The Berkshire, Dorset and Wiltshire (County Boundaries) Order 1989 Parts of Hungerford and Lambourne (50,112 hectares) exchanged with Wiltshire [7] 1 April 1991: The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey (County Boundaries) Order 1991 Exchanges with Oxfordshire (16 hectares) [8] Exchanges with Buckinghamshire (32 ...

Historically, the English county of Berkshire has been bordered to the north by the ancient boundary of the River Thames. However there were major changes in 1974: the Vale of White Horse and parts of Oxfordshire south (locally, west) of the Thames were previously part of Berkshire, but were lost to the county in 1974.

The scene is set with articles on Berkshire’s geology and topography and on the changing county boundary. Major upheavals in the county’s history are covered by articles on the Civil War, the enclosure movement and the Swing Riots, while essays on bridges and roads, rivers and canals, and the railways (see illustration), explore the history ...

For local and family history research purposes, Berkshire is best considered as the historic Royal County of Berkshire — that is, the county essentially as it existed for more than 1,000 years before boundary changes were made in 1974.

Boundary alterations in the late 19th century and early 20th century were relatively rare, but included ceding the parts of the borough of Oxford south of the Thames in 1889, and gaining Caversham from Oxfordshire in 1911.