Antique English Windsor Chairs Michael Harding-Hill Tel: +44 (0) 1608 643322    Email: michael@antique-english-windsor-chairs.com

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Much controversy surrounds the origins of the term 'Windsor Chair'. It is probable that the name was attached to chairs made in the Windsor area in the first part of the eighteenth century. Early stools with a few sticks added to the back would have been the originators of the first simple Windsor Chairs. At first the legs evolved from simple sticks formed from solid wood, but were later shaped to emulate the cabriole legs of the more sophisticated chairs, so much the fashion at the time. Windsor was an early centre of chair making and one can well imagine an admirer of a chair being told it was from the Windsor area or the Windsor Valley. This easily corrupts into the term 'Windsor Chair.' Any suggestion that the name alludes to the Royal House of Windsor is considered misplaced or entirely coincidental. It is a fact that of all the items of household furniture, the role of the chair is the most demanding, and its quality and construction are severely tested over a period of time. The form, design and construction of these remarkable chairs speak for themselves and are a testimony to the resourcefulness, ingenuity and skill of their makers. These chairs are miracles of survival, the economy of materials, and their fundamental strength, cannot in our view be bettered. It is hard to think of any improvement that could have been made. As chairs they approached perfection. Just as they graced the homes of eighteenth century gentlefolk so they can today.

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