Pembroke Army Garrison

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Pembroke Garrison
Pembroke, Malta
Coordinates 35°55′30″N14°28′30″E / 35.92500°N 14.47500°E / 35.92500; 14.47500
Type Fortifications, Barracks, military families' quarters and Wartime Military Hospitals in WW1 and WW2
Height Low rise
Site information
Owner Government of Malta
Controlled byPembroke Town Council
ConditionLargely intact with some derelict buildings
Site history
Built1862 with several development phases up til 1941
Built by British Empire
In use1869–1977
Materials Limestone
Battles/warsLogistic and medical support to World War I and the Siege of Malta (World War II)

Pembroke Garrison is a dispersed collection of former British Army barracks built in the vicinity of Fort Pembroke, [1] northern Malta.

Contents

History

Pembroke Garrison developed around a Victorian fortification (Fort Pembroke), a gun emplacement, a barracks, a tented musketry camp, rifle ranges and training areas. [2] St George's Barracks [3] was built first, followed by Fort Pembroke, then St Andrew's Barracks and finally St Patrick's Barracks; built by the British in four main building phases 19th and 20th centuries. [4] Part of the garrison (St Andrew's Barracks) was used as a military hospital during the First World War; [5] during the war Malta's military hospitals and convalescent camps, particularly those at Pembroke, dealt with over 135,000 sick and wounded, most of whom were casualties of the Gallipoli and Salonika campaigns. [6] It remained in use by the British military until 1977. [7] St Patrick's Barracks was not constructed until World War Two. [8]

Today the former British garrison sits inside the Pembroke Local Council administrative area (shown in red). Pembrooke in Malta.svg
Today the former British garrison sits inside the Pembroke Local Council administrative area (shown in red).

Army units based at Pembroke Garrison between 1954 and 1967 would have been subordinate to Headquarters Malta and Libya. [9]

At the height of its occupancy the British garrison at Pembroke included St George's, [10] St Patrick's [11] and St Andrew's Barracks, [12] places of worship, [13] firing ranges and Fort Pembroke itself; as well as a military repair base, a medical centre, a military cemetery, [14] a garrison school [15] and other soldier and family welfare facilities (i.e. a NAAFI shop, military post office and beach club (the 'Robb Lido' along the northern edge of St George's Bay [16] ) and regimental messes).

In May 1940 naval and army families living on the island were moved to Pembroke Garrison (into St George's and St Andrew's Barracks). [17] Once St Patrick's barracks were constructed in 1941 Pembroke Garrison would be a critical medical support base for the island. [18]

St Patrick's Barracks in the background, it is now a girls secondary school. Malta - Pembroke - Triq Martin Luther King + St Clare College 01 ies.jpg
St Patrick's Barracks in the background, it is now a girls secondary school.
The entrance to Fort Pembroke, now housing the Verdala International School. Fort Pembroke 11.jpg
The entrance to Fort Pembroke, now housing the Verdala International School.
The now derelict Australia Hall at St Andrew's Barracks, built as a theatre and cinema after World War I. Australia Hall, Pembroke.jpeg
The now derelict Australia Hall at St Andrew's Barracks, built as a theatre and cinema after World War I.
The Pembroke Ranges looking out to sea; the ranges are still being used by the Maltese Government, but this is already ear-marked as a unique conservation area. Malta - Pembroke - Triq Martin Luther King - Rifle Ranges 02 ies.jpg
The Pembroke Ranges looking out to sea; the ranges are still being used by the Maltese Government, but this is already ear-marked as a unique conservation area.

British Army and Royal Marines units based at Pembroke Garrison

This is not an exhaustive list of the British Army and Royal Marines (RM) units that occupied the Pembroke Garrison, but it represents those that are recorded:

St Georges Barracks - constructed between 1859 and 1862
St Andrew's Barracks - not occupied until April 1905 [29]
St Paul's Hutments
St Patrick's Barracks - constructed in 1941

Although the Pembroke Garrison was nominally an Army facility able to house three infantry battalions, it is clear that the Royal Marines had a long post-war association with Pembroke.

Transfer of ownership to the Maltese Government

The bulk of the garrison's sites were decommissioned and handed to the Government of Malta in 1977. The barracks and their environs are now divided into a thriving community of Pembroke made up public and private housing; and a number of notable colleges and schools, many of them located in re-purposed original British Army barrack blocks. [40]

The limestone karst countryside around promotes a unique ecology called garigue which the local authorities are keen to promote as a visitor attraction, along with the military heritage. [41]

Legacy Pembroke site reuse noted

St George's Barracks (the oldest of Pembroke Garrison's unit location) has not survived intact (as did St Andrew's and St Patrick's) and this probably reflects the fact that after British withdrawal from Malta there was not the imperative and funds that there is now to preserve and use heritage imperial building stock. Australia Hall, [51] the former REME workshops and the White Rocks Officers' Quarters [52] areas are still in need of development and restoration.

See also

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