Higher Barracks (now Horseguards)

Higher Barracks were built in 1794 for the cavalry, in response to the perceived threat of an invasion by the French following the French Revolution of 1789. Designed for 15 officers, 180 men and 202 horses, the barracks covered an area stretching from Howell Lane in the south to the edge of the Hoopern valley in the north. The site was surrounded by a high brick wall.
Towards the rear of the barracks are three red brick buildings with slate roofs now known as The Quadrangle. In the centre was a green for parades and exercising horses. The principal building, the North Range, was the Officers’ Quarters, symmetrically designed with a grand central doorway and pediment, and topped with the Royal Coat of Arms.  This was flanked by two lower buildings forming a quadrangle, the East and West Range were built as stables, with lodging for the privates above.  
The Plane & Chestnut trees are an integral part of the design of the Quadrangle, planted in specific locations as an extension of the architecture to frame the buildings; the two Plane trees along the southern edge of the Quadrangle were planted approximately 6 yards in from the main line of trees in order to complete the composition.
The North Range was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1867. The North Range has a hipped slate roof with a central cupola with clock and weathervane. The East Range has an overhanging iron verandah on the first floor.
The barracks were used as a military hospital during the First World War while during the Second World War, many a young conscript started their service life there. The United States 500th Medical Collecting Company (60th Medical Battalion) stayed at the Higher Barracks in January 1944 in preparation for D-Day. In 1987 the Royal Army Pay Corp moved from Taunton to the Higher Barracks, and remained until the barracks were closed prior to their redevelopment by Barratt's in the late 1990's for residential accommodation, to be named Horseguards.
The former Forage barn is a rare component of the least altered example of the cavalry barracks built as part of the first army barrack-building campaign in England, at the start of the Revolutionary War with France. Forage barns were important components of cavalry barracks; the only other known examples, more altered than at Exeter, are at Hounslow Barracks, Greater London.
The former Riding School was built as part of the first army barrack building campaign in England, the most complete site of its type.   Riding schools were a typical feature of cavalry barracks for practising drill and manoeuvres, and this is, with that at Dorchester in Dorset (qv), the earliest known example in England.
In 1805 Jenkins wrote 'A plan having been adopted by the legislature for erecting Barracks in the different parts of this kingdom, two large fields were purchased for that purpose near the new Gaol, in the parish of St. David; and the building was soon after began, and in a few years completed. It is an elegant quadrangle, began to be situated on an eminence, commanding an extensive and beautiful view of the surrounding country: at the upper end are apartments for the officers, and in the two wings are stabling for two hundred and two horses, over which are lodging-rooms for the privates.’

The former cavalry barracks, the former Riding School and The Forage Barn at Higher Barracks are listed Grade II.