The Royal County of Berkshire

by Helen Gaffney

Berkshire is known as ‘Royal Berkshire’ and has many famous landmarks including Windsor Castle, Eton College and the world-famous Ascot racecourse. It comprises of the Thames and Kennet valleys and the Berkshire Downs. Berkshire began life in the mid-7th century when a kinsman of Cenwalh, King of Wessex, received from his royal relative a large tract of land roughly approximating to the north and western parts of the county. As a local name, Berkshire first appeared two centuries later, when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded events for the troubled year of AD 860. For over a thousand years, Berkshire has remained more or less within the boundaries it possessed in the time of the Saxon kings. In 1974, the administration of the Vale of the White Horse, in the North, was passed to Oxfordshire County Council; while in 1998, Berkshire lost its central administration altogether. However, geographically and historically, the county lives on. Its history, its importance in farming, its involvement in the English Civil War (1642-1648), its connections with the monarchy, which led to its title of Royal county in 1958 - all this and more remains an indelible part of the story of England.

Brown Windsor Soup is a smooth, meaty soup that, in spite of its rather uninspiring name, is tasty and warming, but only when made with good stewing steak and home-made stock. It was a favourite in Victorian times, but like so many other good English foods, it has been sorely wronged by indifferent, or downright tasteless, fare masquerading under the same name in second-rate restaurants and boarding houses.

Another dish associated with the Berkshire town of Windsor is Poor Knights of Windsor. The name of this very simple, venerable old pudding has a certain frugal grandeur that is in keeping, for it transformed meagre stale bread into a delicious rich dessert. The Poor Knights of Windsor, incidentally, was a military order formed by King Edward III in the fourteenth century. The intention of the king with regard to the poor knights was to provide relief and comfortable subsistence for such valiant soldiers as happened in their old age to fall into poverty and decay.

During the third week in July, the ancient ceremony of Swan-Upping takes place along the Thames in eastern Berkshire, between Windsor and Pangbourne. Red, green and blue liveried swanherds from the Queen's, Vintners' Company and Dyers' Company crews, respectively, row up the river seeking out swans. The birds are turned upside down (upping) and have their beaks checked for the customary nicks which show to which crew they belong. New cygnets are nicked accordingly. At Windsor, the crews salute the Queen and there is a large feast of roast cygnet upon the course's completion.

Eton Mess is another famous dish from Berkshire. When the annual prize-giving is held at Eton College, one of Britain’s most famous public schools, parents and pupils have a picnic on the playing fields. Among the dishes served is this boozy mixture of strawberries, cream and crushed meringues, to which the school has lent its name. According to Robin Weir in ‘Recipes From The Dairy’, Eton mess was served in the 1930s in the school's sock (tuck) shop, and was originally made with either strawberries or bananas mixed with ice cream or cream. Meringue was a later addition. Nowadays, Eton mess consists of pieces of crisp meringue, lightly whipped cream and strawberries, all stirred together - hence the name "mess".

Until 1883, a type of cake special to Berkshire was sold at the Clementide sheep fair in Lambourn in the west of the county on St Clement's Day on the 23rd of November. Made from a special dough, with butter, currants, spice, candied peel and sugar, the cakes could be plate-sized and cost up to 5 shillings. The Clementide Celebrations were popular on the Berkshire Downs because St Clement was the patron saint of blacksmiths and was thus associated with Wayland the Smith who was said to have lived up on the Ridgeway.

In the early nineteenth century, the age-old custom of electing the Mayor of Bartlemas on Mace Monday (the first Monday after 25th or 26th July) was still observed in the town of Newbury. After the election at the Bull and Dog Inn, a dinner of bacon and beans was served. Afterwards, a cabbage stalk on a pole was paraded in the Mayoral Procession.

Though once widespread, Hungerford is now the only place in the country still to maintain the annual Hocktide festival on the second Tuesday after Easter. To celebrate the town's patronage from Prince John of Gaunt, the town crier blows his horn and calls together the Hocktide Court in the town hall. Here, all commoners, living in the most ancient house in the High Street, must pay a fine to ensure their rights of fishing and grazing. While the court continues, "Tutti-Men" with florally decorated poles are led through the streets by the "Orange-Man" to collect kisses from all the ladies resident in the High Street. They receive an orange in return. Various traditional suppers, ale-tastings, lunches and balls follow.

