Military history of barracks inspires new development

It may be more than 50 years since the old army barracks at Mill Hill was home to any soldiers, but a new housing development on the site is taking inspiration from its rich military history.

The former Inglis Barracks site in Mill Hill, London, which was home to the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own), is currently being transformed into a high-quality new homes development by Taylor Wimpey.

The leading housebuilder invited people who were once stationed at the base to come forward with memories of their time there.

Col Rex Cain OBE DL was based at Inglis Barracks from 1951 to 1954 after returning from the Korean War with the infantry regiment’s 1st Battalion. He was aged just 22 when he came to the barracks and worked as an instructor.

Col Cain, now 84, of Ruislip, Middlesex, says: “It was an extraordinary place. We lived in what you might call Edwardian splendour – the place had not been altered because the war had been on.

“There was no central heating, there were baths but no showers and we had no hot water. It was all coal fires and each of us had an orderly who brought us hot water in the morning and lit the fires in the bedroom.

“There was no bar in those days, of course, so we would ring a bell and a soldier would appear and he would have to go back to the mess room to fetch us a drink.

“Those were the National Service days and masses of people came through the barracks. We had them for eight weeks and then they went off to join the regiment. I have many happy memories from that time.”

The Middlesex Regiment played an important part in the First World War, during which time it had 46 separate battalions. There were around 1,000 soldiers in each battalion, all of whom would have passed through Inglis Barracks.

Col Cain says: “When war broke out, there were so many men called up from the reserves that lots of them slept out in the barracks square. Many of them were killed during the war.”

Col Cain served with the army for another 16 years after leaving Inglis Barracks, which eventually closed in 1961. Over the years the regiment was amalgamated into the Queens Regiment and is now the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

The history of the barracks will live on, however, in the names chosen for four new property designs in Taylor Wimpey’s Millbrook Park housing development.

The ‘Inglis’ design pays tribute to the name of the old barracks, while the ‘Cambridge’ recognises one of the early names of the regiment. Two of the designs – ‘Horrocks’ and ‘Bucknall’ – are named in honour of two highly-respected generals from the regiment who served in the Second World War.

Col Cain says General Brian Horrocks’ time with the regiment is a particularly interesting chapter in its history.

“He was Montgomery’s favourite general, then disaster struck when Horrocks was gunned down by a German plane. He remained in hospital for 18 months and they thought he was going to die. But he got back up on his feet and rejoined Monty in north-east Europe. It’s like a storyline from a movie.”

General Horrocks went on to present a TV series called Epic Battle in the 1970s and became something of a household name. He died in 1985, aged 89.

Taylor Wimpey’s Millbrook Park features a selection of three and four-bedroom homes set in a landscaped parkland on the old barracks site. The development is located off Frith Lane, Mill Hill, and is open daily from 10am to 5.30pm (Mondays 2pm to 5.30pm).

Information on Taylor Wimpey developments across the region is available by visiting taylorwimpey.co.uk.