The White House at Kew

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, on the banks of the river Thames in south-west London, is more often thought of in connection with exotic plants and landscaped parkland than archaeological remains. With some 40 listed buildings and two scheduled ancient monuments on this 325-acre site, however, the Gardens contains a wealth of historic architecture and landscape. The foundations of two royal palaces also lie under the green parkland at Kew, and the scope for fresh archaeological investigation has been extended as a result of the government's nomination of Kew for World Heritage Site status in 2002. A major conservation programme, including the restoration of historic buildings and investigations into previously little-known aspects of the Gardens' history, is currently under way.

Time Team helped to carry forward these investigations in excavations carried out in May 2002 and screened as part of the 2003 series. The object of the excavations was to discover more about the 'White House', a royal palace used by George III before he ordered its demolition in 1802.

The first 'palace' on the banks of the Thames at Kew was not in fact a royal one. Rather, it was built (around 1631, according to the inscription above the south door) by Samuel Fortrey, a merchant of Dutch origin. Often called Kew Palace today, this four-storey brick building became known as the 'Dutch House' because of its Dutch-style, gabled frontage and its red-brick 'Flemish bond' construction.

Although the Hanoverian royal family first used the Dutch House in 1728, when Queen Caroline leased it to accommodate her three daughters during the family's visits to Kew, it did not come into their ownership until 1781. In that year, it was purchased by George III as an annex to the adjacent White House to provide space for his growing family when they stayed there.

As with the Dutch House, the White House (then called Kew House or Kew Park Lodge) started life in private hands. Previously the home of the Capel family, in 1731 it was acquired by Frederick, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of George II and Queen Caroline. From 1735, he shared it with his wife, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, and their children, the oldest of which was to become the famously 'mad' king, George III.

Frederick employed the royal architect, William Kent, to oversee the house's refurbishment and modernisation. Kent had previously been employed by Frederick's mother, Queen Caroline, both for work on the Dutch House and designing follies and landscaping in the grounds of the adjacent Richmond Lodge, which was used by the king and queen. Convinced that Frederick had only moved into the White House to annoy her and the king, she took his employment of Kent as a further slight. Kent's improvements included refacing the building in white stucco; hence the name, the White House.

While Frederick and his wife occupied the White House, the future George III lived at the Dutch House from his teens until his accession in 1760. He then moved into Richmond Lodge, where George II and Queen Caroline had lived. Meanwhile, after George II's death in 1751, his widow had continued to occupy the White House, which was extensively redeveloped from 1751 to 1762. The work was overseen by William Chambers, who also designed the pagoda, Roman ruins and other structures at Kew.

In 1761, George III married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. They used Richmond Lodge, the one-time residence of George II and Queen Caroline, as their country home until 1772, when the Dowager Princess Augusta, widow of George II, died, and the White House became vacant. George III moved into the White House with his wife and eight children and ordered the demolition of Richmond Lodge.

The White House provided the setting for one of the most famous episodes in the life of George III, when he was taken there, in November 1788, to recuperate from his first major bout of 'madness'. In fact, George III was suffering from porphyria, a disorder in which the body produces too much of the chemical porphyrin and which leads to pain, cramps, hallucinations, seizures, depression, anxiety and paranoia – and the purple-red coloured urine highlighted in the film The Madness of King George.

Whether his illness played any part in his unexplained decision to have the White House demolished in 1802, we shall never know. But all that can be seen today on the site where it once stood, facing the south front of the Dutch House, is one of Kew's famous green landscapes. A sundial is said to mark the spot.

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