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| Home
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and Weymouth / Garrison Life |
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| The Weymouth or Red Barracks |
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| Source: Various (please see
Site Credits) |
Click any picture to enlarge
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The Red Barracks sit 100 feet above sea
level on the peninsula overlooking the harbour and the mouth
of the River Wey on Barrack Road within a few hundred yards
of the Nothe Fort. They were one of three barracks built locally
in the 18th century to concentrate the troops in particular
areas rather than dispersing them to billets in public houses
and inns as part of the country's heightened defences against
possible invasion by Napoleon's forces.
Originally designed for cavalry by the architects
James Johnson and John Sanders of the government's Barracks
Department, construction commenced in 1794 and was finished
in the winter of 1796-7 but they were unfortunately destroyed
by fire in the first half of 1798. They were rebuilt in 1801
in brick with slate roofs around a drill/parade ground, this
time as infantry barracks to provide accommodation for 2 field
officers, 6 captains, 9 subalterns and staff, 360 NCOs and
privates and a 30 bed hospital. They were used by the armed
forces for the next 150 years.
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In the 1820's their numbers were greatly reduced and at one
time there were no occupants at all. The Ordnance Board took
over from the Barracks Department in 1822 and re-converted
them back to a one-troop cavalry barracks but also capable
of housing 150 infantrymen.
During the Second World War from 1939 to 1941 they were used
as the Gun Operations Room controlling all of Dorset's anti-aircraft
sites. When this function was relocated the barracks reverted
to troop accommodation, particularly for local gun and searchlight
batteries of the Royal Artillery and their supporting Royal
Engineers, including 261 Maintenance Battery.
But for occasional visits by the Territorial Army they were
little used after the Second World War and gradually fell
into disrepair.
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| Funeral party marching out of the Red
Barracks at the turn of the Century |
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| They were purchased in 1964 by
the Post Office who used them for the next 11 years, mainly
as a sorting office, after which further deterioration took
place until 1984 when they were sold and redeveloped as 57 private
units and, with the addition of 14 new properties, renamed Wellington
Court. |
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| Wellington Court |
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| Wellington Court |
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