History of Maidenhead

Maidenhead’s local history goes back to the Stone Age. 

The town grew out of a small hamlet when the first bridge was built.

Maidenhead became a major point on the Great West Road as it offered travellers a much more direct route from London to the West Country.  Many coaching inns were established here as it was a day's travel from London.

In the 19th century, with the advent of the railways, Maidenhead became a sophisticated Thameside resort.

Read on for some key dates in the history of Maidenhead, courtesy of Maidenhead Heritage Centre. 

The Heritage Centre is free to look around and some of the oldest objects in their collection are about 4,000 years old!

There you can read more about Maidenhead’s history in the many books available to buy at the Heritage Centre shop or to consult in their reference library.

Maidenhead 100AD to Present Day

100/400 Roman Villa in Cox Green.  Maidenhead Heritage Centre's collection includes finds from the villa.
620 Saxon Warrior king Taeppa buried in Taplow.
997 Witan (Saxon parliament) meets in Cookham.
1086 Domesday Book – entries for Bray, Cookham, Elentone (modern North Town) … but Maidenhead does not yet exist.
1250 First wooden bridge is built and the town begins to grow.
1451 Guild of St Andrew & St Mary is founded – start of civic life.
1582 Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. 
1612 The Godayn Seal in use as the town seal.
1647 King Charles I’s last meeting with his children, at an inn in Maidenhead High Street.
1740 First Performance of Rule Britannia, at Cliveden.
1772 Boulters Lock built, the first ‘pound lock’ on the middle Thames.
1777 The present stone Maidenhead Bridge is built. Maidenhead’s prosperity is based on the coaching trade.
1839 Brunel’s “Sounding Arch” railway bridge is built and the Coaching era comes to an end.
1891 Artist Sir Stanley Spencer RA born in Cookham.
1894 Greatest Flood on Record.
1897 Diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria.
1903 Lifting of toll of Maidenhead bridge, after 750 years.
1914/18 In the first world war, Maidenhead suffers 900 casualties from a population of c. 13,000. Four Victoria Crosses are awarded to local people.
1927 Ivor Novello buys Redroofs at Littlewick Green as his country house. 
1935 Opening of White Waltham aerodrome.
1940 Wartime HQ of Air Transport Auxiliary established at White Waltham. 
1947 Most severe flood of 20th century.
1948 Maidonian rower Bert Bushnell wins a Gold Medal in the London Olympic Games for his victory in Men’s Double Sculls.
1950/66 Hammer, the ‘House of Horror’, make over 80 films in Bray. 
1957 A Vanwall racing car, driven by Stirling Moss, becomes the first British car to win the British Grand Prix since 1934.
1957 First flight of the Fairey Rotodyne, the world’s first vertical take-off airliner, promising fast city-centre to city-centre travel.
1961 The Profumo Affair (at Cliveden).
1961 Completion of Maidenhead bypass – after 38 years!
1972 Building of relief roads, named after our twin towns in Germany, France and Italy.
1974 Local government reorganization replaces the Borough of Maidenhead with the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead.
1997 New parliament constituency of Maidenhead is formed.
2002 The Maidenhead Windsor and Eton Flood Alleviation Scheme (known as the Jubilee River) is opened, providing protection against floods of 1947 proportions.
2003 Worst floods since 1947. Maidenhead is saved by the Jubilee River, but there is severe flooding from Cookham to Hurley.
2003 Maidenhead Library, designed by Ahrends Burton & Koralek and completed in 1972, becomes the town’s first post-war listed building.
2004 Maidonian rowers Cath Bishop and Katharine Grainger win Silver medals at the Athens Olympic Games.
2005 ‘The Fat Duck’ at Bray voted the best restaurant in the world.
2006 Sounding Arch railway bridge used for commemorative stamp celebrating Brunel’s bicentenary.
2012 London Olympic Games: Maidonian rower Katherine Grainger wins Gold medals in the Womens’ Double Sculls.
2012 London Paralympic Games: Maidenhead rider Sophie Christiansen wins 3 Gold Medals with her horse Janeiro 6. A postbox in Maidenhead High Street is painted gold in her honour.
2014-15 Severe flooding in the Thames Valley but Maidenhead and Windsor are protected by the Jubilee River.
2016 Maidenhead’s MP Theresa May becomes Prime Minister following the EU referendum and the resignation of David Cameron.
2016 Rio Olympic Games: Maidenhead athletes bring home a huge medal haul in rowing, kayaking and hockey.