ISBN10: 1899144005, ISBN13: 9781899144006, [publisher: Heritage Publications, Hounslow] Softcover HIGHWAYMAN'S HEATH The Story in Fact and Fiction of Hounslow Heath in Middlesex. Gordon S Maxwell. Heritage Publications Ltd., Hounslow. 1994 Reprint. 414pp Illustrated Paperback. This copy is in new, unread condition. Once part of the extensive Forest of Middlesex, and now largely buried beneath the runways of London Airport, Hounslow Heath was for more than 200 years the most dangerous place in Britain. Between the 17th and early 19th centuries, the Heath occupied perhaps 25 square miles. No one was really certain where its boundaries lay, and no one cared, for it was a tract of country to be crossed as quickly as possible. Though Hounslow itself was not large, it was after London the most important of coaching centres. Across the Heath ran the Bath Road and the Exeter Road, along which travelled wealthy visitors to West Country resorts and courtiers travelling to Windsor. All provided rich pickings for highwaymen lurking in copses bordering the lonely ways. The first of the legendary highwaymen were Royalist officers who "took to the road" when they were outlawed under the Commonwealth. These were men familiar with the relatively new-fangled pistols, which gave them an advantage over their victims, usually only armed with swords. Perhaps because they concentrated on the wealthy, the highwaymen became popular heroes. No one, except the victims, grieved wh ...