History

The Victoria History of the Counties of England is a project started in 1899 and popularly known as the VCH. It aims to publish a detailed history of every town, village, and parish in England, based on meticulous original research. VCH enjoys an international reputation as a standard work of reference for English local history. Since 1933 the project has been owned and managed by London University's Institute of Historical Research.

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 all together but, geographically and historically, the county lives on.