Talk:Berkshire

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BetacommandBot (talk) 05:15, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

status

It is surely not a non-metropolitan county but just a ceremonial one. The map of English counties rightly shows unitary authorities as separate from counties, but it is misleading in the way it shows Berkshire as though it were an administrative unit like West Sussex. The area should be shown as several unitaries.

Home County

I have removed referenced to Berkshire as a home county. Home county status is held by those counties, under pre-1974 boundaries, that had a border with London. As Buckinghamshire and Surrey cut off Berkshire from london in the Iver/Slough/Runnymede area, it is not a home county —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.138.70.77 (talk) 23:04, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

I have restored that reference because Berkshire is a home county anyway- check the map here from 1921. I suppose they were so close that Berkshire could be considered one. Then have a border nowadays anyway (due Berkshire stealing bits of Bucks and Surrey!) Oliver Fury, Esq. message • contributions 23:39, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

County Council Moto?

I find it hard to reconcile the following:

Motto of County Council: Dieu et mon droit  [Appears in sidebar]

There is no county council [2nd paragraph]

The Stumo (talk) 12:29, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

New images

I uploaded some new historical map images by Wenceslas Hollar of Berkshire. I put the more colorful one on the page, feel free to remove it, or to use either or both images. Dcoetzee 10:39, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Ceremonial county - main towns in Wokingham UA

Although I have been among those reverting, I have some sympathy with the anonymous editor(s?) who think that the 'main towns' for Wokingham UA should include East Reading or Earley. Could someone with access to reliable maps try to find references one way or the other please? My recollection (without paper access and without much time just now) is that much of the population of Wokingham UA lies within the Reading conurbation. If I'm right on this, then it seems reasonable for the Wokingham UA summary in this article to point it out. But if I'm wrong, then maybe we need to mention the point as I'm obviously not the only person with the misconception!

Thanks Grblundell (talk) 14:28, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

The best I could find are the interactive maps on the Wokingham council website [1], not particularly clear and a bit tricky to use. Earley is definitely inside Wokingham UA, as is Winnersh. If you zoom in you can see the actual boundary with Reading, it does actually go pretty near to Reading town centre - but there is no such thing as 'East Reading' as far as I am aware...

As to which towns are listed in the table, one of the problems is that there is not enough room for more than two or three without reformatting it. I changed Earley back to Twyford in that I would view that as a more significant town - and Earley is rather more like an urban sprawl of Reading.. In any case if you are going to include it, you really must include Winersh and Woodley which are extensions of that same sprawl, so where do you stop? And by the way, Crowthorne is part of Bracknell, it is a little confusing on that map.

I have the OS map for Bracknell/Windsor (I live in Bracknell) not the adjacent one for Wokingham, but I am not sure how helpful the paper maps are, the boundary Wokingham/Bracknell on my copy is very hard to follow, so the council maps are probably better. Dsergeant (talk) 18:21, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I suggest you have a look at the Election Maps website [2]. If you type "Wokingham" in the search box and check the "local authority" button you will be able to zoom in and out and add and remove the various boundaries via the "Show Layers" tab. Lozleader (talk) 18:38, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

pronunciation

The phonetic representations suggest that the final R is pronounced, yet is this a rhotic area?

In Wikipedia, the phonetic spelling is often a reference to the General American dialect, with final "r" pronounced.

File:Flag of Berkshire.jpg

There is an image of the flag of Berkshire on commons ( see File:Flag of Berkshire.jpg). I'll add it when I get time, if anyone wishes to verify its accuracy and add it in the meantime, feel free. Mtaylor848 (talk) 16:39, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Please don't add it. As it says on the description page it is a "proposed" flag. In fact it appears to be just what one individual thinks looks nice, and has no official status. He seems to have been campaigning, without success, to have the flag gain some sort recognition.[3]

There was a discussion on the Flags of the World Website about it [4]. I notice that we already have an article Flag of Berkshire which probably qualifies for deletion. Notably the campaign's website no longer exists.

also if you try to but a "Berkshire Flag" you will get a completely different (and similarly unofficial and unrecognised) design [5] [6] Lozleader (talk) 17:43, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

There seems to be some todo with it anyway with its uploader commons user:Williwaw. I'll leave it for now and see if anything comes up. I'm not sure as to whether Berkshire has a flag or crest, few Southern counties seem to (Kent and Dorset being the exceptions, however I've never seen them flying). Northern and Midland counties like Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Lincolshire and Northumberland (particularly Northumberland) seem to recognise their flags much more. Regards, Mtaylor848 (talk) 18:03, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

