About
The Windsor & Royal Borough Museum occupies the ground floor of the historic Guildhall in the heart of Windsor, a building intimately connected with the town's history and with Sir Christopher Wren, who completed its design in 1689–90. The museum tells the story of Windsor and the surrounding Royal Borough — encompassing Maidenhead, Ascot, and the villages of the Thames Valley — from prehistoric times through the medieval period to the present day, with particular emphasis on the town's extraordinary relationship with the Crown over a thousand years.
Windsor's identity has been shaped by the castle above it more than almost any other town in England. The museum explores how the presence of successive monarchs — from William the Conqueror, who established the first Windsor Castle in the 1070s, to the present Royal Family — has influenced the town's physical fabric, economic life, social character, and cultural institutions. Royal processional routes, the pageantry of St George's Chapel and the Order of the Garter, the Victorian railway that brought day-trippers to see the Queen at Windsor, and the changing relationship between the town and its famous resident are all examined through the collections.
Beyond royalty, the museum documents the everyday life of Windsor's inhabitants across the centuries: the medieval bridge and river trade, the market and fair traditions, the growth of the borough through Georgian and Victorian suburban development, local crafts and industries, and the lives of the ordinary families — tradespeople, servants, soldiers, and shopkeepers — who made the town function in the shadow of the great castle. The collections include archaeology from Bronze Age river finds to Roman occupation, medieval ceramics and metalwork, paintings and prints of the town and castle, and an outstanding collection of royal commemorative ware.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- The museum is in the Guildhall directly below Windsor Castle — make it the natural first or last stop on a Windsor Castle day out, since it provides essential context for the castle's history.
- The Guildhall building itself is a highlight: examine Sir Christopher Wren's famous dummy columns in the open arcade and the building's exterior detailing before you go inside.
- Windsor town centre parking is expensive and congested — arrive by train from London Waterloo (Windsor & Eton Riverside, 55 minutes direct) or change at Slough for the Central station branch.
- The museum occasionally closes or reduces hours for civic events such as weddings — check the website or phone before making a special journey.
- The royal commemorative ware collection is among the finest in southern England: a brilliant resource for collectors or anyone interested in the popular culture of the monarchy.
- The museum's local history library holds an archive of photographs and documents relating to Windsor and the surrounding villages — researchers should contact the museum in advance to arrange access.
- Combine with the Berkshire Yeomanry Museum on Oxford Road (a 15-minute walk) for a full morning of Windsor's military and civic heritage.
Highlights
The Wren Guildhall Building
The museum is housed in one of England's finest surviving Guildhall buildings, completed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1689–90 for the Windsor Corporation.
The building's most celebrated feature is its open ground-floor arcade — legend holds that Wren omitted the central columns (which the Corporation had insisted upon) to demonstrate that the floor above needed no such support, and installed dummy columns that stop short of the ceiling to prove his point.
Whether true or apocryphal, the story is quintessentially Wren: the building is an architectural demonstration as much as a civic space.
Visitors can examine the external arcade and the building's detailing from the pavement before entering.
Royal Windsor: A Thousand Years of Monarchy
The museum's central permanent display traces Windsor's extraordinary relationship with the British monarchy from the Norman Conquest to the present day.
Original documents, royal portraits, maps showing the castle's changing form, and a timeline of the monarchs who called Windsor home tell the story of how a Norman defensive motte became the world's largest inhabited castle and the preeminent royal residence. Key moments are highlighted — the construction of St George's Chapel by Edward IV, the Order of the Garter ceremonies, the Victorian transformation of the castle under Wyatville, and the funerals of monarchs from Henry VIII to Elizabeth II.
Royal Commemorative Ware Collection
The museum holds an outstanding collection of royal commemorative ceramics, glass, and metalwork spanning from the earliest produced commemoratives through to the present reign.
Coronation mugs, jubilee plates, royal wedding commemoratives, and mourning ware mark the great moments of royal life across three centuries. Windsor, as the most royal of English towns, accumulated these objects in extraordinary concentrations, and the collection reflects not only the events themselves but the commercial and popular culture that surrounded the monarchy — the Staffordshire potters, the Doulton factories, and the souvenir makers who turned royal occasions into popular phenomena.
Medieval Windsor: Bridge, Market, and River
Before the castle dominated, Windsor was already a significant river crossing and market town, and this gallery explores the medieval foundations of the settlement. The original Thames crossing, the development of the market place, the parish church of St John the Baptist, and the economic life of the river — fishing, milling, boat building, and trans-shipment of goods — are all documented through archaeological finds and documentary sources.
Medieval ceramics, coins, and metalwork recovered from the Thames and from Windsor's historic building plots demonstrate the town's prosperity in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Collections
The Windsor & Royal Borough Museum holds approximately 8,000 objects and an extensive archive relating to the history of Windsor and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. The collection is strongest in royal commemorative ware (one of the most comprehensive in south-east England), topographical art depicting Windsor and the castle, and archaeological material from the Thames and town centre excavations.
Local history holdings encompass trade records, maps, photographs, and personal papers from the eighteenth century onwards.
The museum also maintains a local history library available by appointment for researchers.
Royal documents and correspondence form a significant archival strand, reflecting Windsor's proximity to the royal household.
Windsor: Town, Castle, and Crown
The main permanent exhibition tracing Windsor's history from prehistoric times to the present, with emphasis on the royal connection.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.