Windsor Still Attracts After 1000 Years

By Chris D Brown

We might imagine that tourism was a nineteenth century invention and that the first people with leisure time to visit the castle and enjoy royal Windsor's riverside and its many restaurants and quality hotels were the Victorians. Just 20 miles from London, the arrival of trains in the Victorian era did indeed lead to a massive boost in regular visitors, but the start of Windsor tourism can be traced back much further than that.

In fact as early as the Late Medieval period, visitors from London and the surrounding counties made their way to Windsor in alarmingly vast numbers. Many would have described themselves as pilgrims, eager to see the holy bones of John Schorn who has apparently 'conjoured the devil into a boot'. Others would have been seeking relief from headaches. It was common knowledge that the hat that had once belonged to King Henry VI would cure anyone who put it on of the worst pains. For a small fee the hat was placed on the heads of the suffering during the 1500s. Others still would come to trade, at the three great fairs held each year beneath the castle walls. The Spring, Summer and Horse (autumn) fairs were the high points of the year and the population of Windsor would swell by up to 10 times during the festivities.

Of course the accommodation back then was a little more spartan than it is today, but on the same spot where the Shakespeare's 'Hart Inn' once stood, a fine hotel (now called 'The Harte and Garter') still stands to this day. Hotels in Windsor have been offering hospitality to travellers since shortly after the castle was built by William the Conqueror following his invasion of Britain in 1066 and continue to provide rest and recuperation after a long day of sightseeing.

There are a great number of fine restaurants and hotels in Windsor these days, notably Sir Christopher Wren's house by the river Wren, the architect of St Paul's Cathedral in London built the house in Windsor as a family home and now several hundred years later the same building offers top accommodation and fine dining in the riverside restaurant. Windsor has come a long way since hats and bones tempted visitors, but throughout time the crowning glory has been the great Castle itself, home to British monarchy for almost a thousand years and one of England's greatest attractions.

Read local residents reviews of the hotels of Windsor and come and stay in this most welcoming of English towns.