Berkshire

Berkshire, also called the Royal County of Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It touches Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, Hampshire, and Wiltshire. The biggest town is Reading, which is also the county town.

The county is 1,263 square kilometers and had about 992,000 people in 2024. Most people live in the east, near London. Towns there include Slough, Bracknell, and Maidenhead. The west is more quiet and countryside, with Newbury as its largest town.

Berkshire has a long history. Ancient places such as the Iron Age Uffington White Horse are there. Important buildings like Windsor Castle were built in Berkshire. Many battles happened there, especially during the First English Civil War. Today, the east has many technology jobs, while farming stays important in the west.

History

Main article: History of Berkshire

Windsor Castle, viewed from the Long Walk

Berkshire's name comes from an old wood of box trees called Bearroc, meaning "hilly" in Celtic. This wood was near Newbury. The county has a rich history, with records from Abingdon Abbey showing its early importance.

Berkshire has seen many battles, including fights led by Alfred the Great against the Danes and battles during the English Civil War at Newbury. Reading became the county town in 1867. In 1957, Berkshire earned the title "Royal County" because of Windsor Castle. The county's boundaries changed over time, but it still holds historical significance.

Geography

Virginia Water Lake on the southern edge of Windsor Great Park

The River Thames flows through all of Berkshire. The land in Berkshire can be split into two parts, east and west of the town of Reading. In the north-east, there are bends in the river made of limestone. South of these bends is a wider area with clay and gravel. There are also areas with sand, flint, and soil that is a little sour.

East of Reading, some land is low and lies on the north side of the Thames. Places like Slough and Windsor are here. North of Reading, the land rises up into the Chiltern Hills.

Two smaller rivers, the Loddon and the Kennet, flow near Reading. West of Reading, the land stretches further away from the Thames. Here, the River Kennet flows through a plain that rises into chalk hills. The highest point in this area is Walbury Hill, which stands at 297 metres tall. North of the Kennet are the Berkshire Downs, a hilly area with valleys formed by rivers like the Lambourn and Pang. This area is good for growing crops like barley and wheat, and it is also a place where many racehorses are trained.

Hand-drawn map of Oxford, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire by Christopher Saxton from 1576.

Geology

Berkshire’s land can be described in three main layers. The western part has downlands made from layers of old sedimentary rocks from a time long ago called the Cretaceous period. These rocks include sandstones and mudstones, and also chalk in some places. Over these rocks, there are thinner layers of clay, sand, gravel, and silt from even more recent times.

The London Clay, which is mostly from a time called the Eocene, covers much of the south and east, but it gets thinner as you move west. In some places, older layers from the Palaeocene can be found underneath. South and east of Bracknell, the land is covered with sands and clays from the Eocene, along with more recent layers of sand, silt, and gravel. Rivers like the Thames, Loddon, and Blackwater helped shape this area over time.

Governance

Main articles: Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, High Sheriff of Berkshire, and counties of England

Berkshire is a special area in England called a ceremonial county. It is run by six different local groups called unitary authorities.

In February 2024, the six local groups made a team called the Berkshire Prosperity Board. In September 2024, they wanted to form a bigger team called a combined authority.

After the 2023 local elections, some leaders from the Liberal Democrat group helped run three areas: West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham. They worked with leaders from the Labour Party. In two other areas, Bracknell Forest and Reading, Labour leaders helped run things. In Slough, leaders from the Conservative Party were in charge.

After the 2024 United Kingdom general election, five of the elected leaders, called Members of Parliament or MPs, were from the Labour group, three were from the Liberal Democrat group, and one was from the Conservative group.

The leader of the country, called the prime minister, between 2016 and 2019, Theresa May, was from Maidenhead.

