Europe - Northern Europe & Scandinavia

Eton -More than a College

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There are few people who have never heard of Eton College but the town itself is less well-known as it sits in the shadow of its nearby sister town of Windsor.  Situated just across the river from the Royal Borough and accessed via a pedestrian footbridge, the town of Eton, a settlement since at least Saxon times, has a rich and diverse heritage.

Eton College

The mile-long High Street leading down to Eton College has remained unchanged for many years but the name has always been Eton, or Eyot-tun, meaning ‘settlement on an island’.  In the 1086 Domesday Book, the town is listed as ‘Ettone’, with two mills, a meadow, woodland and fisheries and it was concentrated on the higher land.  Many royal processions have made their way along the High Street, most notably the funeral procession of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife, in 1537.  

Scenes along Eton High Street

This elegant little town is an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary retail outlets catering to its local population and a year-round tourist trade, with high-end gift shops, antiques and modern art establishments sitting alongside shops selling traditional medicines and complementary beauty therapies.   The traditional shop fronts and the boys in their traditional school dress (often seen around town) give a sense of stepping back in time.

Local shops in Eton High Street

The Thames has always been important to the town which initially flourished due to fish farming, and goods into and out of Eton were conveyed by barge – including the stones used to build Eton College Chapel.

Photos 1-2 – Boats on the River Thames at Eton. 3 – The River at Eton by Eduardo Vieira (Pixabay).

Connected by the footbridge from Windsor, Eton has an importance of its own, and the Eton Walkway, a 2-mile/one-hour circular walk, connecting 18 points of interest in the town starting at Windsor Bridge is the perfect way to find out about the historical importance of the town.  This walk is marked out by permanent, bronze, lozenge-like symbols set in the ground to identify the route, the 18 shields marking: The King’s Stables, the Cockpit, Porny School, Baldwin’s Bridge, Eton College, the Burning Bush, Eton Wall Game at the Timbralls, Skinners’ Bridge, Herschel Observatory, the Gormley Statue, Keate House, the Natural History Museum, Museum of Antiquities, St John’s Church, Jubilee Square, the Brocas and Eton Boat House.  Information on each point of significance is included on the Outdoor Guide website. 

1. Eton Chapel 2. Eton 3. The Quad at Eton 4. Tudor Chimneys at Eton

It’s impossible to speak of Eton without reference to Eton College which occupies the whole of Eton north of Barnes Pool bridge and is second only to Winchester as the oldest public school in England.   The College was founded by Henry VI in 1440, modelled on Winchester which had been founded by William of Wykeham, and Henry decreed that there were to be 70 King’s Scholars, who were to be educated for free and housed in the College. Outside the College, so-called Oppidans were lodged in the town and received the same education. Originally the houses were run by Dames, but more recently they have been run by House Masters. Today there are 24 boarding houses for Oppidans and over 1,300 boys in all.

1. Classroom entrance at Eton 2. Cloisters 3. A much-graffitied desk in a classroom at Eton, and 4. King Henry Vl Founder of Eton, by Francis Bird (1719) in the cobbled school-yard.

The College looks after thousands of historic, artistic and natural objects, and welcomes visitors to its Museum of Eton Life, Museum of Antiquities and its Natural History Museum, which are open to the public free of charge on Sunday afternoons between 2:30pm and 5pm. 

So if you are in Windsor and find yourself with an hour or two to spare, just walk across the bridge into another world where time seems to have stood still. The shop-fronts look almost Dickensian but in Eton they are cleaner than those depicted in any of Dickens’ books – this is one of the cleanest towns I have ever visited. You will be amused by the items for sale in some of the shops, the old-school tailors, the haberdashery, even a sweet shop selling long forgotten sweets from jars.

And when you’ve had enough, just stroll back across the bridge into the real world again. Or nearly. It is, after all, the Royal Borough of Windsor.

20 thoughts on “Eton -More than a College”

  2. A great post on a fascinating place! I’ve heard of Eton as in the school of course, but I had no idea the town itself had much to see and do. It really does look to have an old world charm to it. It also looks like a place that lends itself beautifully to Autumn/ Winter, I can imagine all those Dickensian looking shop windows lit up as evening draws in.

    On a side note- £18.50 for a pair of socks! Ouch!

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  3. Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : Milreu, a walk back in time | Still Restlessjo

  4. What a long and prestigious history Eton has. The buildings are magical and I could easily imagine both Tudor funeral processions and uniformed school boys amongst these grand structures.
    Love the desk? With the graffiti scratchings.

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  7. Thanks, Mari, for that highly interesting travel guide. I need to take Mary there. Who knows, though, when we’ll be able to travel to England again?!
    Have a great weekend,
    Pit
    P.S.: I really like the explanation of the etymology of the name “Eton”.

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    1. Ah! Such a nice comment. I do hope you’ll be able to start travelling again, as I hope I will and all my friends and family. It’s been a long, long slog. Today I left my island for only the second time since Covid, the first time for a funeral, and although there were signs everywhere on the ferry crossing asking people to wear masks, very few paid any attention. That saddens me as that could lessen my life.

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  8. Gosh, you remind me how long it is since I was in Eton! We’ve often taken visitors there in the past but I haven’t been for years! You’ve captured it very well, especially the buildings of Eton School (I’ve always called it a school although I note you use ‘college’) and the historic High Street shops etc. 🙂

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    1. I think you may have read this before I tagged on my final paragraph. When I hit publish and looked at it, I wasn’t happy with the ending so added a more personal bit at the end.

      I’m trying to get back into writing again after taking a long time away from it, so just picking on some images and taking it from there.

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