Runnymede
 

We would like to visit Runnymede and see the Magna Charter. Can we go by tube from London to Runnymede or would we have to take a train? Are there other sites of historical interest in the Runnymede area to visit?

Thanks!

The Magna Carta is not at Runnymede. It's a field by the Thames near Windsor.
There are buses to Runnymede from Heathrow, Staines and Windsor (www.firstgroup.com - select Berkshire & Thames Valley route 71). There are trains to Staines and Windsor.
You can also get a boat to Runnymede on some days.
www.boat-trips.co.uk
www.salterssteamers.co.uk

You cannot see the Magna Carta at Runnymede. All you can see there is a monument erected by some lawyers from the US. It is just a not very attractive field near Windsor. There is also a memorial to JFK there.
It isn't even the place where it was signed - that was on an island in the river, which has moved course since then.

You can get a train to Windsor then a bus to Old Windsor and walk there.
On the hill above is the Air Forces memorial which is worth a visit if you can face the climb. Windsor of course is also worth a visit.

For the magna carta itself you need either the House of Lords, Licoln Cathedral, Dover castle or the best preserved at Salisbury Cathedral.

Durham cathedral has an early copy, as does Hereford Cathedral (which also has the Mapa Mundi). The Bodleian in Oxford has 4 copies.

Not all are on display to the public though.

"<i>For the magna carta itself you need either the House of Lords, Licoln Cathedral, Dover castle or the best preserved at Salisbury Cathedral.</i>"

Are you sure there is one at Dover? The British Library has two 1215 'original copies', Salisbury - 1, and Lincoln - 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta#Copies

There's only four "original copies" - British Library, Westminster Palace, Lincoln Cathedral & Salisbury Cathedral.

All others date from after 1215 including the Durham, Hereford and the 4 Oxford copies

Runnymede is an empty meadow, worth a 5 minute stop only if you're driving in the area (we did a trip to Windsor and Hampton Court and stopped in between). (Yes, there were multiple original since each "Baron: got one to take home, unlike the Declaration of Independence - which has only an original.)

The few original Magna Cartas left are much too valuable to be left in a random meadow and are all in controlled conditions under very high security. Try the British Library for the simplest copy to get to..

Has anyone taken the trip by boat from London to Runnymede? How long is the boat there? Can you get off and back on the boat for a return to London?

I am not aware of any boat trips from London to Runnymede - they would take a very long time (days) I imagine.
You can do boat trips from Windsor.

There is no boat from London to Runnymede. There is a boat tour from Hampton Court to Runnymede -- but it takes 4 hour each way or 9.5 hours if you went round trip - and it only runs a few times a year.

As several of us have mentioned -- there really isn't much at Runnymede. You could combine it w/ a day trip to Windsor (but not by boat)

The boat from Windsor to Runnymede,is nice on a stonking hot day when you have nothing better to do, but otherwise, on a short visit there are far better things to see and do imho.

There is a boat from Hampton Court to Runnymede at 1430 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 21 June to 2 September, due to arrive in Runnymede at 1830.
www.boat-trips.co.uk
There is usually a boat from Westminster at 1030 to Hampton Court which, with a favourable tide, would get to Hampton Court before 1430. Thus, you could get from London to Runnymede in eight hours, then return by bus and train.
More easily, take a train to Staines or Windsor, then a boat to Runnymede (www.salterssteamers.co.uk and
www.boat-trips.co.uk), but Runnymede really isn't very interesting, and I don't think it's the prettiest stretch of the Thames.

What is the quickest and easiest way to get from London to Runnymede?

Train to Windsor and a cab to Runnymede -- but it really isn't worth the effort IMO. . .

Or train to Staines or Egham and cab to Runnymede.
But I agree it isn't worth the effort.

From the National Trust website:
http://tinyurl.com/24keumg

If you want to see the document, there's a copy usually on display in the free permanent exhibition galleries in the British Library at St Pancras in London, failing which they have an online display:
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/takin...agnacarta.html

Runnymede is pretty but not much more than that. Among the memorials there is one to President Kennedy. But there really isn't anything substantial related to Magna Carta.

Runymede is literally a field. Magna Carta isn't that important to us - but seems to be very iconic to Americans.

There's nothing there apart from the aforementioned monument by Yank lawyers and there is also the acre of it we gave to the yanks in memory of JFK (Techically this American soil).

To get there go to Windsor and prepare for a LONG walk.

But really - it is just a field.

Yes it is a field... look here
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/948668
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/169855
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1521974
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1521972