1.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
2.
Wiltshire
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Wiltshire is a county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, the county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the new county town of Trowbridge. Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys, Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its mediaeval cathedral, important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trusts Stourhead, near Mere. The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the county town of Wilton. Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology, the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK, in the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, in 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown, at the time of the Domesday Survey the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural,390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian, the Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y Squadron, based in Swindon, around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway. Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on the Wiltshire Community History website, run by the Libraries and this site includes maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories. The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers and this originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes. Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a rural county, lies on chalk. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group, the largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill–Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, the chalk uplands run northeast into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and southwest into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age, the Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB, a 1,730 km2 conservation area
3.
Berkshire
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Berkshire is a county in south east England, west of London. It was recognised as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of Windsor Castle by the Queen in 1957, Berkshire is a county of historic origin and is a home county, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. Berkshire County Council was the main county governance from 1889 to 1998 except for the separately administered County Borough of Reading, in 1974, significant alterations were made to the countys administrative boundaries although the traditional boundaries of Berkshire were not changed. The towns of Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage were transferred to Oxfordshire, Slough was gained from Buckinghamshire, since 1998, Berkshire has been governed by the six unitary authorities of Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham. It borders the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, according to Asser, it takes its name from a large forest of box trees that was called Bearroc. Berkshire has been the scene of notable battles through its history. Alfred the Greats campaign against the Danes included the Battles of Englefield, Ashdown, Newbury was the site of two English Civil War battles, the First Battle of Newbury in 1643 and the Second Battle of Newbury in 1644. The nearby 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 military action in England during the Glorious Revolution. Reading became the new county town in 1867, taking over from Abingdon, boundary alterations in the early part of the 20th century were minor, with Caversham from Oxfordshire becoming part of the Reading county borough, and cessions in the Oxford area. On 1 April 1974 Berkshires 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. 94 Signal Squadron still keep the Uffington White Horse in their insignia, the original Local Government White Paper would have transferred Henley-on-Thames from Oxfordshire to Berkshire, this proposal did not make it into the Bill as introduced. On 1 April 1998 Berkshire County Council was abolished under a recommendation of the Banham Commission, unlike similar reforms elsewhere at the same time, the non-metropolitan county was not abolished. Berkshire divides into two distinct sections with the boundary lying roughly on a north-south line through the centre of Reading. The eastern section of Berkshire lies largely to the south of the River Thames, in two places the county now includes land to the north of the river. Tributaries of the Thames, including the Loddon and Blackwater, increase the amount of low lying land in the area. Beyond the flood plains, the land rises gently to the county boundaries with Surrey, much of this area is still well wooded, especially around Bracknell and Windsor Great Park. In the west of the county and heading upstream, the Thames veers away to the north of the county boundary, leaving the county behind at the Goring Gap
4.
River Lambourn
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The River Lambourn is a chalk stream in the English county of Berkshire. It rises in the Berkshire Downs near its namesake village of Lambourn and is a tributary of the River Kennet, the upper reaches of the river are seasonal, with a perennial source derived from a number of springs located upstream of the village of Great Shefford. At times when the table in the chalk aquifer feeding the river is high the source of the river migrates upstream. Below Shaw is the confluence of the River Lambourn with the River Kennet, the River Lambourn itself has a single perennial tributary, the Winterbourne Stream, which joins it at the village of Bagnor. The highest source of the Lambourn is on the Maddle Road in the village of Upper Lambourn and it emerges from a rainwater drain and occasionally flows down a channel between the road and pavement. In the village it runs underground in a pipe until re-emerging alongside the road opposite The Malt Shovel, at this point it is usually little more than a damp, muddy ditch, and remains so until halfway through Lynch Wood. Here it is fed by springs, two of which are close to the Goose Green road, forming a short stream that runs ten feet downhill into the river. These springs quickly fill the channel and the river swells ten to twenty feet wide, although bourne until Great Shefford the river was not dry below Lynch Wood in 2007-08. However, it dried up in June–July 2009 and the riverbed remained dry until January 2010 due to 4-5 inches of snow melting in a thaw. It is constricted by the built on the riverbank, which were partily flooded in July 2007 as numerous weeds clogged the river under the many small bridges built over it. It passes by The Lamb and the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, there is a ford next to the Bockhampton Road bridge which is used by horses and the river leaves the town through Bockhampton Manor Farm. Bernards Ford is found to the west of Eastbury, which is suitable only for tractors. Here the Lambourn forced its banks in July 2007 and flowed down the Newbury Road for over a hundred yards before rejoining the river. The Lambourn runs through the middle of Eastbury, and past The Plough Inn, in East Garston there are many houses are built on one bank with their own bridges from the front door to the road opposite. The river splits into channels at Great Shefford, and is joined by many small streams. From Lambourn to Newbury the river remains roughly parallel to the Newbury Road which crosses it many times, in Newbury it runs between Donnington and Speen and south of Shaw House until it joins the River Kennet to the south of The Nature Discovery Centre. The River Kennet joins the River Thames at Reading, the River Lambourn is almost unique for a chalk stream in southern England in that its flow regime remains near-natural in form, not being significantly modified by groundwater abstraction. Ironically, this situation developed because of a groundwater abstraction project
5.
