Windsor Park is famous for the Long Walk—three straight miles of elms, planted by Charles II.; for the beautiful artificial lake, known as Virginia Water; and for the mausoleum in the grounds of Frogmore House, where Queen Victoria and the good Prince Consort lie buried. (On one day only—December 14—every year is this open to the public.)
The road keeps near the river, and passes close to historic Magna Charta Island, where the unwilling John Lackland signed the great charter of English liberty in 1215.
STAINES
possesses an important bridge, the descendant of a wooden one which stood there in 1262. The stone bridge, put up in 1792, gave way, and its successor, built in 1803, was a bold engineering feat in the form of a single iron span of 180 feet; but this, too, had to be replaced, and in 1829 the present stone bridge was planned. It was opened in 1832 by William IV. and Queen Adelaide.
After passing the picturesque Hampton Court Green, one reaches Wolsey's magnificent red-brick palace—
HAMPTON COURT
The site had been in the possession of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and it was from the Prior that Cardinal Wolsey obtained a lease in 1514. He demolished the manor-house, then standing, and in its place planned the stately palace, with its several courtyards entered by great gateways of red brick and stone. Here the princely ecclesiastic entertained in a manner so sumptuous that the Court of Henry VIII. was outshone by its brilliance. In 1526, the King having commented on this fact, Wolsey promptly handed over his palace to his royal master, who did not hesitate to accept a gift so pleasing. After Wolsey's death, Henry spent much time at Hampton Court, and rebuilt a large part of the palace.
To chronicle a bare summary of historic events which took place in the castle is not possible here, but in the early period of its existence Edward VI. was born there, and within these old red walls Jane Seymour died, Catherine Howard was disgraced, and Catherine Parr was married. Here, too, Charles I. spent his honeymoon, and afterwards was confined as a prisoner for three months.
KINGSTON-ON-THAMES
on the other side of the river, is a busy little town of some picturesqueness, possessing at one end of its narrowing market-place the famous Coronation Stone from which the place derives its name. The Perpendicular church, which is large and contains a monument by Chantrey, used to have a quaint custom of cracking nuts during the services on the Sunday preceding Michaelmas Eve. So great was the noise of crunching nuts that it was almost impossible to hear the voice of the clergyman.