Windsor Forest for Edward III in 1350. It became the centre of the subdivision of Easthampstead Walke and was widely used by him and his descendants: Richard II, Henry VI and Richard III all issued decrees from the park. Henry VII and his son Prince Arthur arranged the latter's marriage to Catherine of Aragon at the lodge and later rode out from here for their first meeting on Finchampstead Ridges. The lady's second husband, Henry VIII also hunted here. When their marriage turned sour, Catherine retired (or was banished) to Easthampstead and it was here that she received the news that the King had finalised their divorce. This old house stood near the centre of the park, approximately where the path between Home Farm and Wooden Hill meets the modern Golf Course. There are slight remains of a moat. The place was later granted to William Trumbull on the condition that he keep up the deer park. His grandson was envoy to France and Ambassador to Turkey. In his retirement, he loved to gather literary society about him, at Easthampstead. The present imposing Jacobean style mansion was put up on the park's northern edge for the Marquis of Downshire in 1860.
Easthampstead old parish has gone. It survived for a while, though with its place of worship lying well within the modern parish of Bracknell, but now it has been entirely swallowed up. The parish church was almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th century by the Marchioness of Downshire, but it still retains some interesting fittings, particularly the screen made from panels of a former rood, and delightful Pre-Raphaelite windows by Burne-Jones & Morris. Memorials include one to Elijah Fenton, tutor of Trumbull's son, who translated the Odyssey with Alexander Pope (from Binfield). The latter wrote his epitaph.
The Nine Mile Ride is probably the most well known of the rides created throughout this area of Windsor Forest for Queen Anne (and later George III). In old age, she was unable to ride with the hunt, so liked to follow in her carriage instead. Hence the rides were required.
William Shorter, the leader of a group of vicious eighteenth century bandits known as the Wokingham Blacks (see Wokingham), was finally captured at a criminal meeting in the Forest Lodge at Caesar's Camp. The deputy-custodian of Bigshot Rayle had been threatened and his house attacked. So, knowing that most of the gang had already been rounded up, he had informed the authorities of a secret rendezvous he was to have with the culprits at the lodge. The Sheriff and his men just had to lie in wait, and Shorter and his gang were sprung like rats in a trap. He was hanged on the county boundary at Wishmoor Cross.
The Blacks were not the only ruffians in the area. One William Davies, a well-to-do Gloucestershire farmer made regular trips to Berkshire, but he didn't reap corn here. He held up the local coaches and took gold from their passengers, always leaving behind their jewels an other valuables. His neighbours always wondered why his bills were paid in gold. Little did they know he was the infamous Golden Farmer: a man with something of a Robin-Hood reputation. For many a local poor man became accustomed to finding a golden guinea thrust beneath his door on nights when the highwayman had been abroad. The pub in South Hill Road is called the Golden Farmer after him. It is said to stand on the site of an earlier building that William frequented on, what was then, the middle of Ascot Heath. He was eventually caught and hanged in London. His body being hung in chains next to the old pub.
See also Easthampstead Hamlets
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