Berkshire districts
District	Main towns	Population (2007 estimate)	Area	Population density (2007)
Bracknell Forest	Bracknell, Sandhurst	113,696	109.38 km²	1038/km²
Reading	Reading	155,300	40.40 km²	3557/km²
Slough	Langley	140,200	53.89 km²	2601/km²
West Berkshire	Newbury, Thatcham	150,700	704.17 km²	214/km²
Windsor and Maidenhead	Windsor, Maidenhead	104,000	198.43 km²	711/km²
Wokingham	Wokingham, Twyford	88,600	178.98 km²	875/km²
Total (Ceremonial)	n/a	752,436	1264 km²	643/km²

Constituency	Conservative	Liberal Democrat	Labour	Reform UK	Green	Others	Winner		Turnout
Bracknell	13,999 (31.9%)	4,768 (10.9%)	14,783 (33.7%)	7,445 (17.0%)	2,166 (4.9%)	480 (1.1%)		Labour	43,641
Maidenhead	18,932 (37.6%)	21,895 (43.5%)	5,766 (11.5%)	–	1,996 (4.0%)	791 (1.6%)		Liberal Democrats	49,380
Newbury	17,268 (35.3%)	19,645 (40.1%)	3,662 (7.5%)	5,357 (10.9%)	2,714 (5.5%)	153 (0.3%)		Liberal Democrats	48,799
Reading Central	8,961 (19.8%)	3,963 (8.8%)	21,598 (47.7%)	3,904 (8.6%)	6,417 (14.2%)	227 (0.5%)		Labour	45,070
Earley and Woodley	17,361 (37.8%)	6,142 (13.4%)	18,209 (39.7%)	–	3,418 (7.4%)	784 (1.7%)		Labour	45,914
Slough	7,457 (17.2%)	2,060 (4.8%)	14,666 (33.9%)	3,352 (7.7%)	1,873 (4.3%)	995 (2.3%)		Labour	43,178
Windsor	16,483 (36.4%)	9,539 (21.1%)	10,026 (22.2%)	4,660 (10.3%)	2,288 (5.1%)	1,629 (3.6%)		Conservative	44,625
Wokingham	17,398 (32.2%)	25,743 (47.7%)	3,631 (6.7%)	5,274 (9.8%)	1,953 (3.6%)	–		Liberal Democrats	54,999
Reading West and Mid Berkshire	14,912 (32.0%)	5,103 (11.0%)	16,273 (35.0%)	6,260 (13.4%)	3,169 (6.8%)	834 (1.8%)		Labour	46,609
Total votes	146,770	99,858	109,686	39,896	25,994	5,893	5 Labour, 3 Lib Dem, 1 Conservative		422,215

Demography

Berkshire has about 800,000 people. Many live in towns such as Reading, Slough, Bracknell, Maidenhead, and Wokingham. The west of Berkshire is more like the countryside and has fewer people. Over time, more people have moved to Berkshire, especially to busy places like Reading and Slough. People move there for jobs and opportunities. Reading is famous for technology and business.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1831	146,234	—
1841	161,759	+10.6%
1851	170,065	+5.1%
1861	176,256	+3.6%
1871	196,475	+11.5%
1881	218,363	+11.1%
1891	238,709	+9.3%
1901	252,571	+5.8%
1951	404,000	+60.0%
1983	680,000	+68.3%
Source:

Country of Birth	Immigrants in Berkshire (2011 Census)
India	23,660
Pakistan	17,590
Poland	16,435
Ireland	7,629
South Africa	6,221
Germany	5,328
Kenya	4,617
China	4,242
Zimbabwe	4,043
United States	3,509

Economy

Industry

The Oracle Corporation campus

Reading has a long history in technology, with early companies like International Computers Limited and Digital. Today, big tech firms such as Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard have offices there. Newer companies like Microsoft and Oracle also have large campuses near the town. Many other technology firms have offices in Reading, including Huawei Technologies, Agilent Technologies, Cisco, Intel, Nvidia, and Sage. Financial firms like ING Direct and Prudential also have headquarters or offices in Reading. Big accounting firms such as Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have offices in the city as well.

The global headquarters of Reckitt Benckiser and the UK headquarters of Mars, Incorporated are in Slough. Slough also has offices for major IT companies like BlackBerry and CA Technologies, as well as the National Foundation for Educational Research. Other well-known brands with offices in Slough include Nintendo, Black & Decker, Amazon, and HTC.

