1785: Runnymede as a Race Course
Egham Races were a three-day event every autumn but in 1785 the Meeting became so unfashionable that only two horses ran. The Races were attended by King George IV in 1828 and by King William IV in 1836. In 1886 a last minute refusal by the London police to supply the necessary men to keep the pickpockets at bay, led to the races being cancelled. They then moved to their present site at Kempton Park and were never reinstated at Egham. Gaps in the hedges across the meads mark the site of the course.
1813: The Egham Inclosure Act
This Act of Parliament was passed to ensure that the meads should '... remain at all Times hereafter open and uninclosed ... Provided that the said several pieces or Parcels of Land ... used a long time past as a Race Course shall be kept and continued as a Race Course ...'
1931: Runnymede and the National Trust
In 1931, 188 acres of the meads were given to the National Trust by Lady Fairhaven and her two sons. The kiosks at the southern end and the lodges at the northern end (one of which now houses a National Trust tea-room and information centre) mark the boundaries of their gift. They were designed by Sir Edward Lutyens and were built as a memorial to Lady Fairhaven’s husband, Urban Broughton. The lodges, opened in 1932 by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) are Grade II listed buildings.
Part of the meads were protected to some extent against building before they were accepted by the National Trust as they are Lammas Land and subject to certain common rights for part of the year. Speculative development has been prevented and in 1963 the Egham Urban District Council gave 110 acres of the wooded Cooper's Hill Slopes to the National Trust. The Trust raised the money for the purchase of the Lily Pond land on the river bank, helped by Surrey County Council. Thus more riverside land was made available to the public and the preservation of the countryside surrounding Runnymede ensured. A donation from the Imperial War Graves Commission was spent on clearing the Cooper's Hill Slopes.
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