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Historical Geography information for Berkshire and places above it in the hierarchy

Berkshire

• General information about historical geography. 
• For books about Berkshire geography, see Bibliography.
• The local government reorganisation of 1974 brought major changes to the boundaries of Berkshire with parts being lost to Oxfordshire and others gained from Buckinghamshire. Further changes in 1998 finally abolished Berkshire as an administrative unit and replaced it with six Unitary Authorities - Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead, and Wokingham.  More about boundary changes... N.B.  Information on GENUKI pages is organised on the basis of the pre-1974 counties.
• The Genuki Gazetteer shows the location of places and lists neighbouring places with links to online maps and to Genuki pages that may contain information about that place and the genealogical resources which are available for it.
• Trade directories can provide some information of the changes to administrative areas through the years, see sample pages from a 1915 directory.
• A similar facility is provided by the LDS Family Search's England Jurisdictions 1851 where the boundaries of parishes, civil registration districts, C of E dioceses, rural deanerys, Poor Law Unions and Hundreds can be superimposed on maps.
• List of Berkshire hundreds, the historical sub-divisions of counties, introduced in the 10th century primarily as a unit of taxation but also having administrative, judicial and military functions.
• Enclosures:
  • Enclosure in Berkshire, 1485-1885, ed. Ross Wordie, Berkshire Record Society, vol 5, 2000.  Between 1600 and 1900 the landscape and agriculture of Berkshire was transformed. In 1600, three quarters of the county was covered by large open fields, common land or waste.  By 1900 all but 4% was in the form of small enclosed, hedged fields, owned by individual landowners. 
  • See also New Landscapes: Enclosure in Berkshire in Maps below.
• Royal Berkshire History provides information about Berkshire country houses and churches. 
• See also Maps.

England

• Jimella's (Internet Archived page) British Counties, Parishes, etc. for Genealogists will be of particular value to overseas researchers who are unfamiliar with our geographic divisions and naming conventions.
• The ENG-DESERTED-VILLAGES Mailing List. It has been estimated that there are over 50,000 villages and hamlets that no longer exist for a variety of reasons, ie the 14th C plagues to the English Clearances in the eastern Counties, from mass migrations for economical reasons to villages just falling into the sea! The purpose of the Mailing List is to try to find out exactly where these now-deserted places were located, which parish they were in and where any extant records are kept.
• A Topographical Dictionary of England of 1831 (Google books)

UK and Ireland

• The Great Britain Historical Geography Information Service (GBHGIS) provides a mass of information about Britain's localities as they have changed over time. Information comes from census reports, historical gazetteers, travellers' tales and historic maps.
• A Vision of Britain Through Time, in the GBHGIS, provides maps and statistical information derived from census reports covering the period 1801-2001, searchable by place name or post code.
• The Association of British Counties (A.B.C.) "is a society dedicated to promoting awareness of the continuing existence of the 86 traditional Counties of Britain".
• British Counties, Parishes, etc. for Genealogists (archived copy).