Berkshire, England Genealogy

Berkshire, also known as the Royal County of Berks, is located in the central part of England.

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"BERKS, or Berkshire, an inland county, within the basin of the Thames. It is bounded, on the N, by Gloucester, Oxford and Bucks; on the E, by Surrey; on the S, by Herts; and on the W, by Wilts...

"Berks contains 146 parishes, parts of 14 others, and three extra-parochial tracts; and is divided into the boroughs of Abingdon, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading, Wallingford, and Windsor, and the hundreds of Beynhurst, Bray, Charlton, Compton, Cookham, Faircross, Faringdon, Ganfield, Hormer, Kintbury-Eagle, Lambourn, Moreton, Ock, Reading, Ripplesmere, Shrivenham, Sonning, Theale, Wantage, and Wargrave... The registration county... is divided into the districts of Newbury, Hungerford, Faringdon, Abingdon, Wantage, Wallingford, Bradfield, Reading, Wokingham Cookham, Easthampstead, and Windsor. The county town is Reading; and the market towns are Reading, Abingdon, Faringdon, Newbury, Wantage, Wokingham, Maidenhead, East Ilsley, Lambourn, Hungerford, Wallingford, and Windsor...

"Berks is governed by a lord-lieutenant, a high sheriff, 40 deputy-lieutenants, and about 150 magistrates. It is in the home military district, and in the Oxford judicial circuit. The Lent assizes are held at Reading; the summer assizes at Abingdon. Quarter sessions are held on 31 Dec. and 8 April, at Reading; and on 1 July and 14 Oct., at Abingdon... Berks is in the diocese of Oxford; and constitutes an archdeaconry, comprising four deaneries... The places of worship within the electoral county in 1851 were 206 of the Church of England, 34 of Independents, 41 of Baptists, 5 of Quakers, 1 of Unitarians, 72 of Wesleyan Methodists, 53 of Primitive Methodists, 4 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, 1 of Brethren, 10 of isolated congregations, 2 of Latter Day Saints, and 6 of Roman Catholics...

"Population in 1801 was 110,480; in 1821, 132,639; in 1841, 161,759; and in 1861, 176,256...

The above extract is taken from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-72.

Getting Started
Before starting your research in Berkshire, you might wish to read the article Finding Ancestors in England.

Berkshire Parishes
Click here for a list of the historic ecclesiastical parishes in Berkshire and to learn more about them.

Research Tools

 * There are a number of record offices and archives in Berkshire that have records of genealogical value.
 * The Berkshire Family History Society has much to offer the researcher.

Other Websites
Here is a list of other websites of genelaogical value for Berkshire. Please add to the list as you find something of interest.


 * GENUKI
 * Rootsweb
 * GenealogyLinks
 * UK Genealogy
 * Cyndislist
 * The Visitations of Berkshire
 * Berkshire resources at the Society of Genealogists.