Peninsula Barracks

Last updated

Peninsula Barracks
Winchester
Peninsula Barracks, Winchester - geograph.org.uk - 63780.jpg
Peninsula Barracks
Location map United Kingdom Winchester Central.png
Red pog.svg
Peninsula Barracks
Location within Winchester
Coordinates 51°03′43″N01°19′16″W / 51.06194°N 1.32111°W / 51.06194; -1.32111
TypeBarracks
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
OperatorFlag of the British Army.svg  British Army
Site history
BuiltEarly 20th century
Built for War Office
In useEarly 20th century–1985

The Peninsula Barracks are a group of military buildings in Winchester, Hampshire.

History

The barracks, which were originally known as the Upper Barracks, Winchester, were built in the early 20th century on the site of King's House, an unfinished palace designed by Sir Christopher Wren for Charles II, which had been used for barracks from 1794 until it was destroyed by fire in 1894. [1] [2] Some parts of the barracks remain Grade II listed buildings in their own right including the Green Jackets Headquarters and the Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum, the Gymnasium, the Main Entrance Gate Piers, the Gates and Flanking Railings and Piers, the Royal Hussars Museum (former Militia Stores), the East Block, the Guardroom, the Chapel and Schoolroom, the Mons Block, the North Block, the Weapons Training Shed and the West Block. [2] [3] The barracks became the depot of the King's Royal Rifle Corps and the Rifle Brigade in 1858. [4]

The barracks went on to become the regional centre for infantry training as the Green Jackets Brigade Depot in 1960. [5] The name of the barracks was changed from Upper Barracks, Winchester to Peninsula Barracks in 1964. [4] The 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) returned to the barracks on 21 April 1964, from Bushfield Camp, near Winchester, where they had moved in 1961. [6] On 22 May 1964, General Sir Gerald Lathbury, Colonel Commandant of the 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) and also Quartermaster-General to the Forces, whose responsibilities included all Army buildings, took the first passing-out parade in the rebuilt barracks. [6] Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Colonel-in-Chief, 3rd Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade, officially opened the new barracks on 28 May 1965. [7] The barracks closed in 1985 and military training was moved to Sir John Moore Barracks. [4]

In 1994 the Ministry of Defence sold most of the barracks for private flats, retaining some space for Winchester's Military Museums, a complex of museums that are grouped together but operated separately. [8] The barracks also house the Regimental Headquarters of The Rifles, [9] and the Regimental Headquarters (South) of the King's Royal Hussars. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's Royal Rifle Corps</span> Infantry rifle regiment of the British Army

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United States as 'The French and Indian War.' Subsequently numbered the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire. In 1958, the regiment joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the Rifle Brigade in the Green Jackets Brigade and in 1966 the three regiments were formally amalgamated to become the Royal Green Jackets. The KRRC became the 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets. On the disbandment of the 1st Battalion, Royal Green Jackets in 1992, the RGJ's KRRC battalion was redesignated as the 1st Battalion, Royal Green Jackets, eventually becoming 2nd Battalion, The Rifles in 2007.

Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Green Jackets</span> Military unit

The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum</span> Regimental museum in Peninsula Barracks, Winchester

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 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 Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion of The Rifles was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the Light Division. Since formation the regiment has been involved in combat operations, first in the later stages of the Iraq War and in the War in Afghanistan.

The Light Division was a light infantry division of the British Army. Its origins lay in "Light Companies" formed during the late 18th century, to move at speed over inhospitable terrain and protect a main force with skirmishing tactics. These units took advantage of then-new technology in the form of rifles, which allowed it to emphasise marksmanship, and were aimed primarily at disrupting and harassing enemy forces, in skirmishes before the main forces clashed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Wallace (British Army officer)</span> British Army general (1943–2016)

Lieutenant General Sir Christopher Brooke Quentin Wallace was a British Army officer and military historian.

The 1957 White Paper on Defence was a British white paper issued in March 1957 setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry. Duncan Sandys, the recently appointed Minister of Defence, produced the paper. The decisions were influenced by two major factors: the finances of the country and the coming of the missile age.

The 43rd Infantry Brigade was a brigade of the British Army during the First and Second World Wars, and later, as 43 (Wessex) Brigade, a regional headquarters from 1985 to 2014.

The Green Jackets Brigade was an administrative brigade of the British Army from 1946 to 1966 , that administered the English rifle regiments.

In countries whose armies are organised on a regimental basis, such as the army of the United Kingdom, a regimental museum is a military museum dedicated to the history of a specific army regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regimental depot</span> Home base of a regiment

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.

In September 1939, the British Army was in process of expanding their anti-aircraft and mobile assets. Among these new changes was the formation of Anti-Aircraft Command which was formed on 1 April 1939, and the 1st Armoured Division formed in 1937. The list below will include the British Army units, colonial units, and those units which were in the process of formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fenham Barracks</span> Military installation in Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Fenham Barracks is a military installation in Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir John Moore Barracks, Winchester</span>

Sir John Moore Barracks is a military installation near Winchester.

Colonel John Maurice Arthur Tillett was a British Army officer who had a critical role in the planning of the capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. He was one of the last surviving British Army officers to have served with the 6th Airborne Division in Operation Mallard, on 6 June 1944, and in Operation Varsity, on 24 March 1945. He later commanded the Ugandan Army.

Winchester's Military Museums are a group of six independent and related regimental museums in Peninsula Barracks and Lower Barracks in Winchester, Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Rifle Brigade</span> Military unit

The London Rifle Brigade was a volunteer regiment of the British Army.

References

  1. "Peninsular Barracks – Winchester – Hampshire – England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 Michael Bullen, John Crook, Rodney Hubbuck & Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Hampshire: Winchester and the North, London: Yale University Press, 2010, ISBN   978-0-300-12084-4, pp. 84, 691–2.
  3. "Listed Buildings in Winchester, Hampshire, England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "History of Peninsula Barracks" (PDF). Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. "Infantry Brigade Depots (Location)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 7 March 1958. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  6. 1 2 The Gorget 1964, p. 11
  7. "The Green Jacket Brigade depot". Royal Green Jackets Association. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  8. "Light Infantry Museum". Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. "Peninsula Barracks - Winchester's Military Quarter" . Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  10. "Contact - The King's Royal Hussars" . Retrieved 24 February 2021.