Red Barracks, Woolwich
{{Short description|Military installation for the Royal Marines}}
{{Infobox military installation
|name=Red Barracks, Woolwich
|ensign=
|image=Red Barracks, Woolwich.jpg
|caption =The barracks
|type = Military base
|map_type = Greater London
|pushpin_map_caption = Location within London
|location = Frances Street, Woolwich, London
|coordinates = {{Coord|51.4895|N|0.0542|E|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
|ownership =
|operator =
|builder=
|built = 1858–1860
|used=1860–1967
|architect =
|built_for =Admiralty
|garrison =
|occupants =Royal Marine Infirmary
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Military College of Science
Quality Assurance Directorate (Weapons)
}}
The Red Barracks, formerly the Royal Marine Infirmary, was a military installation located in Frances Street, just south of Woolwich Dockyard, in London, England. It was commissioned as an infirmary for the Royal Marines and later became accommodation for the British Army.
History
=Royal Marine Infirmary=
The building was commissioned as an infirmary to serve the Royal Marine Barracks, Woolwich. It was (along with Blackburn Infirmary) one of the first two pavilion-plan hospitals to be erected in England in the wake of the Crimean War.{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=G. C. |title=Henry Currey FRIBA (1820–1900): leading Victorian hospital architect, and early exponent of the "pavilion principle" |journal=Postgraduate Medical Journal |date=June 2002 |volume=78 |issue=920 |pages=352–9 |doi=10.1136/pmj.78.920.352 |pmid=12151691 |pmc=1742402 |url=}} Construction started in 1858. It was designed by William Scamp in the neoclassical style, built in red brick with stone dressings and was completed in 1860.{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/47738|title=Forecourt railings and gates to Red Barracks, and Gate Lodge, Frances Street, Woolwich SE18 - Greenwich|publisher=Historic England|accessdate=17 August 2024}}
The design of the three-storey building involved a symmetrical main frontage of 13 bays facing onto Frances Street. The central section of three bays, which was projected forward, featured three round headed openings on the ground floor and a tetrastyle portico spanning the first and second floors. The portico was formed by huge Ionic order columns supporting an entablature and a modillioned pediment. The wings of five bays each were fenestrated by round headed windows on all three floors. The wings were decorated by banded pilasters supporting a balustrade at roof level. The main barracks behind were laid out in a square with four-stage towers surmounted by spires at each corner. The infirmary, situated on a hill, was "the most conspicuous and striking feature of the town of Woolwich."Survey of London, p. 13
=Red Barracks=
After the closure of the Dockyard in 1869 the infirmary also passed to the British Army.Survey of London, p. 14 Renamed Red Barracks, reflecting the original red brick design, the old infirmary building accommodated the Army Ordnance Corps (later the Royal Army Ordnance Corps) until October 1921,{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1923-04-26/debates/88bd5934-259c-49ba-83a2-81fd622eb682/RedBarracksWoolwich|title=Red Barracks, Woolwich|publisher=Hansard|date=26 April 1923|access-date=15 August 2024}} when the corps moved its headquarters to Hilsea Barracks near Portsmouth.{{cite book |last1=Steer |first1=Brigadier Frank |title=To The Warrior His Arms: the story of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 1918-1993 |date=2005 |publisher=Pen & Sword |location=Barnsley, S. Yorks.}} From 1885 Red Barracks also accommodated Artillery College (known as Ordnance College from 1899 to 1918). After the departure of the RAOC the college expanded to fill the whole of Red Barracks; renamed the Military College of Science in 1927, the college moved to Shrivenham in 1939.{{cite web|url=http://barrington.cranfield.ac.uk/archives/heritage/royal-military-college-of-science-1946-2004/daish.pdf |title=A Short History of the Royal Military College of Science, 1864–1964 |date= |accessdate=14 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408040556/http://barrington.cranfield.ac.uk/archives/heritage/royal-military-college-of-science-1946-2004/daish.pdf|archive-date=8 April 2014}} Red Barracks then became the home of the Inspectorate of Armaments (later the Quality Assurance Directorate (Weapons)){{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14564|title=War Office and Ministry of Defence: Inspectorate of Armaments: Reports|publisher=National Archives|accessdate=12 April 2017}} and also accommodated the Royal Artillery Record Office from 1940.
The building was decommissioned by the British Army in 1967 and used as a venue for the comedy film, The National Health, which was released in 1973.{{cite web|url=https://londononlocation.co.uk/films/national-health-the/|title=The National Health|publisher=London Location|access-date=15 August 2024}} Despite being a listed building, it was demolished in 1975. The perimeter walls, which date back to the 1850s, survive. The site was subsequently redeveloped for housing.{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1964-06-16/debates/bfb35223-7f3d-4b87-90eb-a80bd1e49044/WoolwichBarracks|title=Woolwich Barracks |publisher= Hansard |date=16 June 1964|access-date=15 August 2024}}{{cite news|url=https://greenwichwire.co.uk/2020/11/17/kings-troop-to-stay-in-woolwich-but-rest-of-barracks-to-be-sold/|title=King’s Troop to stay in Woolwich but rest of barracks to be sold|date=17 November 2020|newspaper=Greenwich Wire|access-date=15 August 2024}}
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/architecture/sites/bartlett/files/48.8_cardwell_and_woodhill_areas.pdf|title=The Survey of London: Volume 48: Woolwich |year=2012|publisher=English Heritage}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolwich}}