I came accross a coat of arms for Berkshire here: http://www.berkshirehistory.com/odds/arms.html ,described as "The coat of arms of Berkshire were granted on 18th July 1947 and the supporters on 7th April 1961", but I am not sure about the copyright issues of reproducing it? Pahazzard (talk) 21:43, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

They are the arms of the county council that was abolished in 1974 (not the 1988 incarnation), and the image is copyrighted per the notice on the pageLozleader (talk) 22:33, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Non-metropolitan county

The article states that Berkshire was the only county to function in such a manner until the recent changes of 2009 when it was joined by Bedfordshire and Cheshire. This is not totally correct. Bedfordshire and Cheshire were abolished as non-metropolitan counties, and each unitary authority became a new non-metropolitan county, like most other unitary authorities. Berkshire, however, is still a non-metropolitan county. It's districts are totally unique among non-metropolitan areas of England (of course, it is very similar to the metropolitan areas).

Bedfordshire and Cheshire are unique in a different way, that they are ceremonial counties which don't have a non-metropolitan or metropolitan county of the same name. Yamor2 (talk) 10:08, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Well, I'm going to edit it... Yamor2 (talk) 15:32, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Berkshire County Council

I was looking to include a section on Berkshire County Council as it seems to have practically no history on the internet. There is this site here: http://www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk/albums/berkshire-county-council-portraits/ which has some information, but you could be forgiven for thinking that it never existed.

I know that it had several, almost famous chairmen (including William Mount - 1st chairman and great-great-grandfather of David Cameron) and also that the council lasted from 1889 - 1998.

There were also at least two other chairmen - James Benyon 1916-1926 and my own grandfather - William Antony Wiseman 1990-1993 (source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/3570873/Debate-protects-the-public.html).

Anyhow, last bit of info to throw in is that one of the reasons for closure (according to a former Bucks County Council chairman) was that they had literally contracted everything out and so were defunct. However being politics I'm sure there's more to it as, for one, why was it the only council that was abolished? Was it anything to do with the rise of New Labour?

If we could have a new section/ article on the subject, I think it would do much to explain an interesting part of Berkshire history, and may also help this gentleman with his desires: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/12910

P.S. I love the main article - one of the best ones I've read.

P.P.S. Just realised something else on this thread from 'The Stumo' - that its motto was Dieu et mon droit. Not the greatest of mottos, but it is what it is... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Magic Lemur (talk • contribs) 22:09, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

No the county council didn't use a motto (that's why there isn't one displayed on their coat of arms)[7] [8]. Local authorities are free to choose any motto they choose EXCEPT those of orders and knighthood or the sovereign. Dieu et Mon Droit is the royal motto, not sure where the idea that it was associated with Berkshire comes from, but it has no basis in fact.

Perhaps (the two incarnations of) Berkshire County Council deserve an article. Sadly (?) the petition is closed with 3 signatures! Lozleader (talk) 22:50, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Lozleader. In terms of the motto, it came from an earlier erroneous post by the Stumo.

And despite the lack of popularity of the petition (there are nearly 10,000 active ones at time of writing, listed by number of signatures, rather than relevance or appeal), Berkshire County Council definitely deserves an article.

After all, if Berkshire doesn't deserve one, then why should the shorter-lived Greater Manchester County Council (1974- 1986)?

I note this comes under the remit of Wikipedia:WikiProject Greater Manchester (of which you are a member) and is also a fairly long and detailed entry at 1500 words.

Magic Lemur (talk) 00:52, 03 December 2011 (UTC)

Well why not? I did a little search in the Times Digital Archive and there are a few things that could merit inclusion. Might start a sandbox somewhere... Lozleader (talk) 12:04, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

That'd be great - thanks. Let me know when there's a link and I will duly contribute some more details (subject to approval, of course). Btw, like the work you've done on Heraldry - is first class stuff...

Magic Lemur (talk) 18:47, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Referents?

< The ceremonial county has the same boundaries as the former administrative county, but historically the county was not co-terminous with this >

In the subordinate clause, what do 'the county' and 'this' refer to? 86.176.194.183 (talk) 05:26, 30 July 2012 (UTC)