ARM teams are busy again now that spring has arrived, and where better for a 'new' broom to sweep clean than, well, Mewbury, in the Royal County of Berkshire (of which more anon).
Two signs on an estate in south Newbury were amended today.
One read: 1000m - and has now been over-labelled with a new sign saying: 3/4 mile.
The other read: 400m - the m has now been covered over with the letters: yds. Near enough.
Then on to Slough, Berkshire - or is it? - where on the A4 heading into Slough from the west, some traffic engineers had erected a new triangular traffic signs warning of a slippery road 'for 300 metres' - a truly rare example of the word 'metres' being found in full on a road sign.
But no more, as the ARM team has now over-labelled the 'metres' with a sign saying 'yds'. Again, near enough.
The slippery road warning appears to be in relation to one of these new road surfaces which is so 'state of the art' that for the first few months of use it's, er, too slippery! - and accidents have been caused, hence the 'slippery road' warnings.
These three signs are, of course, the remnants of a brief outbreak of metric road signs in the United Kingdom that was successfully contained by the ARM measures taken in 2001 and since. Very few examples of the genre now remain.
Now, is Slough in Berkshire, as most people think?
A bit of history.
Until about 500 AD or just after, almost the exact same area of what became historic, 'real' Berkshire was occupied by the British (now Welsh) tribe of the Atrebates.
Then the incoming Anglo-Saxons put a sheriff in charge and it became a 'shire' instead of a tribal territory.
After that, the Normans came along and put one of their Counts in charge, so it became 'The County of Berkshire' - still with virtually the same boundaries as those of the old Atrebates tribe.
The glorious County of Berkshire reached its zenith in 1956 when it proudly became called 'The Royal County of Berkshire'.
But perhaps pride comes before a fall, for it was Sir Edward Heath's disgraceful local government reforms that began the rapid dismemberment of Berkshire.
First of all, in 1974 he allowed Oxfordshire County Council to administratively annex whole swathes of the county south of the River Thames, including the world-famous Berkshire White Horse at Uffington. The Berkshire towns of Faringdon, Wantage (birthplace of King Alfred the Great), Abingdon and Wallingford all became Oxfordshire towns at the stroke of a Prime Ministerial pen.
To compensate Berkshire for its severe loss, it gained - what? - Slough!!! Buckinghamshire's loss was the Royal County of Berkshire's gain.
That town which John Betjeman famously said 'wasn't fit for humans now', inviting 'friendly bombs' to 'fall on Slough'.
But Berkshire only got Slough for 24 years, because now - since 1998 - Slough is independent. Yes, it's become a *unitary authority* (hoo-ray!), so it's in, er, no County at all?
Or is it?
And the same goes for other parts of former Berkshire.
As the 1960's folk song would probably have it:
"Where has all of Berkshire gone?
Gone to unitaries, every one".
(When will they ever learn?)
So we now, instead of the Royal County of Berkshire, have the unitary authorities of:
West Berkshire
Reading
Wokinghamn
Bracknell Forest, and
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Since 1 April l998 there has been *no County Council of Berkshire*. It has disappeared from the map.
So is there still a Berkshire?
Well, there's BBC Berkshire. There's the Royal Berkshire Hotel. There's the Royal Berkshire Show, there's the Old Berks Hunt. There's Berkshire Properties. There's Berkshire Cricket Club. And so on.
Slough still thinks it's in Berkshire, for example they have 'East Berkshire College'. And many people nowadays write: 'Slough, Berkshire'.
ARM's position on these matters is very simple.
Berkshire - and all the other historic Counties of England and Wales - are exactly where they were before Sir Edward Heath interfered with them in 1974.
The occupation by Oxfordshire of the Vale of White Horse District must end.
Slough must be returned to Buckinghamshire, whether Buckinghamshire wants it or not.
No surrender
|