With the arrival of male undergraduates in 1965 the college needed somewhere to put them. The 18th century mansion was purchased in 1964 and bought into use for the 1965 intake. This men’s hall was relatively isolated from the main campus being about a mile away through residential streets and lanes. The route generally took one past a local hostelry called The Happy Man which could add an hour on to the journey if you meandered in rather than past it.
Several additions to the building provided additional accommodation with a large annex and the conversion of stables and staff quarters to bed-sitting rooms. A canteen and modern kitchens were also added. Some of the original rooms housed three people sharing, almost always 1st years in the larger room as they didn’t get a vote when room allocations were done. The annexes had blocks of eight rooms on each spur around a central tower.
Because of its relative isolation Kingswood was a community in its own right and an attractive setting for the occasional event. One potential drawback for its residents was the necessity for the daily commute to the main campus, albeit through the leafy lanes of Englefield Green. Views from some of the rooms were magnificent as Kingswood was at a top of the hill overlooking Runneymede and Egham. It was also adjacent to the Air Force Memorial
Kingswood did have its own bar and social areas and its own sub-culture, It was the only canteen at the college that would provide a lunchtime meal of sausage, egg and chips (and a few variants of that) for half a Boog voucher.