Modern Reading is a revelation to most people. It's historic importance as the county town of Royal Berkshire, is often overshadowed by the fact most people know Reading as a major transport interchange, and as a key commercial centre, capital of the Thames Valley economic region. In the 1930s, John Betjeman said:

"Few towns are less prepossessing at first glance than Reading ...but few towns better repay exploration"

Reading is famous for three commodities - beer, bulbs and biscuits. The beer was from Simonds (now Courage's) brewery, biscuits, from Huntley and Palmers, and bulbs from Suttons. Sadly these industries have closed, or moved away leaving just one brewery on the very edge of the town. William Blackall Simonds had founded the Simonds Brewery back in 1785. The original brewery was in Bridge Street in the centre of Reading. Seven Bridges House was Blackall Simonds' home, one of several houses in the town designed by John Soane. Its name indicates how wide the Kennet Bridge once was and how many streams the river split into. His business was famous for its hop leaf symbol until taken over by Courage in 1960. The new Courage Brewery, right by the M4 motorway on the edge of the town, is now one of the largest in Europe.

Joseph Huntley moved to Reading in 1811 and he and his son, Thomas, took on 72 London Street, as a bakery, eleven years later. They cashed in on the coaching trade of the Crown Inn, opposite, by sending over freshly baked biscuits for travellers to buy. Another son, Joseph, set up an ironmongery and whitesmith's shop (later Huntley, Boorne and Stevens), and began making fancy biscuit tins. George Palmer, the famous Reading benefactor, joined the bakery in 1841, and hence it became Huntley and Palmers, now world famous for their biscuits. Though the name is still used, the firm is now owned by United Biscuits who have, only recently, finally left the town.

Another commodity for which Reading was famous in the Victorian period was Reading Sauce. In Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ he says: Phileas Fogg's lunch consisted of an hors d'oeuvre of steamed fish in a Reading Sauce of the highest quality, scarlet roast beef with mushrooms, rhubarb-and-gooseberry tart, and some Cheshire cheese - all washed down with a few cups of that excellent tea specially grown for the Reform Club.

It was described as a sharp sauce flavoured with onions, spices, and herbs, very like Worcestershire Sauce, and it was even more popular in its day. James Cocks set up a Sauce factory in Duke Street in 1789 and then moved to a site in the King’s Road near the present library in 1814. Sadly the demand for the sauce gradually declined during the twentieth century and the company eventually went out of business.

Another Reading food landmark is Frost’s Fishmongers. Frost’s is at number 11a Union Street, Reading, known as ‘Smelly Alley’ by Reading locals. This name is used so commonly that many local people do not know that its real name is Union Street. Smelly Alley is an ancient pedestrian street or alley that links the two main streets of Reading - Broad Street and Friar Street. Frost’s Fishmongers has been on this site for at least forty years, and prior to that it was on the opposite side of the alley. It is not known how long it was in existence before that. Streets like Smelly Alley have vanished from many town centres, so it should be cherished - it is a part of British history. The street starts to come alive at 6 a.m. on most mornings, and trades all day.

On Royal and National occasions, large crowds gather beneath Abingdon's fine town hall in order to receive the traditional distribution of celebratory buns. Often marked with suitable initials, they ware hurled from the roof by the town officials. The origin of the ceremony is unknown, but the local museum has a collection of buns dating back two centuries. The ‘Mayor of Ock Street’ is elected in Abingdon every year on the Saturday on or before the 20th of June. The residents of the street vote for one amongst the local Morris Men who is declared Mayor at 4:00 p.m. The ceremony has associated with it an ox roast ever since the winner won a pair of ox horns after a dispute at the Abingdon Fair of 1700.

The county is also well known for a particular breed of pig - the Berkshire pig. This is a truly great pig with a white blaze on the face, four white feet and a white tip to the tail. Otherwise it is totally black. The Berkshire is a traditional pork pig that produces some mouth-watering joints and chops with a ‘crackling’ that is said to be second to none. It has a high lean meat yield that is noted for its exceptional flavour and texture. The excellent carcass quality made it an early favourite with the Royal Family who, for years, kept a large ‘Berkshire’ herd at Windsor Castle. The first ‘Berkshire’ pig ever recorded was the boar ‘Ace of Spades’ bred by Queen Victoria. It is said that Oliver Cromwell’s army discovered the ‘Berkshire’ over three centuries years ago in their winter quarters at Reading.

The county also produces a few specialist cheeses. Spenwood cheese is vegetarian and is made from sheep's milk. According to its texture it ranks among hard cheeses. The cheese is creamy in the mouth, melting to release its distinct sweet, caramel flavour, which is superbly balanced with acidity. It takes six months to mature and has a fat content of around fifty percent. Another cheese from the area is Rooks Nest, a soft, ewes milk cheese made in Berkshire, but smoked and finished in Surrey.

As we can see, this royal county has a long and interesting history where much in the way of traditional foods, often associated with certain events and ceremonies, is to be found. It is an ancient county with a rich and varied past that gives us an equally rich food heritage.

For more background on the splendours of the county please see our contributor David Nash Ford's article at www.berkshirehistory.com