Berkeley

Berkeley, a small town of Gloucestershire, on the Avon, 17½ miles SW. of Gloucester by rail. The town lies in the Vale of Berkeley, which consists of rich meadow pasture-land, on a deep, fat loam, and is celebrated for its dairies and 'Double Gloucester' cheese. Berkeley Castle, on an eminence to the south-east, about 1162 was granted by Henry II. to Robert Fitzharding, with whose descendants it has since continued for more than seven centuries, they having held the title of Baron Berkeley from 1295, and of earl and viscount from 1679. Here Edward II. was murdered in 1327. In the civil wars of Charles I., the castle held out for the king, but was taken after a nine days' siege by the Parliamentarians. Dr Jenner was a native of Berkeley, and was buried in the parish church. Pop. of town, 870. See John Smyth's Lives of the Berkeleys, from 1066 to 1618, ed. by Sir John Maclean (2 vols. 1883-84).