King George III of Great Britain was a shy man. He did not like travelling nor meeting people. As he got older he made Windsor Castle his principle dwelling, and spent a lot of money on renovating and furnishing the castle to his taste. Occasionally he had to travel to London for matters of State.

The journey between London and Windsor took him along the Bath Road through the village of Hounslow and across the notorious Hounslow Heath to Longford in Middlesex. Previous Monarchs would make a stop at the Kings Head in Longford (later called the Peggy Bedford) to change the carriage horses.  However George III, shy and reserved, did not like meeting the public so he had his own stables built along the route.  One was at Hounslow and another one was a mile from Longford near the 14th mile stone (measured from Hyde Park Corner). These buildings were isolated, square brick buildings with bright red pantiled roofs, doors at the front, and windows that faced up and down the road.[1]

On a cold damp winter’s day in January 1805, George III was returning to Windsor from making, what turned out to be, his last speech at the Opening of Parliament. He sat snugly in his carriage wrapped in fur rugs and, as the carriage and his military escort stopped at the Royal stable on Hounslow Heath, a modest building known locally as the “Soldiers' Shed”.  ^[2]  There, already waiting for his arrival, were a troop of mounted soldiers ready to take over escorting the King to Windsor. Only this day it was different.

Unfortunately, due to bad communication, two military parties turned up to take over as escort to the King. After the change of horses, and as the carriage continued its journey towards Longford, the Light Dragoons took their place as the escort. The Oxford Blues insisted it was their duty and a scuffle ensued. Both parties defended themselves with swords drawn whilst his Majesty’s carriage was still going on at the usual pace and each party doing its duty and trying to keep position as escort. After some distance, the Light Dragoons gave up and the Blues continued as escort.^[3]  George III, now almost completely blind, would not have noticed the kerfuffle, but out in the fields alongside the Bath Road were the field workers watching the entertaining spectacle of two mounted troops fighting each other. As the King’s carriage passed, they politely doffed their caps, puffed on their clay tobacco pipes, and then returned to their toil.

This was one of the last journeys King George III made. With the reclusive King now living at Windsor Castle, the “Soldiers' Shed”, and the one and a quarter acres around it, were no longer needed, but stayed in the possession of the Crown Estates until 1859, when Queen Victoria’s Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Woods Forests and Land Revenues sold it to local landowner, William Philp for £60.[4] The building was still there in 1910 although in a decrepit state.

The place were the “Soldiers' Shed” once stood is now the staff car park of present day Crown employees working in the offices of HM Revenue and Customs. This building is sandwiched between the Bath Road (A4) and the northern perimeter road of Heathrow airport.

[1] Harper, Charles G., Half-hours with the Highwaymen, (London, 1908)

[2]Belsham, William, Memoirs of the Reign of George III.: From the Treaty of Amiens, A. D. 1802, to the Termination of the Regency, A. D. 1820 : in Two Volumes, Volume 1, (Hurst, Robinson, 1824 - Great Britain) p.80

[3] Evening Mail - Monday 21 January 1805

[4] London Metropolitan Archives. Acc2305/PH/17/1



For more on the history of Longford read “Longford: A Village in Limbo” by Wendy Tibbitts

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