Nestled in the shadow of Windsor Castle, one of Britain’s most famous landmarks, this suburban neighbourhood is not quite as posh as the royal residence that overlooks it. Dominated by semi-detached houses from the 1950’s and 1960’s and redbrick Victorian terraces, the architecture of the town can seem a little incongruous alongside the medieval grandeur of the castle. Luckily then, Windsor is more than just a tourist attraction. Its location just 21 miles from central London means that many commuters have decided to call the town home. Frequent trains from Windsor and Eton central station run into neighbouring Slough, from which you can change to the Elizabeth Line and travel into Paddington Station in less than 30 minutes. Nonetheless, the roads around this neighbourhood will fill up in the summer months as thousands flock to see the castle, and thousands more descend on LEGOLand Windsor which is one of the most visited theme parks in the country.

Looking further back, the name ‘Windlesora’ first appears in The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, which was written in Wessex during the reign of Alfred the Great who ruled between the years of 871 and 899. The word itself is most likely a bastardisation of ‘Windles-ore’ which means ‘winch by the riverside’ when translated from old English. At the time, this probably referred to Old Windsor, which is a smaller village located less than 1 mile south east of modern day Windsor. By 1110, meetings of the Great Council, which had previously been described as taking place at Windlesora, were said to take place at the castle, referred to as New Windsor. Soon afterwards, people began referring to Windlesora as Old Windsor.

During the middle ages Windsor became a nationally significant town because of its close association with the royal household. Repeated investment in the Castle brought goldsmiths, masons, vinters, spicers and mercers from London, and by the mid-1300s Windsor was one of the fifty richest towns in Britain. The expansion of the castle during this period under Edward III became the most expensive secular building project of the time, and many Windsor people were able to profit by working within the castle walls. Yet by the Tudor period the town’s wealth had started to diminish, with descriptions of the streets in Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor, painting a more poverty stricken picture of Windsor. During the English Civil War, the town was garrisoned by Colonel Venn and would become home of the New Model Army in 1645. Despite its royal dependence, like many commercial centres and market towns, Windsor was a Parliamentarian town. Charles I would eventually be buried without ceremony in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after his execution at Whitehall in 1649.

Windsor would continue to be relatively impoverished until the royal household returned in 1778 under the guidance of George III. The subsequent redevelopment of the castle in the 1800s during Queen Victoria’s residence coincided with the arrival of two railways which arguably signaled the most dramatic change in the town’s history. Windsor was catapulted from a sleepy medieval backwater to the center of empire, as many European heads of state came to Windsor to visit the Queen throughout the 19th century. Unfortunately, excessive redevelopment and ‘refurbishment’ of the town itself resulted in widespread destruction of the medieval fabric of Windsor. For instance, the old parish church of St John the Baptist was demolished in 1820 despite the original being built around 1135.

Slow growth since this period defines the built environment of Windsor today, with small medieval streets making way for Victorian terraces, and eventually the rows of mock Tudor family homes which fill countless British suburbs. Looking forward, this area of the town will continue to expand, with projects like Windsor Gate expected to lead to more than 100 new family homes being built.