The county town of Berkshire, Reading, has it's origins in the 9th century Saxon settlement of Readingas, though there has been settlement in the area for a lot longer. Readingas probably comes from a Saxon tribe of the same name. In 871, Reading was the scene of a battle by the forces of King Ethelred and Alfred the Great against a Danish army.
In the early Norman period Reading was already a notable place, with six mills listed in the Domesday Book. Reading Abbey was founded by King Henry I in 1121, he was later buried in the Abbey grounds. Reading was the largest town in Berkshire by the early 16th century, and amongst the richest towns in the country. In 1867 it replaced Abingdon as the county town of Berkshire.
Good transport links, including the river Kennet and later the railways helped Reading grow as a manufacturing and business hub. Three industries very important to Reading in the 19th and 20th centuries were known as the three Bs: beer, bulbs (as in plant roots) and biscuits. Nowadays, Reading is the location of many major company headquarters, helped by the proximity of London and Heathrow Airport.
