The first written reference to Datchet which survives is from about the year 994, although there had been a settlement here from prehistoric times at Southlea farm. This is currently being investigated and seems to have been occupied from at least the Neolithic to the Romano British period. The name 'Datchet' is of Celtic origin ( i.e. pre-Roman ) but its meaning is not agreed upon. In common with most English villages, it appears in the the 1086 Domesday survey. This describes the extent and value of the Manor of Datchet, the 'manor' being the unit of social organisation throughout medieval times and surviving in some form right into the present. Ditton Park and the Manor of Ditton have been closely associated with Datchet, as has the Riding Court estate, which lies between Datchet and Ditton.

The earliest settlement of the present village was centred around the church which is on an 'island' of high ground in otherwise low lying land and may originally have been a pre-christian fortified site. Opposite, on the south side of the Green, is the Manor House range of buildings dating from the 1500s. At that time the characteristic Greens did not exist as a stream ran through the centre of the village, widening to a pool in front of the Manor House. 

The development of Datchet village seems to have depended on its situation on the bank of the Thames opposite Windsor Castle. A ferry crossing from the Castle to the foot of the present High Street, under the control of the Crown, provided a rapid route through the village and then to Colnbrook ( via the present Horton Road ) on the main road to London. This ferry existed from medieval times until 1706 when Queen Anne replaced it with a bridge for free public use, the land on the Windsor side of the river being accessible, not private as it is now. From 1472 the Manors of Datchet and Ditton also belonged to the Crown, and the future Queen Mary was frequently lodged at Ditton Park as a small child, conveyed across the Thames by Datchet ferry from her father Henry VIII's presence at Windsor Castle. Ditton Park became part of the dowry of Anne Boleyn, but there is no evidence that she actually lived there. Shakespeare certainly knew Datchet, which is referred to in The Merry Wives of Windsor, but Datchet Mead, where Falstaff was dumped into a ditch by the Thames, is actually on the Berkshire bank of the river. (The river Thames was once the boundary between Bucks and Berks, but in 1974 Datchet was removed from the authority of Buckinghamshire to become part of Berkshire instead.)

One well known royal story concerns Charles II who is said to have kept his mistress Nell Gwynn at the Old Bridge House, the first house reached after crossing the bridge to Datchet. Unfortunately there is absolutely no evidence at all for the story, although it sounds a plausible idea. Charles II did fish here, further up river at Black Potts, as the poet Alexander Pope describes him coming home to the castle 'laden with gudgeon'. Charles also attended horse racing on Datchet Mead before Ascot was established as a race course, though this was on the castle side of the river opposite Datchet.

Throughout Tudor and Stuart times Datchet was the residence of royal courtiers and rich London merchants, occupying Riding Court Farm on the north side of the village and, probably, the Manor House in the village centre. It was ideally situated on the route between London and Windsor, and was already in some ways the commuter village it has become in recent times. From 1742 the Montagu and Buccleuch families owned both Ditton Park and Datchet Manor, living at Ditton and renting out Riding Court and the Manor House range of dwellings. The other most powerful influence was St George's Chapel in Windsor, which owned the church and its tithes. Economically, Datchet depended on agriculture and its two important Thames fisheries, which were recorded in the Domesday survey, and there is no evidence of any other industry. The land remained as open fields from medieval times right up to enclosure 1810, although the main estates had acquired some enclosed fields around the farm homestead. 

The old main route along Horton Road towards Colnbrook and London was changed in the 1760s when the Colnbrook Turnpike Trust widened the narrow lane leading past the church. This became our London Road which provided a more direct access to Bath Road and made travelling easier. There was a toll bar and house near the Royal Stag, but now only the milestone remains outside Chuch Cottage as a reminder of the Trust's work. The occupants of Datchet House, the Needham family, Earls of Kilmorey, were involved as Trustees, and the long red brick wall dates from the upgrading of London Road. During the 1780s the great astronomer Sir William Herschel and his sister Caroline lived here, but the house they occupied in Horton Road no longer exists. 

In the early 1800s the village's reputation was so low that it was known as 'Black Datchet', and half of Aylesbury jail was filled with Datchet poachers. Development and improvement began in 1848-50 when the railway came through from Staines to Windsor. Prince Albert negotiated with the railway company to allow the line through Crown land at the north of Datchet parish on condition that the bridge was removed and the castle side of the river was to become private and inaccessible. As part of the re-routing, the new Albert and Victoria bridges were built above and below the village to take new roads to Windsor and to Old Windsor. Once the railway had carved through the village by compulsory purchase of land, cottages and farmsteads, the way was open to extend new roads from the original centre and to build for the rapidly increasing population. The Baptists suffered considerably from the railway, since they had built a new chapel in the High Street in 1841 and now found their services spoilt by noise and nuisance. The centre of the village was completely changed in the 1840s by the culverting of the watercourse running through, thus creating the dry land which became our familiar Greens. At the eastern end of Datchet a distinct community developed in the area of the old Common, the land itself enclosed but the name not forgotten. New terraces and pairs of good working class and artisan housing were built, with their own shops, Post Office and pubs.

In the next few decades the whole social structure was improved by the evangelising and philanthropic energies of the Parish Church, initially led by the Rev. Isaac Gossett who founded the village school in 1843. The church itself was almost entirely rebuilt between 1857 and 1864, and the Working Men's Club (now the After School Club) became a focus for village activities in the 1880s. The characteristic Victorian 'mock Tudor' facade, which became the village's dominant style, was introduced by the Buccleuch and Montagu family when the old Manor House was restored and re-fronted in about 1870. Datchet earned a fashionable reputation for riverside pleasure trips, regattas and parties, with its station bringing crowds at weekends. This fuelled the demand for high-class new houses, particularly those with a river view.

To commemorate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887 the great oak tree was planted in the middle of the village, to be joined by the jubilee cross for her 60th jubilee in 1897.  In the 1890s there were two great floods, the first for which we have a photographic record. In 1895 the Hon. Evelyn Ellis imported the first motor car into England from the continent, flouting the Red Flag Act in order to encourage the development of the British motor industry. Another pioneer who lived locally was Tommy Sopwith, who landed his plane on the golf course in 1911 to the amazement of the whole population.

The two world wars affected Datchet as they did every village, and the war memorial, erected in 1920, is a particularly fine one. In WWI the Admiralty Compass Observatory took over Ditton Park House, and during WWII vital secret work on the development of radar took place there. Post-war, two major projects altered the landscape drastically with the arrival of the M4 and the building of the Queen Mother Reservoir. Since then, as in so many other communities, housing development and the burden of traffic have suburbanised the village, although it still manages to retain its special character. And it is thanks to the prosperity of the computer-based industry and Datchet's excellent travel connections that both Ditton Park House and Riding Court Farm have been restored and preserved for the future.

This is a very condensed outline of some of the more significant aspects of Datchet's history. For more details see Datchet Past by Janet Kennish or visit other history links on this web site.