Bracknell is known for its technology companies, including Panasonic, Fujitsu, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Honeywell. The area attracts many IT firms, and Bracknell is also home to the main Waitrose distribution centre. The town has been the UK headquarters for Honda and BMW as well.

Newbury is the headquarters of the large mobile network Vodafone, which employs thousands of people. Other companies based in Newbury include National Instruments, Micro Focus, and Newbury Building Society.

Slough Trading Estate plays a major part in making Slough a business centre in South East England

In a small village called Compton, a chemical company named Carbosynth was started in 2006. It later merged with a Swiss company and is now part of a global organization called Biosynth Carbosynth^®.

London Heathrow Airport, located nearby in London, helps support the economy of Slough in east Berkshire.

Agricultural produce

Abingdon Abbey once had farms that made dairy products. One famous cheese from Berkshire is Red Windsor cheese, which has a special red marbling. Other cheeses from the area include Wigmore, Waterloo, Spenwood from Riseley, and Barkham Blue from Barkham.

Regional gross value added of Berkshire at current basic prices (GBP millions)
Year	Regional gross value added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	10,997	53	2,689	8,255
2000	18,412	40	3,511	14,861
2003	21,119	48	3,666	17,406

Media

Local media

Local news and TV come from BBC South and ITV Meridian for the Thames Valley. This is sent from the Hannington TV transmitter. Places in Berkshire near London, like Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough, get their news and TV from BBC London and ITV London. This comes from the Crystal Palace TV transmitter.

Local radio stations in Berkshire include BBC Radio Berkshire, Heart South and Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire.

Film and television production

Berkshire is now a popular place for making films and TV shows. It used to be known for scenes from famous movies like Harry Potter and James Bond. In the early 2020s, new studios were built, such as Shinfield Studios, Arborfield Studios and Winnersh Film Studios. These studios are part of the University of Reading's Cine Valley at Thames Valley Science Park. Big companies like Disney, Netflix, and Sony Pictures use these studios. Before that, Bray Film Studios was where many Hammer Horror films were made.

Sport

Horse racing

Berkshire is a great place for horse racing, with more big flat races than any other county in England. The famous Ascot Racecourse is a top spot for racing horses and holds many big races each year. It is very close to Windsor Castle and has a strong link to the British royal family. One of the biggest events is the Ascot Gold Cup, and the most famous race is the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July.

The grandstand at Ascot Racecourse

Another important racecourse is Newbury Racecourse, near the town of Newbury. It hosts exciting races all year and is known for its Lockinge Stakes. The area around Lambourn is famous for training racehorses, and is called the "Valley of the Racecourse."

Football

The main football team in Berkshire is Reading F.C., which plays professional football. It was founded in 1871 but only joined the top league in the 2006–07 season. There are many smaller football teams in the county, such as Maidenhead United, Slough Town, and Windsor & Eton F.C.. One famous rivalry is between Slough Town and Windsor & Eton F.C., called the Thames River Derby.

The Select Car Leasing Stadium in Reading

Rugby

Reading is a strong place for rugby union. The team London Irish used to play there before moving to London. Newbury also has a rugby team called Newbury R.F.C., known as the Newbury 'Blues.'

Ice hockey

The Bracknell Bees and Slough Jets are ice hockey teams that have both won national titles and play in the English Premier League.

Hockey

There are many hockey clubs in Berkshire, including Phoenix Reading Hockey Club, Reading Hockey Club, and Slough Hockey Club. In 2016, Bracknell and Wokingham Hockey Clubs joined to form South Berkshire Hockey Club.

Education

Berkshire has many places for learning. You can find the University of Reading, which includes the Henley Business School. There is also a campus for Imperial College at Silwood Park and a campus for the University of West London in Reading.

The area is also known for special schools such as Ludgrove School, Eton College, and Wellington College. There are also several grammar schools including Reading School, Kendrick School, and Herschel Grammar School.

Towns and villages

Main articles: List of places in Berkshire, List of settlements in Berkshire by population, and List of civil parishes in Berkshire

Berkshire has many towns and villages. One of the well-known places is Reading, which is the largest town. The county also includes other interesting spots where people live and visit.