Windsor is a historic market town in Berkshire, England, located 21.7 miles west of Charing Cross, London. Windsor was known to the Anglo-Saxons as Windlesora, meaning "winch by the riverside", and the original settlement came to be known as "Old Windsor" as a newer and larger Windsor developed further west. Windsor was the site of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle constructed by William the Conqueror in 1070, and Henry I of England later rebuilt the castle and married his second wife at Windsor Castle in 1121. The new town developed in earnest after 1170, and it had the rights of a "free borough" due to royal favor. Windsor became a nationally significant town during the Middle Ages, and it was one of the top fifty wealthiest towns in the country by 1332. With the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, Windsor's pilgrim traffic died out, and the town began to stagnate. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Windsor became infamous for its poverty, badly made streets, and poor housing, and it supported the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. The resumption of royal residence in 1778 and the redevelopment of the castle in the 19th century led to the town's revival, transforming it from a sleepy medieval town into a major center of the British Empire. In 2018, Windsor had 32,608 residents, and, in every election after 1874, Windsor was represented by a Conservative Party MP.
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