Piershill Barracks

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Piershill Barracks
Piershill, Edinburgh, Scotland
Remains of a wall tower of Piershill Barracks.jpg
Remains of a wall tower of Piershill Barracks
Location
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Piershill Barracks
Location within Edinburgh
Coordinates 55°57′22″N3°08′46″W / 55.956°N 3.146°W / 55.956; -3.146
Site history
Built1793
Built for War Office
In use1793-1934

Piershill Barracks was a military installation in Piershill in Edinburgh.

History

The barracks were built as part of the British response to the threat of the French Revolution and were completed in 1793. [1] Built along three sides of a quadrangle, [2] they were occupied by various cavalry regiments who would exercise their horses along Portobello Beach. [3]
Regiments there were the Dragoon Guards, Light Dragoons, 9th Lancers, Inniskilling Dragoons, 7th Hussars and the Royal Scots Greys. [4]

A General Court Martial was convened at the barracks on 25 September 1820 by order of Major-General Sir Thomas Bradford, Commander in Chief, Scotland, to try all such prisoners brought before it, with Colonel Sir William Williams K.C.B. (later Major-General William Williams (1776-1832)) as presiding officer. [5]

They became the home of the Royal Scots Greys in the late 19th century [6] but were condemned as insanitary and unfit for occupation by cavalry regiments in the early 20th century; this gave rise to concerns that the Royal Scots Greys would be disbanded leaving Scotland without a cavalry regiment. [7] In practice the Royal Scots Greys moved to Redford Barracks and Piershill Barracks continued to be used on a much smaller scale by the Royal Horse Artillery. [7]

The barracks were vacated in 1934 [8] and demolished by 1938, shortly before the start of the Second World War. [1] The site is now occupied by the Piershill Square tenement blocks which were constructed in 1937–38 using stone from the old barracks. [8] The blocks were created as Council housing by the City Architect, Ebenezer James MacRae. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Edinburgh, Piershill, Piershill Barracks (Site no. NT27SE 4220)" . Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  2. Coghill, Hamish (2008). Lost Edinburgh: Edinburgh's Lost Architectural Heritage. Birlinn. ISBN   978-1841587479.
  3. "Portobello Beach". Portobello heritage trust. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  4. "Full text of "Scottish Record Society. [Publications]"". 23 October 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  5. The Caledonian Mercury, 21 September 1820
  6. "The defence of Edinburgh during the great war of 1897". Victorian military society. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Piershill Barracks, Edinburgh". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 3 December 1906. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  8. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "2-12 (even numbers) Restalrig Road South, 1-21 (odd numbers) Portobello Road... (Category C Listed Building LB49047)" . Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  9. "Ebenezer MacRae: The man who shaped modern Edinburgh". The Scotsman. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2018.