Formation s in Great Britain (1327–1336) Windsor Castle was begun in the 11th century by
William the Conqueror as it afforded a good defensive point over the
River Thames. A vast area of
Windsor Forest to the south of the castle became reserved by the King for personal hunting and also to supply the castle with wood, deer, boar and fish. It was not until later that it became necessary to formally define this area. In 1129, the first
parker was appointed, and in 1240,
King Henry III officially set out the borders of the 'park', a region many times larger than the current Great Park. Though Windsor Castle was a lavish royal residence by this time, when hunting, King Henry would likely have stayed at Windsor Manor, a moated site he had constructed at what would become
Virginia Water in the heart of the forest. The title 'parker' exists today as "
Ranger of the Park", the current title-holder being
Charles III. Kings
Edward I and
Edward III used the park for jousts and tournaments and the latter had his royal
stud there to supply horses for the
Hundred Years' War. The
moat at Bear's Rails contained the manor house of Wychamere, the home of
William of Wykeham while he was building the castle. It was later used for
bear-baiting.
Development By the 18th century, the food value of the parkland to Windsor had decreased in importance and the new
Hanoverian monarchs preferred to build on and garden the land rather than hunt in it. The Long Walk had been laid out by
King Charles II and the planting of its trees completed by
William of Orange in the 1680s, with double rows of elms which lasted until
World War II, but the Georges extended it and built numerous features and monuments, such as the Copper Horse (depicting
George III) and the Obelisk (in honour of
William, Duke of Cumberland). George III had a set of 2,000-year-old Roman ruins imported from
Libya and placed in the park. Virginia Water was begun in 1746 by William, Duke of Cumberland who was then ranger of the park. Few details are recorded of the building of the lake; however it has been suggested that
prisoners of war from the recent
Jacobite risings, who were encamped at the nearby Breakheart hill, were involved. The original lake was much smaller than the current form, and was destroyed in a flood in 1768. In 1780,
Paul and
Thomas Sandby began construction of a much larger lake at the site, and went on to add an
artificial waterfall, Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond. The lake replaced a small stream of the same name which was probably named after
Queen Elizabeth I, who was known as the "Virgin Queen".
Victorian expansion and
Ronald Reagan riding on horseback in the grounds of Windsor Great Park during President Reagan's 1982 official visit to the United Kingdom.
Queen Victoria created the park that still exists. The
Windsor Castle Act 1848 was implemented to reform land use and rights around
Windsor Castle. This led to the removal of existing roads and the creation of new ones to redirect people away from the Home Park. During the 19th and early 20th century, one of the main events for farmers near and far was the Christmas sale of stock from the Royal Windsor Estates. Held on the same week as the
Smithfield Show, buyers came from all over the country to buy something from the monarch. The sale in 1850 was held on 17 December by
Messrs Buckland & Sons of Windsor. It included Superior Fat Heifers for £20 each; 10 fat ewes, fed by Prince Albert, for 33/10; Fine Old Wether Sheep, fed by the
Duke of Buccleuch, for 40/6. The sale made a total of £226. On 12 December 1894, Messrs Buckland & Sons were proud to announce:
Aviation The Smith's Lawn area of the park began to be used for flying in the 1920s, an activity which continued in various forms until the early 1950s. Improvements were made to the grass landing area in the mid 1930s, when it was used by the Prince of Wales (later
Edward VIII). He operated several different types of aircraft from here, including several types of de Havilland airplanes, ranging from
Moths to
Dragon Rapides. On 29 April 1931,
Gordon Olley landed a large (for the time) twin-engine Imperial Airways airliner, the
Armstrong Whitworth Argosy ("City of Glasgow"), at Smith's Lawn. In 2016, the
Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a memorial at Smith's Lawn to its use as an airfield. He himself had made his first solo flight from there in 1952, after regular use of the site as an airfield had ceased.
Second World War During the war, aviation related activities included a factory dispersal site (to minimize the risk of
Luftwaffe bombing) for
Vickers-Armstrongs, who built and maintained
Wellington bombers here. Other wartime aviation activities included use as a Relief Landing Ground for
de Havilland Tiger Moth trainers at nearby No. 18 Elementary Flying Training School at
Fairoaks. The ''Smith's Lawn'' area of the park was also used for housing troops. During the 1940s, much of the deer park was ploughed and farmed for food, which involved the felling of hundreds of ancient trees. Over 200 large bombs fell on the land, including several
V-2 rockets. During the
1948 Summer Olympics, the park was used as the
road cycling venue. In the 1950s, the park was gradually turned into the recreation area open to the public that it is today. This involved the re-planting of Savill Gardens (which had been allowed to run wild during the war) and the new Valley Gardens. In 1951, a large wall for creeping plants was built at Savill using bricks from bombed-out London buildings. In 1958, a
Totem pole was installed nearby, a gift from British Columbia to the Queen.
Protests In 1972 the Irish anarchist
Ubi Dwyer organised the "People's Free Festival", the first of the
Windsor Free Festivals in the park, attended by 700 people. A co-organiser
Sid Rawle claimed that Windsor Great Park has been
common land until the 18th century, and illegally
inclosed (made private) by
George III.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was reported to be "furious". Ubi and his allies repeated the festival in 1973 with at least 1,400 in attendance. In 1973, the '''''' (
SI 1973/1113) were introduced. In 1974, 7,000 people turned up but it was violently broken up by police, who made 220 arrests, and the festival was banned. Dwyer was jailed the next year for distributing leaflets to promote another festival and Rawle was given three months for reproducing parts of Ubi's leaflets in the
underground newspaper
International Times. ==Features==