The Egham area has watched as Romans brought their trade and lifestyle here; has been referenced in the Domesday book; witnessed the sealing of the Magna Carta; suffered from the plague; developed into a thriving community serving the coaching trade; expanded with the arrival of the railway; suffered great losses in two World Wars and endured national lockdowns during the 2020-21 coronavirus pandemic.;xNLx;Egham Museum brings this story to life through a time-line of thematic displays. Links to external websites are provided for further information: the Museum accepts no responsibility for any views expressed in those websites.;xNLx;The Egham-by-Runnymede Historical Society (EbRHS) set up Egham Museum in 1968 to preserve our proud heritage and keep it in trust for future generations. The Museum is now governed by a separate charitable trust, The Egham Museum Trust (TEMT), but still works closely with the EbRHS.;xNLx;[Visit Egham Museum](http://eghammuseum.org/)
The High Street is thought to run along the route of a branch of the London to Silchester Roman road. Roman pottery and other artefacts have been found during the course of new building projects.
The Romans made the first permanent bridge across the Thames at Egham Hythe when they arrived in the area from 43AD, to carry their main road from London to the south-west.
The exact site of Boudicca's last battle against the Romans is unknown. Virginia Water is one of many places which seem to fit the description in the near-contemporary account by Roman historian Tacitus.
It is commonly agreed that, among the Celts occupying this area during the 1st century BC, it was the Atrebates who were the dominant tribe.
In 1866 a Roman sarcophagus was discovered at Bishopsgate House, Englefield Green. It appears to be a metropolitan Roman work of the early third century.
Saxon settlers migrated to this area following the collapse of the Roman empire in AD410. Egham is a Saxon word meaning “Ecca’s Ham” or “land in the bend of the river.” Even the name Surrey probably derives from the Saxon Suthrige or Suthrea, relating to its position south of the Thames.
The first recorded mention of the town's name, spelled Egeham, was in the 7th century in Frithwald's charter endowing land to Chertsey Abbey.
A charter dated between 672 and 674 grants 5 hides of land at Thorpe to St Peter’s Minster, Chertsey. This is one of two surviving charters issued to Erkonwald (or Eorconwald), first Abbot of Saint Peter's, by Frithuwald or Frithwald, a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon ruler in Surrey.
The word Hythe comes from a Saxon word meaning a port or landing place. However Egham Hythe was in use as a landing site long before the Saxons.
The Iron Age saw the production of some of the finest prehistoric metalwork known from the British Isles as shown by this copper alloy harness-fitting found in the river by Runnymede.
