The waymark coordinates are for the National Trust UK sign near the Magna Carta Tearoom on Windsor Road, the way most people (read normal people) enter Runnymeade.
Not Blasterz. We came in the long way, from the train station at Egham along Cooper's Lane. We hiked the cowpath and blackberry bramble route to the Magna Carta Memorial, complete with a walk through a herd of cows, a warning honk from some swans, and a fall in some cow pats, but that's another story.
Mama Blaster is a huge US history nerd and a lawyer, so when we saw that Runnymeade had not been waymarked in the National Trust UK category, we knew we were going to have to come out here and write it up.
We were shocked that this deeply historic place is mostly marshy pasture with resident cows, and that the memorial to the signing of the Magna Carta was erected in 1957 by the American Bar Association which Mama Blaster is a member of. I'll pay my ABA dues with a little less grumbling now.)
If you didn't already know what happened here, you wouldn't really know what happened here. It is endlessly fascinating that Americans seem to hold this place more holy than the English do. I guess that's why we put up a somewhat gaudy monument in this otherwise peaceful floodplain pastureland.
Here's a short history of the event that put Runnymeade on history's map, from the History Channel: (
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"1215
Magna Carta sealed
Following a revolt by the English nobility against his rule, King John puts his royal seal on the Magna Carta, or “Great Charter.” The document, essentially a peace treaty between John and his barons, guaranteed that the king would respect feudal rights and privileges, uphold the freedom of the church, and maintain the nation’s laws. Although more a reactionary than a progressive document in its day, the Magna Carta was seen as a cornerstone in the development of democratic England by later generations.
John was enthroned as king of England following the death of his brother, King Richard the Lion-Hearted, in 1199. King John’s reign was characterized by failure. He lost the duchy of Normandy to the French king and taxed the English nobility heavily to pay for his foreign misadventures. He quarreled with Pope Innocent III and sold church offices to build up the depleted royal coffers. Following the defeat of a campaign to regain Normandy in 1214, Stephen Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury, called on the disgruntled barons to demand a charter of liberties from the king.
In 1215, the barons rose up in rebellion against the king’s abuse of feudal law and custom. John, faced with a superior force, had no choice but to give in to their demands. Earlier kings of England had granted concessions to their feudal barons, but these charters were vaguely worded and issued voluntarily. The document drawn up for John in June 1215, however, forced the king to make specific guarantees of the rights and privileges of his barons and the freedom of the church. On June 15, 1215, John met the barons at Runnymede on the Thames and set his seal to the Articles of the Barons, which after minor revision was formally issued as the Magna Carta.
The charter consisted of a preamble and 63 clauses and dealt mainly with feudal concerns that had little impact outside 13th century England. However, the document was remarkable in that it implied there were laws the king was bound to observe, thus precluding any future claim to absolutism by the English monarch. Of greatest interest to later generations was clause 39, which stated that “no free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised [dispossessed] or outlawed or exiled or in any way victimised…except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” This clause has been celebrated as an early guarantee of trial by jury and of habeas corpus and inspired England’s Petition of Right (1628) and the Habeas Corpus Act (1679).
In immediate terms, the Magna Carta was a failure–civil war broke out the same year, and John ignored his obligations under the charter. Upon his death in 1216, however, the Magna Carta was reissued with some changes by his son, King Henry III, and then reissued again in 1217. That year, the rebellious barons were defeated by the king’s forces. In 1225, Henry III voluntarily reissued the Magna Carta a third time, and it formally entered English statute law.
The Magna Carta has been subject to a great deal of historical exaggeration; it did not establish Parliament, as some have claimed, nor more than vaguely allude to the liberal democratic ideals of later centuries. However, as a symbol of the sovereignty of the rule of law, it was of fundamental importance to the constitutional development of England. Four original copies of the Magna Carta of 1215 exist today: one in Lincoln Cathedral, one in Salisbury Cathedral, and two in the British Museum."
From the National Trust UK website: (
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"Riverside site of the sealing of Magna Carta
Seen by many as the birthplace of modern democracy, this picturesque open landscape beside the Thames was witness to King John's historic sealing of the Magna Carta 800 years ago on 15 June 1215.
Today Runnymede is an ideal place to relax outdoors, or to pause and reflect on the history of the struggle for freedom. As well as a monument to the democratic legacy of the Magna Carta, you'll find further memorials to John F. Kennedy and the Commonwealth Air Forces.
Within easy reach of the M25, this peaceful river scenery is home to rolling hills, open meadows and a variety of wildlife. Enjoy a picnic, take in the views, ride your bike along the riverbank or bring your dog on one of our waymarked countryside walks.
On the other side of the Thames you'll find Ankerwycke, a hidden gem with secrets to discover among the woods and fields. Look out for the ruins of a Benedictine priory and the National Trust's oldest tree, a 2,500-year-old Yew where Henry VIII was rumoured to have courted Anne Boleyn.
We're open all year round, so come and explore a beautiful and important slice of history."