Eton is a town in Berkshire, England, on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor, connected to it by Windsor Bridge. The civil parish, which also includes the large village of Eton Wick two miles west of the town, had a population of 4,692 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Buckinghamshire, since 1998 it has been part of the unitary authority of Windsor and Maidenhead. The town is best known as the location of Eton College.

The name derives from Old English Ea-tun, meaning "Enclosed land beside water", a reference to Eton's proximity to the River Thames.

The land that is now Eton once belonged to the manor of Queen Edith, wife of Edward the Confessor. The land was appropriated by the Normans after 1066 and by 1086, the lord was Walter son of Other. The main road between Windsor and London went through the area and a hamlet sprang up amid pasture meadows to maintain the road and the bridge.

In 1440, Henry VI chose Eton as the location for his new college, Eton College. Workmen were moved into Eton to build the college. All of the land immediately around the hamlet was granted to the college, which stopped further growth. The new college chapel made the village a pilgrimage point, and inns were set up along the high street. Henry VI gave the college the right to hold fairs on its grounds.

During the English Civil War, after Windsor Castle was captured by parliamentarian forces, the Royalist army moved into Eton and attempted to retake the town, occupying the college. Efforts to retake Windsor were unsuccessful and the royalists eventually fled.

In 1812, Porny's charity school was founded by the estate of the late Antoine Pyron du Martré, otherwise Mark Anthony Porny, French master at Eton college. Later named Eton Porny it became the school for local children at 29 High Street. In 1863, moving to the school's current site at 14 High Street Eton.

The college sometimes leased small plots of land to the village as an act of charity, leading to the construction of houses near the bridge. Scholars at the college also used to collect "salt" (money) from the inns of Eton High Street. This practice continued until 1845 when a scholar refused to associate with the inns because they were a "temptation" to Eton students. Eton was favourably[clarification needed] modernised and was the first village in the UK to have its own post office and modern drainage system.

By 1925 the town was described as more commercial than residential, with most of the buildings (apart from those of the school itself) belonging to businesses serving the schoolboys.

In April 1970, Windsor Bridge, connecting Eton to Windsor was closed to all motorised traffic. All traffic must now travel via Royal Windsor Way (formally the Windsor and Eton relief road), a bypass opened in 1966.