| Cambridge Barracks | |
|---|---|
| Portsmouth | |
 Cambridge Barracks | |
  Cambridge Barracks Location within Hampshire | |
| Coordinates | 50°47′31″N1°05′59″W / 50.79204°N 1.09975°W |
| Type | Barracks |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1856–1859 |
| Built for | War Office |
| In use | 1859-1991 |
Cambridge Barracks was a military installation at Portsmouth, Hampshire. It was created in 1825, and was in use until after the First World War.
The barracks were created by converting some late-18th century warehouses into military accommodation in 1825. [1] The site had previously been a large timber-yard and carpenters' workshops; it was purchased by the government during the Napoleonic Wars and converted into an 'immense' stores complex for the Commissariat (responsible for supplying food, fuel and forage to the troops). [2]
These former warehouses are still in place, forming an asymmetrical open courtyard at the south-west end of what is now Portsmouth Grammar School: they stand three storeys high and originally contained open-plan store rooms accessed through external hoist doors on each storey. [1] In October 1825 each floor was converted to form barrack rooms; the 9th Regiment (Fusiliers) was the first to occupy the new barracks. [3] At that time a guard-house formed the fourth side of the quadrangle. [2]
In 1856–1858 the barracks were extended and enhanced to create accommodation for regiments in transit for operations overseas. An officers' quarters was built, fronting on to the High Street, with a large officers' mess on the first floor. [4] At some distance behind it (so as to form a sizeable parade ground) a long, three-storey soldiers' barracks was erected, containing a series of back-to-back barrack rooms either side of a central office section, with a cook-house at the south-west end linking it to the older barrack blocks. [5] It was at around this time that the barracks were named after Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge who had recently died. [6] Subsequently a two-storey block was built, between the old barracks quadrangle and the new officers' quarters, containing offices for the Commanding Officer and others. [1]
In January 1887, there was a serious gas explosion at the site in which five members of the Worcestershire Regiment died and fourteen were injured. [7] [8] The 1st Battalion, the Northumberland Fusiliers was in transit at the barracks when the First World War broke out in August 1914. [9]
The barracks became disused and fell derelict after the First World War. [7] The officers' quarters were acquired by Portsmouth Grammar School in 1926. [10] The soldiers' barracks blocks were initially amalgamated into the adjacent Clarence Barracks; later, they too were acquired by the school, which now covers the entire former barracks site. [1] The school library occupies the former officers' mess. [4]
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