River Enborne
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The River Enborne is a river that rises near the villages of Inkpen and West Woodhay, to the West of Newbury, Berkshire and flows into the River Kennet. Its source is in the county of Hampshire, and part of its course forms the border between Berkshire and Hampshire, despite the name, the river does not run through the village of Enborne, although it does run through Enborne Row. From its source near the villages of Inkpen and Woodhay, the Enborne flows Eastwards towards Newbury, at Smiths Bridge, near Holtwood the river is also now the boundary between Berkshire and Hampshire. Continuing East the river is crossed by the A34 at Enborne Row to the South of Newbury, near here to the South is The Chase and Great Pen Wood, woodland managed by the National Trust. It flows due east touching part of Wash Common and then along the boundary of Sandleford and Highclere, reaching Newtown, Hampshire. At Sandleford and Newtown, near the Newbury to Whitchurch road, there was a mill and it then passes to the South of Greenham Common, and here, near Headley, the river is joined by a tributary from the South, from Ecchinswell and Watership Down Hill. The river continues meandering its way across open farmland towards Brimpton Common, at Inwood Copse a change in the landscape sends the river to the northeast, and it no longer forms the border between Hampshire and Berkshire. It joins the River Kennet between the villages of Aldermaston and Aldermaston Wharf, the river plays a significant part in Richard Adams novel, Watership Down. Early in the book, the rabbits from Sandleford are threatened by a dog, blackberry realises that they can float across on a wooden board, and thus they make their escape. Media related to River Enborne at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Marlborough, Wiltshire
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Marlborough is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. It boasts the second widest high street in Britain, after Stockton-on-Tees, the town is on the River Kennet. The earliest sign of habitation is a 62 feet high prehistoric tumulus in the grounds of Marlborough College. Recent radiocarbon dating has found it to date from about 2400 BC and it is of similar age to the larger Silbury Hill about 5 miles west of the town. Legend has it that the Mound is the site of Merlin. On John Speeds map of Wiltshire, the name is recorded as Marlinges boroe. The towns motto is Ubi nunc sapientis ossa Merlini - Where now are the bones of wise Merlin, more plausibly, the towns name probably derives from the medieval term for chalky ground marl – thus town on chalk. Roman remains and the large Mildenhall Hoard of coins have found two miles to the east of Marlborough, at Mildenhall. A later Saxon settlement grew up around The Green and two river crossings were made at Isbury Lane and Stonebridge Lane. In 1067 William the Conqueror assumed control of the Marlborough area and set about building a motte and bailey castle. This was completed in around 1100, stone was used to strengthen the castle in around 1175. The first written record of Marlborough dates from the Domesday Book in 1087, William also established a mint in Marlborough, which coined the William I and the early William II silver pennies. The coins display the name of the town as Maerlebi or Maerleber and he also established the neighbouring Savernake Forest as a favourite Royal hunting ground and Marlborough castle became a Royal residence. Henry I observed Easter here in 1110, Henry II stayed at Marlborough castle in talks with the King of Scotland. His son, Richard I gave the castle to his brother John, King John was married here and spent time in Marlborough. He also established that weekly markets may be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, later Henry III was also married here. Henry III held Parliament here, in 1267, when the Statute of Marlborough was passed and this seven-hundred-year-old law states that no-one shall seize his neighbours goods for alleged wrong without permission of the Court. Apart from Charters, it is the oldest statute in English law which has not yet been repealed, the castle fell into disrepair by the end of the 14th century but remained Crown property
7.
