The Thames-side meadow where King John sealed Magna Carta in 1215, now National Trust grassland dotted with memorials
Open accessNational Trust land — free to wander
This is where it happened, or near enough: in June 1215 King John met his rebellious barons in the meadows by the River Thames and put his seal to Magna Carta, the charter that first set down that even a king was bound by the law. The exact spot is lost, but the water-meadow between Windsor and Staines has kept the name and the association. The National Trust looks after the grassland today, and it is free to wander. Several memorials stand about the site and on the wooded hill behind it: the Magna Carta Memorial, a small domed temple raised by the American Bar Association; the John F. Kennedy Memorial, on an acre of ground given to the United States; and, up on Cooper’s Hill, the Air Forces Memorial to Commonwealth airmen of the Second World War who have no known grave. The Thames Path runs along the riverbank, and Egham station is the nearest if you come by train.
