Cowley Barracks | |
---|---|
Oxford | |
Coordinates | 51°44′31″N1°12′09″W / 51.74184°N 1.20243°W Coordinates: 51°44′31″N1°12′09″W / 51.74184°N 1.20243°W |
Type | Barracks |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Operator | British Army |
Site history | |
Built | 1876 |
Built for | War Office |
In use | 1876–1959 |
Garrison information | |
Occupants | Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry |
Cowley Barracks (originally Bullingdon Barracks) was a military installation in Cowley, Oxfordshire, England.
The barracks were built in a Fortress Gothic Revival style at Bullingdon Green using Charlbury stone [1] and completed in spring 1876. [2] Their creation took place as part of the Cardwell Reforms which encouraged the localisation of British military forces. [3] The barracks became the depot for the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot and the 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers). [4] Following the Childers Reforms, the 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot amalgamated to form the Oxfordshire Light Infantry with its depot at the barracks in 1881. [4]
Following the Haldane Reforms the Oxfordshire Light Infantry became the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1908. Many recruits enlisted at the barracks during the early stages of the First World War. [5]
The original proposal for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry War Memorial was to site it outside the barracks. No suitable site could be found there so instead it was built on Rose Hill at the junction with Church Cowley Road. [6]
The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Museum was established at the barracks in 1925 [7] and during the Second World War the barracks were used as a base for the Home Guard. [8]
The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry left the barracks in 1959 and, although the men's quarters were retained, the keep was subsequently demolished. [2] The museum collection moved from Cowley Barracks to the Slade Park Territorial Army base at that time. [9]
Between 1980 and 1992 the national headquarters of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation was located on the site. Co-located with this organisation was the Headquarters of No 3 Oxford Group Royal Observer Corps. The site now belongs to Oxford Brookes University, which has built student accommodation on the site. [10]
On 15 August 2019 a plinth was unveiled at the Parade Green student accommodation in James Wolfe Road in memory of the barracks. [11]
The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division.
Alfred Wilcox VC, was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Until 2006, he was the only recipient of the Victoria Cross whose exact resting place was unknown.
Edward Brooks VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum is situated at Peninsula Barracks in Winchester, England. The museum is one of several regimental museums that form part of Winchester's Military Museums.
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1958, serving in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II.
The 1st Green Jackets was an infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1958 to 1966. The regiment served in the Cyprus Emergency, Brunei Revolt, Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation and West Berlin. The regiment formed part of the Green Jackets Brigade and in 1963 was redesignated as a rifle regiment.
The Green Jackets Brigade was an administrative brigade of the British Army from 1946 to 1968, that administered the English rifle regiments.
The Keep, Dorchester is part of the former county barracks of the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot and the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot. The barracks were built in about 1880 and housed various regiments as units were amalgamated. It ceased to be used in 1958 and most of the site was redeveloped in the 1960s, but the keep remained in Ministry of Defence hands and is now used as a regimental museum. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Light Infantry Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular English light infantry regiments.
The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot to form the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry in 1881. The regiment went on to become the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1908.
The 85th Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot to form the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1881.
Copthorne Barracks was a British Army military installation in Copthorne, a suburb of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England.
DMS Whittington, otherwise known as Defence Medical Services Whittington, is a military base in Whittington, Staffordshire, near Lichfield in England. It is home to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, the Headquarters of the Surgeon General and subordinate medical headquarters, and the location of the Defence College of Health Education and Training.
The regimental depot of a regiment is its home base for recruiting and training. It is also where soldiers and officers awaiting discharge or postings are based and where injured soldiers return to full fitness after discharge from hospital before returning to full duty. Normally, a variety of regimental stores will also be kept at the depot. The regimental depot is not the same as the regimental headquarters, though in practice the two will often be co-located in the same place.
Bullingdon Green was a cricket ground south of Oxford, England. It was associated with the Bullingdon Club and was an important site in the early history of cricket in Oxford. The ground operated as a first-class cricket venue in 1843, hosting two first-class matches. It was subsequently built on in 1876 with the Cowley Barracks.
Fenham Barracks is a military installation in Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Roussillon Barracks was a military installation in Chichester.
Hamilton Barracks was a military installation in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
The Lancashire Fusiliers War Memorial is a First World War memorial dedicated to members of the Lancashire Fusiliers killed in that conflict. Outside the Fusilier Museum in Bury, Greater Manchester, in North West England, it was unveiled in 1922—on the seventh anniversary of the landing at Cape Helles, part of the Gallipoli Campaign in which the regiment suffered particularly heavy casualties. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens was commissioned in light of a family connection—his father and great uncle were officers in the Lancashire Fusiliers, a fact noted on a plaque nearby. He designed a tall, slender obelisk in Portland stone. The regiment's cap badge is carved near the top on the front and rear, surrounded by a laurel wreath. Further down are inscriptions containing the regiment's motto and a dedication. Two painted stone flags hang from the sides.
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry War Memorial is a First World War memorial in the Cowley area of Oxford in southern England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it commemorates men of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry killed in the conflict; it was unveiled on Armistice Day, 11 November 1923, and has been a grade II listed building since 1972.
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