Hungerford
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Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, centred 8 miles west of Newbury,9 miles east of Marlborough,30 miles northeast of Salisbury and 67 miles west of London. Its amenities include shops, cafés, restaurants, schools and sports teams or clubs in the national sports. Hungerford is an abbreviation and vowel shift from a Saxon name meaning Hanging Wood Ford. The town’s symbol is the star and crescent moon. The place does not occur in the Domesday Book of 1086, by 1241, it called itself a borough. In the late 14th century, John of Gaunt was medieval lord of the manor, during the English Civil War, the Earl of Essex and his army spent the night here in June 1644. In October of the year, the Earl of Manchester’s cavalry were also quartered in the town. Then, in the November, the King’s forces arrived in Hungerford on their way to Abingdon, during the Glorious Revolution of 1688, William of Orange was offered the Crown of England while staying at the Bear Inn in Hungerford. The Hungerford land south of the Kennet was for the centuries, until an 18th-century widespread growth in cultivation the area, st. Lawrences parish church stands next to the Kennet and Avon Canal. It was rebuilt in 1814–1816 by John Pinch the elder in Gothic Revival style, in the late 19th century, two policeman were shot by poachers in Eddington. Their memorial crosses still stand where they fell, the Hungerford massacre occurred on 19 August 1987. All of his victims were shot in the town or in nearby Savernake Forest, a report on this incident was commissioned by Home Secretary Douglas Hurd from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Colin Smith. It is one of three highly costly firearms atrocities in terms of lives since the invention of such rapid fire weapons, the other two being the Dunblane massacre and Cumbria shootings. The massacre led to the Firearms Act 1988, which banned the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles, the Hungerford Report had demonstrated that Ryans collection of weapons was legally licensed. Hungerford is a parish, covering the town of Hungerford. Parish council responsibilities are undertaken by Hungerford Town Council, which consists of fifteen councillors and committee members. The mayor is elected from amongst their numbers, the parish forms part of the district administered by the unitary authority of West Berkshire, and local government responsibilities are shared between the town council and unitary authority. Hungerford is part of the Newbury parliamentary constituency and its MP is the Conservative Richard Benyon, son of Sir William Benyon of Englefield House
8.
Newbury, Berkshire
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Newbury /ˈnjuːbəri/ is a historic market town and the principal town in the west of Berkshire, England and has its own civil parish as well as the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire. It spans both sides of the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre spread around its large market square. Newbury is famous for its racecourse, and as the headquarters of Vodafone UK, the town is located in the valley of the River Kennet,26 miles south of Oxford,25 miles north of Winchester,27 miles south east of Swindon and 20 miles west of Reading. Newbury lies on the edge of the picturesque Berkshire Downs, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of outstanding natural beauty and it lies in south central West Berkshire,3 miles north of the Hampshire/ West Berkshire county boundary. In the suburban village of Donnington lies the part-ruined Donnington Castle, to the south is a narrower range of hills including Walbury Hill and a few private landscape gardens and mansions such as Highclere Castle. Together with the town of Thatcham,3 miles distant. There was a Mesolithic settlement at Newbury, artefacts were recovered from the Greenham Dairy Farm in 1963, and the Faraday Road site in 2002. Additional material was found in excavations along the route of the Newbury Bypass, Newbury was founded late in the 11th century following the Norman conquest as a new borough, hence its name. Although there are references to the borough that predate the Domesday Survey it is not mentioned by name in the survey. However, its existence within the manor of Ulvritone is evident from the rise in value of that manor at a time when most manors were worth less than in Saxon times. In 1086 the Domesday Book assesses the borough as having land for 12 ploughs,2 mills, woodland for 25 pigs,11 villeins,11 bordars, and 51 enclosures rendering 70s 7d. Doubt has been cast over the existence of Newbury Castle, but the town did have connections and was visited a number of times by King John. Historically, the economic foundation was the cloth trade. This is reflected in the person of the 16th century cloth magnate, Jack of Newbury, the proprietor of what may well have been the first factory in England, and the later tale of the Newbury Coat. The latter was the outcome of a bet as to whether a suit could be produced by the end of the day from wool taken from a sheeps back at the beginning. The local legend was immortalized in a humorous novel by Elizabethan writer Thomas Deloney. Newbury was the site of two battles during the English Civil War, the First Battle of Newbury in 1643, the nearby Donnington Castle was reduced to a ruin in the aftermath of the second battle. The disruption of trade during the war, compounded by a collapse of the local cloth trade in the late 16th century
9.
