| Clare Street drill hall | |
|---|---|
| Northampton | |
 Clare Street drill hall | |
  Clare Street drill hall Location within Northamptonshire | |
| Coordinates | 52°14′37″N0°53′24″W / 52.24372°N 0.89001°W Coordinates: 52°14′37″N0°53′24″W / 52.24372°N 0.89001°W |
| Type | Drill hall |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1859 |
| Built for | War Office |
| In use | 1859-Present |
The Clare Street drill hall is a military installation in Northampton, Northamptonshire. It is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The building was designed in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style as the headquarters of the 1st Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps and completed in 1859. [1] The unit evolved to become the 1st Volunteer Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment in 1887 and the 4th Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment in 1908. [2] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to Gallipoli and, ultimately, to Palestine. [3] The Northamptonshire Yeomanry was also based at Clare Street at this time. [4]
The 4th Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment converted to become the 50th Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1940. [2] This unit evolved to become the 637th Regiment, Royal Artillery (The Northamptonshire Regiment) in 1945 and 585th (The Northamptonshire Regiment) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1947. [2] The presence at the drill hall was reduced to a single battery, R (The Northamptonshire Regiment) Battery, 438th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery in 1955. [2] The battery amalgamated with the 5th Battalion, The Northamptonshire regiment to form the 4th/5th Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment in 1961. [2] Following the cut-backs in 1967, the 7th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment was formed at the Clare Street drill hall in 1971. [5] The presence at the drill hall was reduced to a single company, D (Northamptonshire) Company, 4th/5th Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment, in 1978. [6] The presence at the drill hall was further reduced to a single platoon from C (Leicestershire and Northamptonshire) Company, the East of England Regiment in 1999 and from C (Leicestershire and Northamptonshire) Company, the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment in 2006. [7] [8]
The following units are based at the barracks:
British Army [9]
Community Cadet Forces
The Royal Anglian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating in the British Army, and can trace its history back to 1685. The regiment was the first of the large infantry regiments and is one of the three regiments of the Queen's Division.
The East of England Regiment (EER) was the infantry unit of the Territorial Army of the East Midlands and East Anglia from 1 July 1999 to 1 April 2006. Upon the re-organisation of the infantry in 2006, the regiment became 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment.
The 7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East is a formation in the British Army with a direct lineage to 7th Armoured Brigade and a history that stretches back to the Napoleonic Wars. It saw active service in the Crimean War, the Second Boer War and both the First and the Second World Wars. In 2014, the 7th Armoured Brigade was re-designated as 7th Infantry Brigade, thereby ensuring that the famed "Desert Rats" continue in the British Army's Order of battle.
The Leicestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both World War I and World War II, before being amalgamated, in September 1964, with the 1st East Anglian Regiment, the 2nd East Anglian Regiment and the 3rd East Anglian Regiment to form the present day Royal Anglian Regiment, of which B Company of the 2nd Battalion continues the lineage of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.
The Northamptonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1960. In 1960, it was amalgamated with the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment to form the 2nd East Anglian Regiment, which was amalgamated with the 1st East Anglian Regiment, the 3rd East Anglian Regiment and the Royal Leicestershire Regiment to form the present Royal Anglian Regiment.
The 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment "The Steelbacks" is the Army Reserve unit of the Royal Anglian Regiment and is made up of volunteers who train in their spare time as soldiers. It was established on 1 April 2006, it was formed from five of the six companies of the East of England Regiment with A, B, C, E and HQ companies going to 3 Royal Anglian and D Company going to the 4th (V) Battalion, Mercian Regiment.
The East Midland Brigade was an infantry brigade of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, it commanded infantry battalions recruited in the East Midlands of England: Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The brigade was an integral part of the East Anglian Division.
The 1st Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteers were a unit of the British Army raised from 1859 onwards as a group of originally separate Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs). They later became the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment and saw action in the Gallipoli and Palestine campaigns during the First World War. Converted into a searchlight unit between the wars, they served in the defence of the United Kingdom and as an infantry regiment in liberated Norway during the Second World War. Postwar they continued in the air defence role until 1961 when they reverted to infantry as part of the Royal Anglian Regiment.
The Northamptonshire Battery, Royal Field Artillery was a unit of Britain's Territorial Force from 1908 to 1919. It served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign during World War I. In World War II the battery fought in the Malayan Campaign and was captured at the Fall of Singapore.
The IV East Anglian Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery was a unit of Britain's Territorial Force (TF) from 1908 to 1919. It served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign during World War I.
From the creation of the British Regular Army in 1660, it has been supplemented by part-time volunteer units raised on a local basis. Northamptonshire has often been in the forefront of raising these units, both of horse and foot, whenever circumstances required.
The Leicester Town Rifles was an early unit of the British Volunteer Force raised in 1859. It went on to become the parent unit of the Territorial Army battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment, which served on the Western Front during World War I. Their successor unit served in the air defence role during and after World War II.
The 1st Norfolk Artillery Volunteers was a unit of Britain's Volunteer Force raised in the County of Norfolk in 1859 as a response to a French invasion threat. It became part of the Territorial Force in 1908 and served under various designations as field artillery in Palestine during World War I, and as heavy anti-aircraft artillery in North Africa and Italy during World War II. It disappeared in a merger in 1955.
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