Origins

"Giles holds Elentone. Siward held it before 1066.  Then and now for 3 hides. Land for 4 ploughs.  Two men, Hugh and Landri, hold from Giles; they have 2 ploughs, 6 villagers and 4 cottagers with 1 plough. Meadow, 16 acres, woodland at 10 pigs.  The value was 60 shillings and now 40 shillings."

This entry from the Domesday Book (compiled in 1086) provides us with the earliest record of Maidenhead’s existence.  Then the settlement was known as Elentone which was roughly one mile north of the current position of the town centre.  Excavations of the area near North Town Cricket Club have found a Norman moated longhouse and evidence of a kitchen, forge, wells and a stable. Elentone consisted of about 360 acres of land, and was held by Ghilo de Pinkey who was a Norman knight.  The area of Pinkneys Green comes from his name.  

It is thought that the population of  Elentone at that time was around 42, mainly workers who relied on the lord of the manor, although records only show the heads of the households totalling 12.
Until 1296, Maidenhead was known as 'South Ellington', due to its location just south of the Norman settlement of Elentone.  After 1296, it was superseded by the name Maidenhead yet it was not until 1724 that the present day spelling was adopted.

Up to 33 variations of the name have been found in old records, including Maydenhith, Middenhithe, Maidenheath.  The origins of the name have been debated, but it is generally agreed that in this context 'maiden' means new and 'hythe' means a wharf or landing place.

When the first wooden bridge was built in about 1250, a wharf was built at its western (Maidenhead) end, perhaps leading to the name Maidenhead.  So it was the bridge that brought prosperity to Maidenhead and put the new name firmly on the map.

Dramatic Past

For a relatively small town, Maidenhead has seen a fair amount of drama over the centuries.  What is now Maidenhead Bridge was the scene of a three-day pitched battle in 1400 following a botched assassination attempt on Henry IV.  The perpetrator, the Earl of Salisbury, had fled to Reading as his supporters fought a delaying action in Maidenhead to cover his escape.  It was unsuccessful: they were eventually overwhelmed and the earl was captured and executed.

The well-loved but doomed King Charles I, having lost the English Civil War, was held captive for a short while near Maidenhead.  He was granted leave to visit his two young sons at the Greyhound Inn, and the townspeople strew the road with flowers as he was marched to meet them.  Thomas Fairfax, the local Parliamentarian commander, was so touched by the dignity of the occasion that he allowed the two boys to return with their father to spend the remainder of his incarceration with him in a state of gentlemanly house arrest.

The town last saw military action in 1688, with Maidenhead Bridge again in the thick of things, as Irish troops under James II were routed from the town during their general retreat from Reading.

Maidenhead’s Heyday

Maidenhead’s prosperity is due in no small part to the A4 Bath Road.  Like the rest of the Old Roman road network, it became a busy commercial thoroughfare, in this case linking the important cities of Londinium and Aquae Sulis.  By the 18th century, it was recognised as the busiest coaching-stop in the country.  The White Hart could stable 50 horses and the Sun Inn on Castle Hill had an enterprising landlord who would assure worried coachmen that the notorious Maidenhead Thicket was quite safe and, as they passed it, he would rob them there later in the evening.  He was not the only one – Dick Turpin was occasionally active on the approaches to Maidenhead, retreating to his aunt’s in nearby Sonning after terrorising the Bath Road where the Thicket Roundabout now stands.

Edwardian Maidenhead had something of a risqué reputation: the town was a place of recreation for members of the Guards Club, whose lady friends (the Gaiety Girls) lodged in close proximity to the riverside quarters of the officers themselves.  Well into the 1920s, Maidenhead was the place where fashionable London motored to let its hair down, as recorded in Michael Arlen’s novel, The Green Hat (1924).

Fans of Isambard Kingdom Brunel can marvel at his superb 'Sounding Arch' railway bridge, which carries the westcountry mainline railway over the Thames just downstream of Maidenhead Bridge.  It has the widest, flattest spans ever built in brick.  Stand under the bridge and clap your hands. You should get at least six, possibly eight echoes back, hence the name 'Sounding Arch'.  The first train steamed across the bridge on 12th April 1839, spelling the end of Maidenhead’s role as a coaching town.

Modern Maidenhead

The town today – the largest in the Royal Borough – still retains the charm that earned it the nickname 'Jewel of the Thames' but has shed its decadent image, retaining just a touch of glamour in its role as home to many media and showbusiness personalities.

The river at Maidenhead has a very restful atmosphere, the peace only broken by the roar of the weir at the far end of Ray Mill Island.  Boulter’s Lock was made famous by Gregory’s painting Ascot Sunday in 1895 and today many local people and visitors enjoy watching the colourful spectacle of boats passing through the lock during the summer months.

Maidenhead is surrounded by pretty villages, parks and open spaces offering walkers and cyclists hours of pleasure.  If you prefer messing about in boats, there’s no better place to explore than the Maidenhead stretch of the River Thames.

Further information can be found at www.maidenheadheritage.org.uk

Maidenhead Town Partnership