Silbury Hill
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Silbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site, and lies at grid reference SU099685. At 39.3 metres high, it is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the largest in the world, Silbury Hill is part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury, which includes the Avebury Ring and West Kennet Long Barrow. Its original purpose is still debated, composed mainly of chalk and clay excavated from the surrounding area, the mound stands 40 metres high and covers about 5 acres. The hill was constructed in stages between c. 2400–2300 BC and displays immense technical skill and prolonged control over labour and resources. Archaeologists calculate that it took 18 million man-hours, equivalent to 500 men working for 15 years to deposit and shape 248,000 cubic metres of earth, the base of the hill is circular and 167 metres in diameter. The summit is flat-topped and 30 metres in diameter, a smaller mound was constructed first, and in a later phase much enlarged. There are indications that the top originally had a rounded profile, the first clear evidence of construction, dated to around 2400 BC consisted of a gravel core with a revetting kerb of stakes and sarsen boulders. There have been excavations of the mound. The site was first illustrated by the seventeenth-century antiquarian John Aubrey, whose notes, later, William Stukeley wrote that a skeleton and bridle had been discovered during tree planting on the summit in 1723. It is probable that this was a later, secondary burial, the excavation came in October 1776 when a team of Cornish miners overseen by the Duke of Northumberland and Colonel Edward Drax sank a vertical shaft from the top. In 1849 a tunnel was dug horizontally from the edge into the centre, other excavations were undertaken in 1867 and 1886. Flinders Petrie investigated the hill after the First World War, in 1968 to 1970 professor Richard J. C. Atkinson undertook work at Silbury which was broadcast on BBC Television. This excavation revealed most of the evidence known about the site. He argued that the hill was constructed in steps, each tier being filled in with packed chalk, Atkinson reported the C14 date for the base layer of turf and decayed material indicated a corrected date for the commencement of Silbury was close to 2750 BC. After heavy rains in May 2002, a collapse of the 1776 excavation shaft caused a hole to form in the top of the hill, English Heritage undertook a seismic survey of the hill to identify the damage caused by earlier excavations and determine the hills stability. Repairs were undertaken but the site remained closed to the public, as part of this remedial work English Heritage excavated two further small trenches and made the important discovery of an antler fragment, the first from a secure archaeological context at the site. This produced a radiocarbon date of c
10.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
11.
River Thames
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The River Thames is a river that flows through southern England, most notably through London. At 215 miles, it is the longest river entirely in England and it also flows through Oxford, Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. It rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea via the Thames Estuary, the Thames drains the whole of Greater London. Its tidal section, reaching up to Teddington Lock, includes most of its London stretch and has a rise, in Scotland, the Tay achieves more than double the average discharge from a drainage basin that is 60% smaller. Along its course are 45 navigation locks with accompanying weirs and its catchment area covers a large part of South Eastern and a small part of Western England and the river is fed by 38 named tributaries. The river contains over 80 islands, in 2010, the Thames won the largest environmental award in the world – the $350,000 International Riverprize. The Thames, from Middle English Temese, is derived from the Brittonic Celtic name for the river, Tamesas, recorded in Latin as Tamesis and yielding modern Welsh Tafwys Thames. It has also suggested that it is not of Celtic origin. A place by the river, rather than the river itself, indirect evidence for the antiquity of the name Thames is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription Tamesubugus fecit. It is believed that Tamesubugus name was derived from that of the river, tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the Ravenna Cosmography. The rivers name has always pronounced with a simple t /t/, the Middle English spelling was typically Temese. A similar spelling from 1210, Tamisiam, is found in the Magna Carta, the Thames through Oxford is sometimes called the Isis. Ordnance Survey maps still label the Thames as River Thames or Isis down to Dorchester, richard Coates suggests that while the river was as a whole called the Thames, part of it, where it was too wide to ford, was called *lowonida. An alternative, and simpler proposal, is that London may also be a Germanic word, for merchant seamen, the Thames has long been just the London River. Londoners often refer to it simply as the river in such as south of the river. Thames Valley Police is a body that takes its name from the river. The marks of human activity, in cases dating back to Pre-Roman Britain, are visible at various points along the river
12.
Reading, Berkshire
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Reading is a large, historically important town in Berkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway, Today Reading is a major commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, by 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, the 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. During the 19th century, the town rapidly as a manufacturing centre. It is ranked the UKs top economic area for economic success and wellbeing, according to such as employment, health, income. Reading is also a regional retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of Englands biggest music festivals, sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon. In 2015, Reading had an population of 232,662. The town is represented in Parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295, for ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon-on-Thames. It is in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 75 miles east of Bristol,25 miles south of Oxford,42 miles west of London,17 miles north of Basingstoke,13 miles south-west of Maidenhead and 20 miles east of Newbury. Reading may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain, possibly as a port for Calleva Atrebatum. However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, the name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Readas People in Old English, or less probably the Celtic Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River. In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex, on 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their quarters in London. After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in, in its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough
