1116 



WINDSOR. 



WINDSOR. 



1146 



borough in 1851 was 9596. The borough is governed by BIX aldermen 

 and IS councillors, one of whom is mayor ; and returus two members 

 to the Imperial Parliament. The living is a vicarage, in the arch- 

 deaconry of Berks and diocese of Oxford. Windsor Poor-Law Uuioii 

 contains six parishes, with an area of 22,407 acres, and a population 

 iu 1*51 of 18,449. 



Windsor derives its importance, and perhaps its origin, from having 

 been a favourite residence of many of the kings of England since the 

 Conquest. The Saxon kings had a palace at Old Windsor, called 

 Windleg-ofra, or Windleshora, from the winding course of the Thames 

 iu this part, and Edward the Confessor occasionally kept his court 

 there; but it is a distinct parish, about 2 mile S.E. from New 

 Windsor. In the reigns of William the Conqueror and William 

 Rufus, the castle at Windsor was a military fortress. Henry I. en- 

 larged and improved the castle and held his court there, aud from this 

 time it was the frequent residence of the king, in consequence of which 

 New Windsor received many marks of royal favour. From having 

 been a chapelry iu the parish of C'lewer, it was constituted a separate 

 pariah. Kdwurd I. made it a free borough, and in hia reign it first 

 returned two members to Parliament; from the 25th Henry VI. (1447) 

 it has regularly returned two members. Though situated on opposite 

 banks of the Thames, Windsor and Eton form in appearance but one 

 town, the line of houses being interrupted only by the bridge, erected 

 in 1824, a neat structure of iron, 200 feet long aud 29 feet wide, and 

 consisting of three arches. The town is well lighted with gas, and 

 paved. Among other recent improvements Datchet Bridge has been 

 removed, and two new bridged, both of iron, with stone piers, have 

 been erected : Victoria Bridge, some distance above the old Datchet 

 Bridge, in connection with the new road from the South-Western rail- 

 way station ; and Albert Bridge, below old Datchet Bridge, and about 

 midway between it and Old Windsor, in connection with the new road 

 to Staines. 



The public building* of Windsor (exclusive of those pertaining to 

 the outie) are not in any way remarkable. The church is a spacious 

 aud convenient structure, in the perpendicular style, erected in 1822. 

 A neat district church of gothic character was erected in 1842. The 

 Wesleyan Methodists, Independents, and Baptists have places of 

 worship. There are Free, National, British, and Infant schools; a 

 royal dispensary ; Brotherton's hospital, founded in 1503, for eight 

 poor persons ; Reeves' almshousea, founded in 1676 ; and a savings 

 bank. The guildhall, or town-hall, erected in I486, is rather a hand- 

 some building. In the hall, or court-room, are a number of portraits 

 of the sovereigns of England and personages of rank. The town-hall 

 was repaired and to a considerable extent remodelled in 1852, under 

 the direction of Mr. Hard wick. The theatre is internally neat aud 

 convenient. The Ureat Western railway station, near the centre of 

 the town, is a plain but convenient building. The South- Western 

 railway station, in Uatchet-lane, is a more ambitious edifice of red 

 brick, with stone dressings ; it is a somewhat quaint imitation of the 

 Tudor style. 



Windsor possesses no manufacture, but there are considerable ale 

 breweries. The inhabitants are" chiefly dependent upon the trade 

 created by the residence of the court at Windsor Castle, and by the 

 abode of many persons of rank aud wealth in the vicinity, and the 

 numerous visitors who resort to the town. The market is held on Satur- 

 day. Fairs are held on Easter Tuesday, July 5th, and October 24 tb. 

 On the west side of the town is a piece of meadow-land, surrounded 

 with a gravelled walk, which is known as the ' Bachelor's Acre,' and is 

 reserved, under the Inclosure Act, as a place in which to play at 

 ' all sports and pastimes.' ' The Bachelor's Revel ' is held here on 

 August 17th, and attracts numerous visitors. On the Acre is an 

 obelisk, erected by the Bachelors to commemorate the visit of Queen 

 Charlotte and the princesses to their festival in honour of the jubilee 

 of Qeorge III. There are barracks for infantry and cavalry, the 

 latter in Clewer parish. 



Among the royal and palatial edifice] of Europe, that of Windsor 

 holds a very high rank, and is in a manner to England what Versailles 

 is to France, and the Escurial to Spain ; and while it is infinitely 

 superior to both in point of rituation standing on an elevation which 

 commands a rich extent of country it far exceeds them, and indeed 

 every other pile of building of its class, in antiquity. From having 

 been the residence of so many of our kings, iu history is to a certain 

 extent identified with that of the kingdom itself from the time of 

 the Conquest. In its present state however the antiquity of the castle 

 is little more than nominal, the whole of the habitable part having 

 been remodelled and rebuilt ; but if it has thus lout the reality, it 

 has at least recovered the appearance of antiquity, after nearly every 

 trace of it had been obliterated, and the greater part of the whole 

 pile had been rendered a motley assemblage of mongrel architecture. 



