Old Map of Berkshire 1645

Towns and Places Shown on the 1645 Map of Berkshire

One of the pleasures of studying this old map of Berkshire is tracing the county’s familiar towns and villages as they were known in the middle of the seventeenth century. Published in Amsterdam in 1645, the map is attributed to Joan Blaeu and appeared in the Blaeu atlas tradition under the title Bercheria Vernacule Barkshire. It was engraved on copper and combines detailed geography with elaborate heraldry, costume figures and decorative cartouches.

At the centre of the county lies Reading, already one of Berkshire’s most important settlements and positioned close to the meeting of the Rivers Thames and Kennet. To the east, the map marks Windsor, dominated by its royal castle and surrounded by the extensive lands of Windsor Forest. Nearby are Maidenhead, Bray, Cookham, Sunninghill and Wokingham, each shown within the network of roads, rivers, woodland and historic hundreds that divided the county.

Travelling westward, the eye is drawn towards Newbury and Thatcham, settlements closely associated with the Kennet Valley. Newbury was particularly significant during the English Civil War, with two major battles fought in its vicinity in 1643 and 1644, only shortly before this map was published. Farther west are Hungerford and Lambourn, surrounded by the open country and downs that still characterise western Berkshire.

The map also records Pangbourne, East Ilsley, Shrivenham, Faringdon, Wantage, Abingdon and Wallingford. Several of these places may surprise a modern viewer because they no longer fall within today’s administrative Berkshire. Abingdon and the Vale of White Horse remained part of the historic county until the local-government changes of 1974, when they became part of Oxfordshire.

Other recognisable names include Oakingham, the older form of Wokingham, along with numerous smaller villages, manors and parish settlements. The coloured divisions represent Berkshire’s ancient hundreds—administrative districts once used for taxation, justice and local organisation. Rivers, wooded areas and stylised hills help give a sense of the landscape through which these communities were connected.

This is therefore much more than a decorative county map. For anyone with family connections to Reading, Windsor, Newbury, Wantage, Abingdon or the surrounding villages, it offers an absorbing record of Berkshire before modern roads, railways and county boundaries altered the landscape. The wealth of place names also makes it an excellent conversation piece, inviting the viewer to search for a home town, ancestral village or familiar stretch of countryside.