With royal connections going back to King Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), the Great Park was enclosed for the hunting of deer and wild boar during the 13th century with a series of fences and ditches known as park pale.

One of the most significant planting of trees was at Cranbourne Walk within the Windsor forest. This planting in 1580 is claimed to be the first documented plantation of trees and was ordered by Lord Burleigh in the wake of the war with Spain to replenish timber stocks for the Navy and provide for the future.

Purchases of land by King Charles II in 1680 enabled the planting of the great avenue of elm trees to be called the Long Walk. This impressive landscape feature that links Windsor Castle with the Great Park was followed by an active period of landscaping and many of the avenues, woods and coverts seen today are a legacy of this period.

Lodges were built in the 17th and 18th centuries to house park administrators. One of these, the Duke of Cumberland, was responsible for making the great artificial lake at Virginia Water in the southern area of the park.

A significant historic landmark is the statue at the southern end of the Long Walk of King George III sitting astride a horse. Known popularly as the Copper Horse it commemorates King George's significant contribution to the development of the Great Park, which included the introduction of the farms that still thrive to this day.

Victorian Times

During the Victorian era Windsor Great Park played an important part in the lives of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. Appointed Ranger of the park, the Prince Consort developed the farming and forestry interests within the park.

Plantations along with individual specimen trees, many of which were introduced by the Royal Family and foreign visitors, are a lasting memory of the Victorian era.

Cottages were built to house estate workers and Queen Victoria had a school built so that children of workers could receive an education. The school, Crown assisted within the Berkshire Education Authority, still serves the same function to this day.

Recent History

The 20th century saw a period of social development within the Great Park. A village to house park workers and their families was constructed along with the facilities of a village club and a local shop. The Savill and Valley Gardens were laid out in the 1930s and 40s with their subsequent development continuing to this day. The war years saw an upheaval in the land management with deer lawns and pasture being turned over to arable stock. The deer herds were removed at the end of the Second World War and were reintroduced by the present ranger, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, in 1979.

In October 2003, The Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, unveiled The Jubilee Statue at the highest point of Queen Anne's Ride. The statue, in bronze, depicts Her Majesty on horseback, one and a half times life size. It was the first public statue of Her Majesty to be unveiled by Her in the United Kingdom.

2006 saw both the creation of The Royal Landscape and the opening of The Savill Building. This iconic visitor centre provides a new entrance to The Savill Garden and a gateway to The Royal Landscape, a unique heritage site comprising the 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of The Savill Garden, Valley Gardens and Virginia Water.