Landscape and Settlement Context:
The Back Door Training Area forms the western part of the main area of Shorncliffe Camp,
divided from the central area by Pond Hill Road and West Road which run roughly north to
south through the camp. Much of the land in this area forms the side of the ridge on which the
main camp sits, falling away into a river valley to the west. At the base of the valley, known as
Seabrook Vale, is a further north to south route, Horn Street, which historically formed the
route from the village of Cheriton to the coast and the small settlement of Seabrook. This now
has 20th century housing along it, which runs up to the boundary of the training area, and
defines its western and northern edges. To the south the boundary of the area is marked by
the edge of the cliffs. These fall to the coast in a series of terraces. Historically much of this
was also military land, on which was built coastal defences in the early 19th century, most
notably the Martello towers, which still run along the southern edge of the site. Much of the
area below these defences has now been developed as part of the coastal settlements of
Seabrook and Sandgate.
The original extent of the Napoleonic Camp at Shorncliffe appears to have had an irregular
western edge, largely following the edge of the high ground on which it was based. This
encompassed small amounts of land to the west of what is now West Road, with the larger
sections of these areas being used for camp building. These have generally fallen into distinct
sections – running from north to south, the ASU & POL area, the RASC Lines, the Nursery the
Military Cemetery. As part of the site rationalisation the RASC Lines and Military Cemetery are
being retained, and are therefore dealt with in a separate template. To the south of these is the
large area of Shorncliffe Redoubt. The camp also originally extended significantly to the south
and southeast of the Redoubt. Much of this land has been sold for housing in the late 20th
century, but one area, Hospital Hill, east of the Redoubt is still part of the camp and forms part
of the training area.
History and description of the site:
The camp at Shorncliffe originated from the key position of the site in relation to the Kent
coastline, which was always vulnerable to invasion from the Continent. During the Napoleonic
Wars the coastline was surveyed and the earlier defences found deficient. Shorncliffe Heights
was purchased in 1794 and the construction of a redoubt was begun, designed to provide a
look-out point and battery to defend the bay below. In subsequent years Martello towers and
other key military sites intended to provide additional security were constructed below the
redoubt and the area remained important for military defence. In the early years of the 19th
century, under renewed French threat, Sir John Moore established a training camp for Light
Infantry at Shorncliffe, providing troops who proved crucial to the success of the British against
Napoleon. At this stage the camp comprised temporary buildings, put in place for seasons of
training. From the 1850s, against the backdrop of the Crimean War, the need for permanent
training grounds was acknowledged – the first at Aldershot was laid out in 1858, with Shorncliffe
and Colchester laid out soon afterwards. An 1867 map of Shorncliffe shows the hutting of the
original camp laid out in grid patterns around the central parade ground. These original
buildings appear to have comprised timber huts, and while some survived into the 20th century,
all were eventually replaced. These were split into 5 ranges, lettered from A to E. Around the
perimeter road a series of ancillary complexes are also shown, including a set of ‘permanent
barracks’ to the north for the Royal Artillery which is laid out in a courtyard plan, and more
buildings to the west of the site – including a church, the Royal Engineers Department and a
complex labelled ‘Barrack Establishments’. The 1873 shows a similar complex, although further
buildings have been added including the rackets court. The survival of this building, of stock
brick, indicates that by this date the camp was beginning to receive some buildings in more
durable materials, perhaps initially only for service buildings etc which had more complex
constructional requirements. By the late 9th century the process of replacing the standard
wooden accommodation huts with blocks in a more durable material began. In 1880
Shorncliffe received the first concrete huts to be constructed in the country (Schofield 2006, 2).
By the late 1880s however brick became the preferred construction material and, in a major
programme of investment between 1890 and the turn of the century, most of the wooden huts
were replaced by brick blocks forming Moore Barracks, Napier Barracks, Somerset Barracks,
Ross Barracks and the Royal Engineers Barracks (later Burgoyne; although this also incorporated
some earlier blocks). These appear to have followed a standardised design, modified in layout
to fit the allocated space, with the provision of parallel rows of barracks with a large officers’
mess and other ancillary buildings.
