Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Between the garden wall and the central archway you will find a squat black mortar cap-
tured during the battle of Salamanca in 1812. That battle resulted in the lifting of the siege
of Cadiz and the mortar was presented to the Prince Regent, 'as a token of respect and grat-
itude by the Spanish nation.' The bizarre carriage in the shape of a Chinese dragon was
made at Woolwich Arsenal. Regency guidebooks call the mortar 'The Regent's Bomb'.
This proved irresistible to caricaturists who changed
bomb
to
bum
and produced numerous
very cruel prints on the subject.
On the other side of the archway is a sixteenth-century cannon captured from the French
at the Battle of Alexandria (1801). The gun carriage shows a rather strange crocodile and
Britannia, who gestures towards the Pyramids.
There has been a collection of exotic waterfowl on the lake in St
James's Park ever since the Russian ambassador presented King
Charles II with a pair of pelicans in 1664.
Next to the arch is the Household Cavalry Museum. In addition to the fascinating collec-
tion it is possible to see into the cavalry stables to watch the horses and their riders behind
the scenes. Lydia Bennett would undoubtedly have approved of this.
Go through the central arch in the range, which was built between 1750 and 1759 to com-
bine the barracks with offices for the Secretary at War. Turning left between the mounted
guards onto Whitehall, you are almost immediately at the Admiralty, the buildings com-
prising the houses and offices of the Lords of the Admiralty.
Mounting Guard in 1809, drawn by Rowlandson, who was responsible
for the figures, and Pugin, who drew the architecture surrounding
Horse Guards Parade.
What you can see today would have been a familiar sight to Jane's naval officer brothers,
Charles and Frank. Their entire futures, their hopes of advancement, their very lives, were
decided inside these buildings. Both entered the navy as boys and reached high rank -
Frank as an admiral, Charles as a rear admiral - and both saw service across the globe.
