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1771-1820: George III and Joseph Banks

George II & Queen Charlotte

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Queen Charlotte's Cottage

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Queen Charlotte's Cottage

The first building in the location of Queen Charlotte's Cottage was built in a corn field between 1754 and 1771, as part of the development of the New Menagerie. The origins of this cottage may well have been the single storey building provided for the Menagerie keeper.

Queen Charlotte was given the building in 1761 when she married George III and she extended the property upwards by a floor and also in length. A map dated to around 1794 shows the Cottage in an H-shaped plan, and it had certainly been altered to its current shape by the late 1830s.

The 'St James' Chronicle' announced in 1805 that "Kew Cottage in Kew Gardens has undergone considerable alteration and improvement under the direction of the Princess Elizabeth .. The Cottage likewise has been furnished. The outside of the building stands in great need of being made to correspond with the inside. It was completed during the late stay of the Royal Family there". It seems likely, therefore, that the major works occurred between 1790 and 1805. Princess Elizabeth was the third daughter of Queen Charlotte.

The grounds of the cottage contain the oldest piece of continuous woodland at Kew, the over 300 year old Wood, and areas of woodland planted by both Brown and Bridgeman. The picturesque house in its 'country vernacular' style of carefully designed woodland setting, was used by the family as a shelter, and for snacks and occasional meals. The large ground floor room had Hogarth prints on the walls, removed in the 1890s but replaced in 1978. A curved staircase leads to the picnic room, with painted flowers climbing the walls and bamboo motif pelmets and door frames.

The cottage remained private until 1898, when Queen Victoria ceded it and its 37 acres (15 ha) to Kew. The grounds had rarely been visited; trees were lying where they had fallen, and one condition the Queen made was that the grounds should be kept in their naturalistic state. This condition was supported by the Linnaean Society on behalf of all ornithologists to maintain the area as a suburban haven for birds. That is how today's Conservation Area first came into being and how one of London's finest bluebell woods is kept intact.

Nevertheless, after the donation of the grounds to the Gardens in 1898, and despite Queen Victoria's stipulation, the area continued to undergo change. Before the 3rd edition of the Ordnance Survey was produced in 1910, several broad, straight rides were driven through the area surrounding the building, to the east of the path leading to the King's Steps Gate. Following this, in 1914, 150 trees, largely oak, poplar, birch and douglas fir, were planted in the grounds of the Cottage.

Between 1922 and 1941, Sir Arthur William Hill, then Director of Kew, created many new paths in the grounds attached to the Cottage, opening up new views of the building, although most of these paths are no longer in evidence. The grounds were then planted with lilies, snowdrops, primroses and narcissi in 1958, and in 1984, 35 English oaks were planted to launch the 'Beautiful Britain' campaign.

Queen Charlotte's Cottage is maintained and administered separately from Kew by Historic Royal Palaces and opening times are limited.

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On to: Cedar Vista