from Buscot in the west to Old Windsor in the east. The historic county, therefore, includes territory that is now administered by the Vale of White Horse and parts of South Oxfordshire in Oxfordshire, but excludes Caversham, Slough and five less populous settlements in the east of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. All the changes mentioned, apart from the change to Caversham, took place in 1974. The towns of Abingdon, Didcot, Farin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Of Berkshire
The Flag of Berkshire is the flag of the historic county of Berkshire in England. The flag was registered with the Flag Institute as the flag of the county in March 2017. The flag was adopted after the design was submitted by a number of county-based bodies as well as the Lord Lieutenant of the county. Prior to adoption, a banner of the arms of the former Berkshire County Council (abolished in 1998) had been occasionally used to represent the county. Design The flag features a traditional symbol of the county, the stag and oak. This design's connection with the county dates from at least Michael Drayton's 1627 poem ''Battle of Agincourt'', where he describes the men of Berkshire marching under the symbol of "a Stag, under an Oake that stood". The stag has twelve-point antlers (characteristic of "royal stag" red deer), a reference to the county's title as the "Royal County of Berkshire". The stag and oak together represent the county's forestry and deer herds. The Flag Institu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original castle was built in the 11th century, after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I (who reigned 1100–1135), it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle's lavish early 19th-century state apartments were described by early 20th century art historian Hugh Roberts as "a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste".Hugh Roberts, ''Options Report for Windsor Castle'', cited Nicolson, p. 79. Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St George's Chapel, considered by the historian John Martin Robinson to be "one of the supreme achievements of English Perpe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abingdon-on-Thames
Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historic counties of England, Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been administered by the Vale of White Horse district within Oxfordshire. The area was occupied from the early to middle British Iron Age, Iron Age and the remains of a late Iron Age and Roman people, Roman oppidum, defensive enclosure lies below the town centre. Abingdon Abbey was founded around 676, giving its name to the emerging town. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Abingdon was an agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool, alongside weaving and the manufacture of clothing. Charters for the holding of markets and fairs were granted by various monarchs, from Edward I to George II of Great Britain, George II. The town survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolution of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2020, the built-up area subdivision had an estimated population of 164,793. In 2011, the district had a population of 140,713. Slough's population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the United Kingdom, attracting people from across the country and the world for labour since the 1920s, which has helped shape it into a major trading centre. In 2017, unemployment stood at 1.4%, one-third the UK average of 4.5%. Slough has the highest concentration of UK HQs of global companies outside London. Slough Trading Estate is the largest industrial estate in single private ownership in Europe, with over 17,000 jobs in 400 businesses. Blackberry, McAfee, Bur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caversham, Reading
Caversham is a suburb of Reading, England. Originally a village founded in the Middle Ages, it lies on the north bank of the River Thames, opposite the rest of Reading. Caversham Bridge, Reading Bridge, Christchurch Bridge, and Caversham Lock provide crossing points (the last two for pedestrians only), with Sonning Bridge also available a few miles east of Caversham. Caversham has at Caversham Court foundations of a medieval house, a herb garden and tree-lined park open to the public at no charge. Caversham Lakes and marking its south and south-east border the Thames Path National Trail. Caversham rises from the River Thames, lying on flood plain and the lowest reaches of the Chiltern Hills. Named areas include Emmer Green, Lower Caversham, Caversham Heights and Caversham Park Village. With the exception of the centre of Caversham and Emmer Green, which were traditional villages, much of the development occurred during the 20th century. At the 2011 census the proportion of hom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily due to the work of the University of Oxford and several notable science parks. These include the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and Milton Park, both situated around the towns of Didcot and Abingdon-on-Thames. It is a landlocked county, bordered by six counties: Berkshire to the south, Buckinghamshire to the east, Wiltshire to the south west, Gloucestershire to the west, Warwickshire to the north west, and Northamptonshire to the north east. Oxfordshire is locally governed by Oxfordshire County Council, together with local councils of its five non-metropolitan districts: City of Oxford, Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Oxfordshire. Present-day Oxfordshire spanning the area south of the Thames was h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The areas located south of the River Thames are within the historic county of Berkshire. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of six former districts, which were abolished at the same time: *Bullingdon Rural District * Henley-on-Thames Municipal Borough *Henley Rural District *Thame Urban District * Wallingford Municipal Borough *Wallingford Rural District The two Wallingford districts had previously been part of the administrative county of Berkshire, whilst the other four districts had been in the administrative county of Oxfordshire. The new district was originally given the name "Wallingford District". The shadow authority elected in 1973 to oversee the transition request ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vale Of White Horse
The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It was historically a north-west projection of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Horse'. It is crossed by the Ridgeway National Trail in its far south, across the North Wessex Downs AONB at the junction of four counties. The northern boundary is defined by the River Thames. The name refers to Uffington White Horse, a prehistoric hill figure. History The area has been long settled as a productive fertile chalklands above well-drained clay valleys and well-farmed with many small woodlands and hills between the Berkshire Downs and the River Thames on its north and east sides. It is named after the prominent and large Bronze Age-founded Uffington White Horse hill figure. The name "Vale of the White Horse" predates the present-day local authority district, having been described, for example, in the 1870-72 ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales''. The distri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Windsor
Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is bounded by the River Thames to the east and the Windsor Great Park to the west. Etymology The name originates from old English ''Windles-ore'', ''Windlesora'', or ''winch by the riverside''. The village was originally called Windsor, until the (now larger) town of New Windsor, from the village, assumed the name. Windsor is first mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. History Kingsbury Old Windsor was once the site of an important palace of the Saxon Kings. The settlement is documented as a defended royal manor in Edward the Confessor's time, but archaeological evidence suggests royal connections had existed since at least the 9th century. The Saxon royal site was excavated between 1953 and 1958, and the finds are at Reading Museum. Edward gave the manor to the Abbot of Westminster in 1066, but it was soon taken back into royal possession by Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buscot
Buscot is an English village and civil parish on the River Thames, about south-east of Lechlade. Buscot was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Two houses there contain notable collections of paintings. Amenities and sights Many of the properties are owned by the National Trust and let to long-term residents, some of whom work the farms surrounding the village. There is a village hall, tea shop and adjacent car park, and a children's playground. In the parish, Buscot Park houses the notable Faringdon Collection of paintings, an Italian water garden, and a walled vegetable garden and fruit orchards. A short walk from the end of the village leads past Buscot Weir field to Buscot Lock on the River Thames. The Old Parsonage, built in 1701, was sold by the Church Commissioners to the author Peter Francis Carew Stucley, who in turn left it in his will to the National Trust in 1964. It still contains Stucley's collection of contemporary pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn. The river rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea near Tilbury, Essex and Gravesend, Kent, via the Thames Estuary. From the west it flows through Oxford (where it is sometimes called the Isis), Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor. The Thames also drains the whole of Greater London. In August 2022, the source of the river moved five miles to beyond Somerford Keynes due to the heatwave in July 2022. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its long tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. Its tidal section includes most of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of . From Oxford to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Ireland, although they are now governed under legislation passed by Oireachtas Éireann, principally the Local Government Reform Act 2014. History 1899–1922 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 introduced county councils to Ireland. The administrative and financial business carried by county grand juries and county at large presentment sessions were transferred to the new councils. Principal among these duties were the maintenance of highways and bridges, the upkeep and inspection of lunatic asylums and the appointment of coroners. The new bodies also took over some duties from poor law boards of guardians in relation to diseases of cattle and from the justices of the peace to regulate explosives. The Irish county councils differed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
