the castle that stands there today was the original. It turns out it was not! I checked with our friend Paul Fogg, who manages the awesome Langton House Bed and Breakfast (where we had 2 great stays). He told me that the first Windsor Castle was a wooden fort. He also told me what the theory is about where the name came from. In today's blog, you'll read about the first Windsor Castle, courtesy of an article from the UK Independent newspaper, and then a note from Paul about the origin of the name.
Our friend Paul said, "The castle is here because its 1 days horse ride from the City of London...thats the original part of London with the square mile and the Tower of London... and near the river and on a hill so a good safe defensive position. Original "castle" is an old wooden fort in Old Windsor (just an earthwork now) which eventually moved up to current position - apparently the Windsor bit may have come from "windlass" which is a type of winch that was used on the river in some way... perhaps there was a drop here that they had to winch boats up... eventually Windlass became Windsor - this is just a theory as I'm not sure anyone really knows."
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| An artist's impression shows for the first time what Windsor Castle would have looked like in around 1085 – just a decade and a half after it was constructed ( Royal Collection Trust/Bob Marshall ) |
THE FIRST CASTLE- The UK Independent newspaper said, " William the Conqueror ordered that three major new fortresses should be built along the Thames – in Oxford, in Wallingford and at Windsor. That first Windsor Castle, built in 1071 to deter Anglo-Saxon rebels, is thought to have consisted of a multi-story wooden keep on top of a large earthen mound flanked to its north and west by a two-and-a-half acre palisaded triangular courtyard (known as a bailey or ward).
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| Our pic from 2013 of Windsor Castle & the Queen Victoria statue |
It was probably built there for three very specific reasons. Being on a hill it was easier to defend and, because the Thames was unusually narrow at that point, it could be easily bridged. Indeed, it is now thought that the very first Windsor Bridge was probably built by William the Conqueror at the same time that the castle was erected. The third reason was its proximity to an Anglo-Saxon royal palace at Old Windsor – just one-and-a-half miles away.
Today all that is left of the original 1071 castle is the great central mound and around 100 metres of the line of part of the original timber palisade (now the stone-built north wall of the so-called Middle Ward – largely the original triangular courtyard).
You can read the full article here, and learn the rest of the history of the castle: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/windsor-castle-original-size-reconstruction-medieval-fortress-a8321766.html
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