The Garrison

 Updated and corrected May 2023.

The Garrison was a military building and then "gentleman's house" which existed in Gun Lane (now Trinity Road) in Marlow. It and it's grounds were on the site of the new church erected in the 1850s and the Police Station which was erected in Gun Lane 1857-8. Architecture expert Nicholas Pevsner in his county history series considered that the Police Station was a conversion of an attractive Georgian house, (which should have been the Garrison as there were otherwise only tiny cottages in Gun Lane). However early 1900s sources suggest that the Garrison house was knocked down in order to provide land for the new Holy Trinity Church further up Gun Lane in 1851, while an 1870s source said that it was a brick and timber building owned by William Clayton and also stood on the site of the later church. Yet the placing of the Garrison main house in the 1830s suggests it was nearer the site of the later police station and not on the site of the church. The demolished property which gave way to the church may have been in fact an outbuilding or stable belonging to the Garrison rather than the main house. 

Very soon after being built the Police Station was considered overly cramped inside with a heating system not fit for purpose of heating the police station. This would make sense if it was not a specially built building. So it may be that the outbuildings belonging to the house (of which there were apparently several) were what was demolished for the church while the main house was converted into the Police Station  or vice versa but it is hard to be certain as contemporary sources just don't agree on all points. If the Garrison was brick and flint, it can't have been the house converted into the police station as this was not a brick and timber building. It's a puzzle.

What we do know is that The Garrison began as a military garrison building, with its last known use as such in 1777 when the 45th Regiment of Foot stayed there. The name Gun Lane dates from at least the 1600s, so long predates the building of that Garrison House. It also appears as Gunne Lane and Goune Lane in early records. There is a possibility that the name comes from the land having a relationship to a family of the name Gunne / Goune of which I have found a few mentions of in relation to 1600s Marlow and is thus a coincidence.

My next earliest reference to the building comes from 1786 when the gentleman who resided in the Garrison as one single house decided to leave for London and his household possessions were put up for auction. This was perfectly normal at the time. Safely carting your household goods even a short distance was very difficult and expensive. Taking just a few sentimental pieces with you and selling off the rest often made more sense.

The unnamed gentleman lived well with mahogany furniture and feather beds to dispose of.

He may well have been the only person to have lived in the house as one whole entity. During the time of the Royal Military College junior department's residency in Marlow (1800- August 1812) the house (or perhaps outbuilding thereof) was used as a laundry for the cadet's clothes and linen.

By 1833 the house was subdivided and provided home for 5 poor households. Presumably within the grounds of the house, 5 very small "cottages" were additionally listed as being part of the "Garrison" as was the Three Horseshoes beer house (of which more here). These cottages could have been purpose built cottages in the former Garrison grounds or have been converted outbuildings that once serviced the main house.

The main building was occupied by households headed by:

Charles Bowles [prob born c 1781-86. Still there 1841, likely the only family left in the Garrison main building. Gun Lane 1851. Wife Mary].

James Bowles [poss born circa 1801-04. In 1841 Gun Lane wife Charlotte. Still there in Gun Lane 1851. In both cases though seemingly not in the Garrison]

William Jackson [prob born 1781. Lodging with the Hoares at Three Horseshoes 1851. Not listed in Gun Lane 1841  that I could see].

James Rackstraw [widow, could be Ann born c 1781 who was living with the White family Gun Lane 1841]

James Battin(g) [one of this name in Marlow 1841, not Gun Lane but Hayes Place. Born circa 1791]

By 1841 only Charles Bowles and his household appears to have remained in the divided Garrison house. The reason was most probably that the state of the building made much of it uninhabitable. Seven years later the fact that this fine house which should have been home to a small genteel family was instead nearly derelict was decried. Why was this house so seemingly unattractive to the type of family it was built for you might ask. Well, it wasn't. The fact was Marlow has a very fraught and shady political history- it was notorious for electoral fraud and corruption. Candidates spent huge amounts on bribing the voters and had a keen interest therefore in reducing the number of eligible voters to as few as possible. In those days ability to vote was tied to a man's occupation of sufficient property. Marlow landlords allied to one political faction or another were willing to keep empty houses whose tenants would by their occupation of them gain a vote (in return for favours / compensation). This reduced the number of voters in need of bribery / coercion every election time. The Garrison was identified as one such house left empty for political reasons. The earlier partial occupation through sub division would not have counted for voting purposes, each tenant occupying far too small a portion individually.

For more on the police station and adjacent slightly later police court with a picture of the buildings today see this post.

I will do all I can to shed light on the origin of the Garrison house and who actually owned it early on. Stay tuned!

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

Other Sources:

1833 Parochial Assessments, surveyors working notebooks transcribed by me from original notebooks held by my family.

Reading Mercury 27th March 1786. British Library Archives.

The Daily News 30th November 1848, copy held British Library Archive. Accessed by me March 2021 via the BNA.

1841 and 1851 censuses. Transcription from microfilm by me. Census information remains Crown Copyright.

National Archives.