Despite this investment, the existing scale of the accommodation must have proved inadequate,
as by the first decade of the 20th century a further complex was added on land to the north of
the existing site. This formed Risborough Barracks, with the initial construction of c1904 of
brick service buildings and wooden huts. To the east the Army Ordnance Depot was laid out
in a series of construction phases from 1899 into the 1900s.
Further expansion was undertaken in the First World War with the establishment of a further
complex on St Martin’s Plain. Schofield (2006) records this as corrugated iron huts, and gives a
date of 1915. Other additions around the time of the war include the service block to the east
of Risborough Barracks (dated 1914).
The St Martin’s Plain complex is shown on the 1938 OS, labelled as the Army School of
Education. By this date Risborough Barracks had also been upgraded, with brick blocks
replacing the wooden huts, a larger officers’ mess and a Regimental Institute. Schofield (2006)
gives a date of 1933 for the replacement of the wooden huts. To the west of Risborough
Barracks a large building is also shown on the 1938 map, this is labelled as a garage on one of
the undated plans seen on site.
The largest phase of redevelopment after the Second World War was the construction of the
new Moore Barracks in the early 1960s. This included a Roman Catholic Chapel, designed by
Zbigneiw Piet of Westwood Piet and Partners in 1966-8 (Harwood 2003, 470).
Back Door Training Area
The original Napoleonic Camp at Shorncliffe appears to have had an irregular western edge,
largely following the edge of the high ground on which it was set. This encompassed small
amounts of land to the west of what is now West Road, with the larger sections of these areas
being used for camp building, including the Nursery and, much later, the ASU & POL area. The
original extent of the camp was marked out by boundary stones, a string of which are marked
on the early Ordnance Survey mapping, and some of which appear to survive in this area,
presumably due to the lower level of development. The detail on the Ordnance Survey map of
1873 indicates that these were marked with the initials G.R., the date, 1805, and were
numbered in sequence with those running through the western area being numbered from 16
to 20.
To the south the Back Door Training Area includes the remains of Shorncliffe Redoubt – the
most notable survival within the camp of the Napoleonic defences which first established the
military presence on the headland. The fort was designed in conjunction with other coastal
defences, most notably the Martello towers which run along the headland and the Royal Military
Canal which runs from the base of the cliff below Shorncliffe westwards towards Hythe. The
land was purchased for the redoubt in 1794 and the design of the fort devised by Sir William
Twiss, plans of which survive (Wessex Archaeology 2006, 2). The fort was probably built
according to his plans, although it is not clear whether it was ever completed. Following the
end of the Napoleonic Wars the redoubt declined in importance, and the materials of the
buildings of the fort were sold off in the 1830s (Wessex Archaeology 2006, 5-6). In the mid-
19th century a house was built in the centre of the redoubt, this apparently served as the Camp
Commandant’s house but an undated on-site plan suggests that for some time, and perhaps
originally, it was used as Brigade Offices, with the Commandant’s arrival possibly coinciding with
the large extension to the building in the late 19th century, presumably with some alterations to
the earthworks to form gardens. In the early 20th century the land came under a more direct
military use, with the house replaced by buildings associated with the Royal Engineers, who also
occupied the camp area north of the redoubt (see Nursery below and also Burgoyne Barracks
template). This included stores and a maintenance and contractors’ yard within the enclosure
with further yards and barrack huts around the outer edge of the earthworks. These were
demolished in the mid-20th century and the site abandoned.
Around the redoubt on the cliff terraces below and to the west and east, other buildings
developed in the mid to late 19th century, including the area to the east of the Redoubt now
known as Hospital Hill. This included a large hospital complex with ancillary buildings and other
administration areas. In the Hospital Hill area, late 19th century plans indicate some hospital
buildings were constructed (NGR TR 19179 35143) and a Roman Catholic Chapel (NGR TR
19161 35224). In the early 20th century the use of the Redoubt by the Royal Engineers saw
further buildings constructed just outside the earthwork fortifications, including a yard to the
west (NGR TR 19239 35319) and barrack huts and a cook house to the south (NGR TR
19327 35253). The Roman Catholic church also survived, with further hutting south of this,
although the earlier hospital buildings were consolidated and those within the training area
demolished.
