Redford Barracks | |
---|---|
Colinton, Edinburgh, Scotland | |
Coordinates | 55°54′37″N3°14′45″W / 55.91028°N 3.24583°W |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Operator | British Army |
Site history | |
Built | 1909–1915 |
Built for | War Office |
Architect | Harry Bell Measures |
In use | 1915 – present |
Garrison information | |
Occupants | Balaclava Company, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) |
Redford Cavalry and Infantry Barracks is a military installation located on Colinton Road, near the Edinburgh City Bypass, east of the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. The barracks are set to close in 2029.
Redford Barracks was built between 1909 and 1915 by the War Office and designed by Harry Bell Measures. When completed, the barracks was the largest military installation built in Scotland since Fort George in the Highlands. The British Army garrison in Edinburgh Castle formally moved out to the barracks in 1923. Today, the Infantry Barracks are unoccupied, and the Cavalry Barracks houses Balaclava Company, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders).
The barracks comprises two category B listed main buildings and parade squares facing Colinton Road. [1] [2]
The Infantry Barracks ( 55°54′37″N3°14′45″W / 55.9103°N 3.2457°W ), was originally built to house an entire infantry regiment and could accommodate 1,000 men. It could provide everything the resident line infantry battalion required to function. The families lived in service quarters close to the barracks and the children attended local schools. The main barrack block itself housed the resident battalion headquarters, one Rifle Company, a Fire Support Company and Headquarters Company. The two other Rifle Companies were accommodated in a separate, newer block. 3rd Battalion The Rifles, the last battalion to occupy the barracks, moved out in 2014. [3]
The three-storey Cavalry Barracks ( 55°54′46″N3°14′31″W / 55.9127°N 3.2419°W ), with its tall domed clock-tower, was originally built to house a cavalry regiment, most notably the Royal Scots Greys, with a large annexe of stables and associated outbuildings. With the permanent stationing of armoured units such as the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine, the Cavalry Barracks became a home to D Squadron, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards stationed there from 1971 until disbanded in 1976. [4]
The cavalry barracks have been the home for Balaclava Company, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) since 2014. [5] [6] The Regimental Headquarters of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry has also been located at the cavalry barracks since 2014. [7]
The following notable units are based at Redford Barracks. [8] [9] [10]
British Army [11]
Community Cadet Forces
As part of the Future Force 2020 budgetary announcement in July 2011, RAF Kirknewton was to have been developed into a major Army base to host a Multi-Role Brigade; [13] Redford and Dreghorn Barracks would become surplus to requirements and were earmarked for disposal under this plan. [14] However, in December 2011, it was reported that the planned move to Kirknewton was in doubt, and that Redford Barracks would be retained. [15] By 2013, it was confirmed that the MRB plan had been dropped, and that Redford Barracks would be closed. [16] In 2019, it was announced that the closure of the barracks had been deferred to 2025. [17] This was once more extended to 2029. [18]
In 2021, the City of Edinburgh Council revealed plans to create 800 new homes on the site, as part of their City Plan 2030. [19]
The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Army's armoured regiments, both the Royal Tank Regiment and those converted from old horse cavalry regiments. Today it comprises twelve regiments, eight regular and four reserve. Although the Household Cavalry Regiment provide an armoured regiment, they are not part of the RAC.
Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War.
The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons), officially abbreviated "QO HLDRS," was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. It was in existence from 1961 to 1994.
The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming is a British Army training establishment that provides instruction on Scottish pipe band music to military pipers and drummers.
The Royal Regiment of Scotland is the senior and only current Scottish line infantry regiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of three regular and two reserve battalions, plus an incremental company, each formerly an individual regiment. However, three regular battalions maintain their former regimental pipes and drums to carry on the traditions of their antecedent regiments.
HQ 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland is a Regional Point of Command, Brigade of the British Army.
The Ayrshire Yeomanry was a Regiment of the British Yeomanry and is now an armoured Squadron of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry (SNIY), part of the British Army Reserve. It is the Lowlands of Scotland's only Royal Armoured Corps Unit and has an unbroken history stretching back to the 1790s.
The Lothians and Border Horse was a Yeomanry regiment, part of the British Territorial Army. It was ranked 36th in the Yeomanry order of precedence and was based in the Scottish Lowland area, recruiting in the Lothians – East Lothian (Haddingtonshire), Midlothian (Edinburghshire), and West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) – and along the border with England, particularly Berwickshire. It amalgamated with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry and the Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Lowland Yeomanry in 1956.
The Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army that can trace their formation back to 1796. It saw action in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War. It amalgamated with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry and the 1st/2nd Lothians and Border Horse to form the Queen's Own Lowland Yeomanry in 1956. Its lineage was revived by B Squadron, the Scottish Yeomanry in 1992 until that unit was disbanded in 1999.
The Scottish Yeomanry was a Yeomanry Regiment of the British Territorial Army formed in 1992. It was disbanded in 1999.
The Lowland Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland is a military band in the Territorial Army and one of three military bands in the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The band is based at the East Claremont Street drill hall in Edinburgh and is administered by 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland. The other two bands in the Regiment are the regular Regimental Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, which is based at Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh and is administered by the Royal Corps of Army Music, and the other is the territorial Highland Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, which is based at Queen's Barracks in Perth and administered by 51st Highland, 7th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
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.
Dreghorn Barracks are located in Edinburgh, Scotland. The barracks are situated at the southern edge of the city, south of Colinton, and adjacent to the Edinburgh City Bypass.
Glencorse Barracks is a British Army barracks situated in Glencorse just outside the town of Penicuik in Midlothian, Scotland. It is one of the three barracks which make up the City of Edinburgh Garrison, with Dreghorn and Redford Barracks. It has been the home for The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland since 2006.
During the First World War the British Armed Forces was enlarged to many times its peacetime strength. This was done mainly by adding new battalions to existing regiments. Although sometimes identified by shoulder titles, generally the new battalions could not be identified from appearance. Consequently, the units in this list have been assembled considering only those as having a uniquely different cap badge.
The Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry (SNIY) is a reserve light cavalry regiment created in 2014 as part of the restructuring of the British Army's Army Reserve. It is operationally paired with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, based at Leuchars Station in Fife, Scotland. The regiment has numerous squadrons across Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
This is a list of active military units, bases and barracks of the British Armed Forces in Scotland since the Treaty of Union 1707, when the Kingdom of Scotland relinquished its independence and formed a union with the Kingdom of England to the create the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a result, Scottish armed forces were merged, together with the English armed forces, into the British Army. The armed forces in Scotland include the military bases and organisation in Scotland or associated with Scotland. This includes servicemen and women from Scotland and Scottish regiments and brigades. The Military in Scotland includes the three services. The Army which has bases across Scotland, the RAF and the Navy.