Page 161 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
plot and little more than twice the width of a three-bed roomed home.
The low-lying barrack buildings beside it are set out on a narrow strip of Crown land between Knightsbridge and the South Carriage Road on the edge of Hyde Park. The Household Cavalry had been quartered there since 1795 with the last barracks erected on the site, back in 1880. They were demolished in 1965 due to their outdated facilities which were no longer adequate for the modern Mounted Regiment of the Household Cavalry.
The new barracks, erected in 1970, cost about £3,600,000 and provided accommodation for five hundred and fourteen soldiers with flats for four hundred and twenty-two family members and stables for two hundred and seventy three horses.
Sir Basil Spence began planning the new buildings in 1957. Eight separate schemes were prepared and considered: some of the alternatives included big squat buildings seven or eight storeys high and there was a plan for a much bigger main tower. In the main, Sir Basil’s new barracks were not as high as the old and were dwarfed by most of the business and residential buildings in Knightsbridge.
The initial problem was the smallness and awkward proportions of a site 395 yards long by 66 yards wide at the east end, and only 24 yards wide on the west. The stables were incorpo- rated into the widest end and the tower into the narrowest part with the stable yard, used for ceremonial guard mounting and assembly, located practically central to all. The buildings were kept as low as possible.
To save space the stables were located on two storeys with connecting concrete ramps. Coils embedded in these ramps can be heated to prevent ice forming in cold weather. The design allowed for two squadrons to mount in the new stable yard – never possible in the old barracks – and a covered area for use in bad weather. Soldiers were accommodated four to a room and there was plenty of specially designed cupboard space for uniforms and equipment such as plumed helmets, breastplates, and jackboots.
If this site, overlooking Hyde Park and the Serpentine, ever became available to developers it would undoubtedly be among the most valuable in London. The Army’s restricted use of the airspace leaves the view over the trees into the park unspoiled for residents of the Knightsbridge area.
At the time of the new build’s completion in 1970, the Household Cavalry had occupied the site for one hundred and seventy-five years. The
regiment had always made the best use of the area which always proved ideal for the mounting of public duties in London, with the park available as a necessary exercise space for the animals. The barracks are close to the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards Parade and Victoria railway station on which most State ceremonials converge.
It had always been considered the perfect location. If based at Windsor, the Mounted Regiment would need to use horseboxes – and animals do not always travel well. The daily changeover would entail extra expense in time and money and there would still be the need for a preliminary mounting area before any ceremonial activity. Hyde Park Barracks, where walls have purposely been built instead of railings, provide the privacy necessary for fitting and adjusting of saddlery and accoutrements so that the troops can emerge immaculate into public view.
It was universally expressed at the time that while there remains a need for horse mounted escorts and guards, it is right that soldiers and horses of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment should be quartered in the best possible conditions and as close to their work as is reasonable.
“The Horses that Wouldn’t Lie Down”
On the morning of Tuesday 20th July 1982, a detachment of the Household Cavalry became the target of an IRA car bomb which killed four men and seven horses of the regiment. The sixteen men and sixteen horses of the Blues and Royals were making their way down the South Carriageway on their ritual ride from Hyde Park barracks to relieve the Life Guards and take up their ceremonial duties at Whitehall when the device was detonated remotely. Composed of at least 25lb of gelignite-based explosive surrounded by 30lb of six and four-inch masonry nails and screws, the bomb delivered death and devastation.
Lieutenant Dennis Daly, Corporal Major Roy Bright, Lance Corporal Jeffrey Vernon Young and Trooper Simon Tipper lost their lives. A dozen more soldiers were injured. Horses – Yeastvite, Epaulette, Rochester, Waterford, Falcon, Zara and Cedric were killed outright or humanely destroyed on site. Eight more were badly wounded including Eclipse, Copenhagen and Sefton were found close to death. What followed that catastrophic event was a display of courage by the Cavalry’s horses, the dedicated Troopers and the RAVC’s veterinary officers.
The spirit of this time was encapsulated in the heroic recovery of Sefton, the horse the British
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