Web Design Maidenhead

Maidenhead has a rich history dating back to the Roman era. According to the antiquary John Leland, Maidenhead was once a small Roman settlement called Alaunodunum that disappeared by the end of the Roman occupation. Evidence of Roman settlement in Maidenhead can still be found, including two well-known villa sites. One of these villas sat on the route of the Camlet Way, a Roman road that linked Silchester and Colchester via St Albans.

The town’s name comes from the area where the first “New wharf” or “Maiden Hythe” was built in Saxon times. In 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and disembarked from their longboats by the wharf and ferry crossing at Maidenhead. They then made their way overland to Reading, where they set up camp and made it their regional power base.

Maidenhead grew as a river port and market town when a wooden bridge was erected across the river in about 1280 to replace the ferry in South Ellington. This led to the development of medieval Maidenhead, and by the mid-18th century, it was one of the busiest coaching towns in England. Many coaches passed through the town daily, and it became populated with numerous inns. Today, the late 18th-century Bear Hotel on the High Street is the best of the town’s old coaching inns that still survives.

The Great Western Railway came to the town, and it began to expand. The muddy roads were replaced, and public services were installed. The High Street began to change again, and substantial Victorian red brick architecture began to appear throughout the town. Maidenhead became its own entity in 1894, being split from the civil parishes of both Bray and Cookham. Maidenhead Citadel Corps of the Salvation Army was first opened in the town in the mid-1880s, and by Edwardian times, nearby Boulter’s Lock became a favoured resort, especially on Ascot Sunday. Skindles Hotel developed a reputation for illicit liaisons.

Overall, Maidenhead has a rich and fascinating history dating back to ancient times. The town has undergone significant changes over the centuries, but its historical and cultural heritage remains an essential part of its character and identity.