Windsor Old Town - what's around the Castle

Adjacent to the Old Town, sticking out prominently into the main road and next to Market Cross House, is the Guildhall. The Guildhall was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1690 - architect of St. Paul's Cathedral in London - whose family came from Windsor.

The story of the Guildhall is that the councillors did not believe that Wren's design could stay up, and insisted that the central columns be added in the interests of safety - Wren built the columns, but made them an inch short of the ceiling, to prove his architectural ability.

The Guildhall Windsor is now home to the Windsor & Royal Borough Museum. This small local history museum offers a colection of articles relating to the history of the town and the area, from prehistoric times through the Roman and Saxon eras, Victorian, right up to the present day.

The Guildhall was where Prince Charles and Mrs Camilla Parker-Bowles were married in 2005. In the same year the Guildhall also hosted the first ever same sex marriage in England between Elton John and David Furnish.

Directly opposite the Old Town are two large old coaching inns now hotels and a bank with ATM's. Down in front of the Castle down to Windsor Central Station and beyond is a whole string off restaurants for all budgets. The further you go down the hill the more upmarket they become.

Windsor Central Station pictured right is full of coffee shops and places that do light lunches spilling out onto the pedestrianised interior. If you walk into the Central Station there are exits into the local shopping centre. There is a large Waitrose supermarket here too.

At the end of the station complex is the one platform for trains themselves. The actual station part of the complex is very small, most of the room being taken up by retail opportunities. There is an old steam train here and you can continue walking over an elevated walkway to Alexandra Gardens by the River Thames. This is where the coach park, Windsor Wheel and river trips start from.

In the shadow of Windsor Castle at the bottom of the hill from the Castle is the local theatre, the Theatre Royal Windsor.

The Theatre Royal is a commercial theatre. The repertoire is wide, ranging from the classics and traditional pantomime to first productions of new work some of which subsequently transfer to the West End.

Most people going to the theatre are locals, but there is nothing stopping visitors attending.

Tickets are often available on the door. Performances are every evening except Sundays with matinees normally on Thursday and Saturdays in the afternoon.

The present building was completed in 1910 but theatre in Windsor can be traced back as far as 1706.

Theatre Royal, Windsor