Rediscovered in the 1950s
Published in Windlesora 20 (2003)
© WLHG
Fifty years ago there was considerable excitement in Old Windsor when workmen digging trenches for a new housing estate found pottery that was clearly of archaeological interest. Within a few weeks a major excavation site was under way under the direction of Dr Brian Hope Taylor. The site lay to the south east of St Peter’s Church in a field once known as Kingsbury and it was soon realised that this might be the site of the original Saxon settlement of Windsor which was founded some 400-500 years before the castle was built.
Work on the excavation continued for some five years, producing numerous Saxon, Norman and medieval artefacts, including the remains of a huge water mill and a stone building which must surely have housed an important household — maybe the king. Most of the finds were sent to Reading Museum for storage, but a small selection was put on display in the Guildhall Exhibition at Windsor. In pride of place was a small metal brooch, known affectionately as the Kingsbury Beast.
In 1973 I began taking adult education classes in Windsor local history. At that date there were no recent books on the history of the town, as against a score or more about the castle. One step ahead of the classes I needed to find out the history for myself. It was at about this time that I saw the Kingsbury excavation material for the first time.
The display was disappointingly small and the published reports were short. There was a clear need for something better. From this dissatisfaction grew a determination to produce a history of Windsor and its Saxon predecessor, and in 1976 the Windsor Local History Publications Group was founded.
The following year the Group published its first book The Changing Face of Windsor: The Beginnings. It was a modest book of 32 pages; four of them devoted to the history of the royal town of Old Windsor. four of them devoted to the history of the royal town of Old Windsor.
Tragically this is still the longest report on the excavation*. There is no longer a display in the Guildhall; indeed there has not been since all the artefacts were returned to Reading in about 1982 when Dr Hope Taylor began work on his official report. That was twenty years ago, during which time there were numerous enquiries as to the progress and much interest in seeing the finds. It was with horror that I learned that work on the report on Old Windsor and several other important excavations had ceased quite some time before his death and a large amount of archival and archaeological material had been kept at his home in poor conditions. The material is now held by the National Monument Records of Scotland where the slow, meticulous work of conservation is taking place. I look forward to the time when the material is catalogued and a copy of this catalogue deposited with the Royal Borough Museum Collection. Maybe one day we might also be able to put the material on display again.
Judith Hunter
*This short article was checked by Dr. Hope Taylor before it was published in 1977. The Changing Face of Windsor is now out of print, but can be seen at Windsor Library.
Windsor Local History Group 