Relative to the early history of the castle, only a few of the more 

 prominent dates and epochs of the building can here be noticed. The 

 Conqueror's structure on this site was probably a mere hunting- 

 lodge, or a military post ; and we have little positive information in 

 regard to what it became when rebuilt by Henry I., who there took 

 op bis residence ; or as to the extensive additions, including a chapel, 

 ftcrwards made by Henry III. In fact, it was not uutil the 14th 

 osotory that the plan of the wholu began to auumu its present extent 

 and arraogi-meut, when Edward III. first erecU'l the buililiug* form- 



ing the third or upper ward, to the cast of the keep, whose inclosuro 

 then became the middle one ; aud the same king founded the ' College 

 or Free Chapel of St. George,' in the lower ward. These works were 

 carried on from about 1350 to 1374, aud were chiefly conducted by 

 William of Wykeham, who was appointed surveyor in 1356, with a 

 salary of one shilling a day. From this period comparatively little 

 was done until a century afterwards, when Edward IV. began to re- 

 erect St. George's Chapel nearly as we now behold it, thereby adding, 

 if not immediately to the castle itself, to the buildings within its 

 precincts, one of extraordinary beauty and interest. Henry VII. 

 added to the castle that singularly fine specimen of palatial architec- 

 ture in its particular style, which is still called after him, and wliich 

 is situated near the public entrance to the state apartments, at the 

 western extremity of the range forming the north side of the great 

 quadrangle. 



During the three following reigns no additions were made. The 

 reign of Elizabeth, on the contrary, forms almost an epoch in tUe 

 architectural history of the castle, because, though she did not tlo 

 much to it in the way of building, except annexing to the portion 

 added by Henry VII. that which is distinguished by the name of 

 Queen Elizabeth's gallery, she first caused the ten-aces to be formed, 

 thereby giving to the royal abode of Windsor what 13 not the least 

 striking or least attractive of its characteristics. Under the Stuarts 

 nothing material was done until the Restoration, when the castle 

 began to be modernised, and in such a tasteless aud insipid manner as 

 to have no quality of style of any kind, and nothing of grandeur but 

 what was derived from mere size. The principal addition made by 

 Charles II. was the Star-Building (containing the state apartments 

 shown to the public). The first two Georges did nothing for Wind- 

 sor; George III. restored the interior of St. George's chapel (1787-90), 

 which, little as the execution of gothic was then understood, was done 

 in a judicious manner, by scrupulously following the original details. 



Except beauty of situation the castle had nothing whatever to 

 recommend it as a residence. The whole of the east and south sides, 

 the portions actually inhabited, were singularly inconvenient in every 

 respect. Henco it was found indispensably necessary to erect (1778- 

 1782) a separate building for the actual occupation of the royal family. 

 This, which was called the Queen's Lodge, was merely a large plain 

 house on the south side of the castle, near the site occupied by tbe 

 present stables, aud was taken down in 1823. About the same time 

 George IV. announced his intention of taking up his abode within tho 

 castle, and converting it into a suitable residence for himself aud his 

 successors. Accordingly a grant of 300,0001. was readily voted by 

 parliament in April 1821 fur the projected improvements. The designs 

 for the intended works, furnished by Jeffry Wyatt, were adopted, and 

 no time was lost in carrying them into execution. The first stone of 

 ' King George IV.'s Gateway ' (forming the principal entrance into tho 

 quadrangle on the south side, in a direct line with the Long Walk) 

 was laid by the king himself, August 12th, 1824 ; on which occasion 

 the architect received tho royal authority for altering his name to that 

 of WyatviUe ; and on the king's taking possession of the private apart- 

 ments, which were completed by tho end of 1828, he received the 

 further distinction of knighthood. 



Uutil renovated and remodelled by Sir Jeffry, the exterior had very 

 little of tithe architectural character or dignity, or even of pictu- 

 rcsqueuess, except that arising from situation ; whereas now it is 

 marked by many bold features aud well-defined masses, and presents a 

 series of parts, all varied, yet more or less interesting : but eveu whero 

 the principal masses remain the same, the general outline, before feeble 

 and insipid, has been greatly improved : somewhat greater height than 

 formerly has been given to most of the buildings by deep embattled 

 parapets, aud in some of them by machicolations also. Some of the 

 towers have been carried up higher and others added ; among these 

 last are the Lancaster and York, flanking George IV.'s Gateway, and 

 distinctly marking that as the principal portal of the castle; also the 

 Brunswick Tower, which, owing to its difference of form and greater 

 mass, adds very much to the architectural effect of the north ea^t 

 angl^. But the most striking improvement of the kind was that of 

 carrying up the Hound Tower 30 feet higher, exclusive of the Watch 

 Tower on its summit, which makes the height iu that part 25 feet 

 more. Previously to thU being done that keep hardly deserved the 

 name of tower, it being of diminutively low proportions ; whereas 

 now it renders the castle very much more conspicuous than formerly 

 as a distant object. 



After the first grant of 300,000?., others waro successively tuado 

 and the total expenditure dowu to tho end of the reign of William IV 

 amounted to 771,000/. There has since been a grant of 7U,OOOi for 

 new stables, which form an extensive range of buildings, only 400 feet 

 from the castle, ou its south side, and to the west of the Long Walk ; 

 they extend upwards of 600 feet, and include a riding-house, nearly 

 200 feet in length by 60 feet in breadth, Some additional expenditure 

 has since beeu incurred by the removal of the houses along the west 

 side of the castlo by Thames-street, and the opening of the approaches, 

 and iu other improvements. The state apartments, which contain 

 many fine portraits by Vandyke and Lawrence, as well as many other 

 paintings aud works uf art and taste, are open to the public every 

 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, aud Friday, by tickets obtainable 

 gratuitously of the leading printsvllwi in London. 



