, viewed from the Long Walk
Medieval period The early history of the site is unknown, although Old English field names in its vicinity that survived to be documented in the medieval period, confirm that a substantial community existed on this site for a considerable time before 1066. By 1070, recognising the strategic importance of the site
William the Conqueror had a timber
motte-and-bailey castle constructed.
Georgian and Victorian periods In 1778, there was a resumption of the royal visits to Windsor, although not to the castle as this was in a state of decay. Rather,
George III extended a summer house first built by Queen Anne, that faced the upper ward walls, and known as the Garden House. The extended building was renamed Upper lodge, but owing to George II's ill health, part of the royal apartments in the castle were refurbished in 1804 for his use. This started a period of new development in Windsor, with the building of two army barracks. However the associated large numbers of soldiers led to a major prostitution problem by 1830, in a town where the number of streets had little changed since 1400. In the 18th century the town traded with London selling the
Windsor Chair which was actually made in
Buckinghamshire. A number of fine houses were built in this period, including Hadleigh House on Sheet Street, which was built in 1793 by the then mayor of Windsor, William Thomas. In 1811 it was the home of John O'Reilly, the apothecary-surgeon to
George III. Windsor Castle was the westernmost sighting-point for the
Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790), which measured the precise distance between the
Royal Greenwich Observatory and the
Paris Observatory by
trigonometry. Windsor was used because of its relative proximity to the base-line of the survey at
Hounslow Heath. of Windsor and
Windsor Castle looking across the
Thames, 1895 The substantial redevelopment of the castle in the subsequent decade and
Queen Victoria's residence from 1840, as well as the coming of two railways in 1849, signalled the most dramatic changes in the town's history. These events catapulted the town from a sleepy medieval has-been to the centre of
empire – many European crowned heads of state came to Windsor to visit the Queen throughout the rest of the 19th century. Unfortunately, excessive redevelopment and 'refurbishment' of Windsor's medieval fabric at this time resulted in widespread destruction of the old town, including the demolition of the old
parish church of St John the Baptist in 1820. The original had been built in stages from about 1135, with significant enhancement work in the 14th century, including the construction of a spire and the addition of two chapels in the 15th. One built by the fraternity of the Holy Trinity, and a second by the town corporation, and dedicated to the Virgin.
Later periods Most of the current town's streets date from the mid to late 19th century. However the main street, Peascod Street () is probably very ancient, and certainly existed in the period of
Anglo-Saxon rule. It was used to set out the parish boundary of Windsor manor in the tenth century, and had acquired its name, as part of the new town, by 1190. This name, the earliest documented street in Windsor, is, however, curious. Originally, Peascroft-strat, apparently a croft (or toft) of land belonging to an individual called Pea, modified in the 13th century to Peascod, seemingly referring to a popular medieval snack, a pea pod fried in butter. Possibly this snack was a speciality of the area. Alternatively, and as with all early Windsor street names, Peas-croft may make reference to the land it crossed, which would support its link to a family known for growing Peas, or to a plot used for this purpose. ==Religion==