WINDSOR, or NEW WINDSOR, Eng land, a town in Berkshire, on the Thames, 21 miles by rail west of London. Windsor and Eton (q.v.) practically form one town, which is chiefly interesting on account of the castle and park, a favorite residence of the English sovereigns since the time of William the Con queror. The original royal palace, where the Saxon kings lived before the Conquest, was at Old Windsor, about two miles distant. but the present site was chosen and the castle built by William; later extensions were added by Henry I and Henry II, but during the reign of Ed ward III it was torn down and rebuilt by Wil liam of \Vykeham, bishop of Winchester. The new castle received various additions by the orders of succeeding monarchs until the time of Queen Victoria, who restored and sump tuously decorated Albert chapel as a memorial to the Prince Consort, Albert. The buildings com prise upper, lower and middle wards, extending along the crest of an eminence rising 42 feet above the river and coeering 12 acres in the Little or Home Park, which is connected with the Great Park and adjoining Windsor Forest, the whole occupying an area of 13,000 acres, 56 miles in circumference. The lower ward on the west contains Saint George's chapel, the Albert chapel, the houses of the military knights, clois ters, etc.; the Nliddle Ward, dominated by the
Rotund Tower, rising to a height of 80 feet, built by Edward Ill to accommodate the round table of the Knights of the Order of the Garter, containing the rooms which were up to 1660 used as a prison; the Upper Ward on the east, comprised of the private apartments, the library and the long corridor. Saint George's Hall, the Waterloo Chamber, the Throne Room and the old Ball Room, compris ing the state apartments in the Upper Ward, have valuable collections of paintings, statuary, etc. Under Saint George's chapel is the burial vault of several English rulers and members of the royal family The royal palace and the mausoleum of Frogrnore. Lodge and Virginia Water are in the park. The town hall of Windsor was built by Christopher Wren 1658. Consult Dixon, W sor' (London 1879-801; Hope, \V. H., 'Wind sor Castle: An Architectural History' (2 vols., London 1914); Lakin, C; F., 'Furniture of Windsor Castle' (New York 190); Loftie, W. J., 'Windsor: The Castle, Park, Town and 'Neighborhood' (London 1886); Tighe, J. E., 'Annals of Windsor' (1858),