The western area of the camp was extended with the purchase of a further 388 acres in 1910
(George and George 2004, 153), although little of this additional land was used for building,
and appears mainly to have acted as a buffer zone between the camp and the settlement
around Horn Street and Seabrook to the west. Some earlier non-military buildings appear to
have continued in use in the area, most notably the rectory of St Martin’s Church, Cheriton,
which sat east of the main Horn Street settlement (NGR TR 19076 36143). It appears on the
Ordnance Survey mapping until at least 1950, although it was subsequently demolished. During
the Second World War the camp was protected by pillboxes a series of which ran up along the
western edge of the site. The locations of these are noted in the NHRE (see undesignated
heritage assets above). In the later 20th century this area has been used for training, and this
appears to have helped preserve the open character of the area.
Nursery
The nursery area was developed in the mid-19th century as the Royal Engineers Department,
with the plan of 1867 showing a small number of temporary huts with, to the south of them, a
large courtyard enclosure which appears to be a permanent building. The department
extended into part of the central camp (see Burgoyne Barracks) in the late 19th century and the
temporary huts on both sites had been largely replaced with permanent buildings by 1898-9.
The earliest plan of Burgoyne Barracks shows a string of buildings running down the western
side of West Road (NA WO 78/3402), some of which were mid-19th century buildings and
others added in the late 19th century. From north to south these were an Officers’ Mess
establishment (on site of current Engineers House – see description below), officers’ quarters
(on site of Burgoyne House – see description below), workshops with surveyors quarters
attached (probably incorporating some pre-1873 buildings; at NGR TR 19245 35565), stores
(NGR TR 19242 35539), troop stables (NGR TR 19243 35511) and wagon sheds (NGR TR
19238 35470). By the time the barracks were drawn again in 1906 (NA WO 78/3720) some
of these buildings had been replaced, with the earlier officers quarters replaced with a newer
block (see (B) below) and the earlier stores, troop stables and wagon store replaced with a
much an officers stable, a smaller troop stable and a larger wagon store. The earlier officers’
mess (at (A) below) appears to have still been extant at the time of the survey but a
subsequent modification to the plan has seen is papered over with a blank square suggesting
that it was demolished soon after the plan was drawn, and that it may have been some time
before the later building was built in its place as the replacement plan has not been drawn. It
had been built by the time of the 1938 Ordnance Survey however, at which point the other
buildings also survived. By 1950 these buildings had not been altered in plan form, although the
former troop stables and wagon store had been modified into garages. At some point in the
late 20th century the majority of the buildings on the nursery site were demolished, probably as
part of the consolidation of the barracks complex after the Royal Engineers moved out. The
accommodation buildings were retained but the more specialist structures removed.
ASU & POL area
The ASU & POL area appears to have been a much later complex development, with no
buildings appearing in the area on the mapping until 1950, indicating it was built sometime
between the late 1930s and late 1940s. Similarities between the buildings that form part of this
complex and those surviving on other sites suggest that the late 1930s is the most likely period
of construction. The main provision was clearly the large garage complex, which reflects the
changing needs of the army during the war and immediately after as provision for substantial
numbers of vehicles was made. As well as the garage however, the other buildings appear to
have had uses relating to the troop training – a pellet range and miniature rifle range. These
buildings appear roughly contemporary with the garage and must reflect the changing training
requirements of the army at the time.
Description
Back Door Training Area
There are no extant buildings in the training area. The northern part of the area is largely open
scrubland with more heavily wooded areas to the south. Well used footpaths link the
settlements to the west of the area with the road network around the camp and indicate that
the space is used recreationally by local people. The current OS mapping suggests that some of
the boundary stones marking the original western extent of the Napoleonic camp still survive as
stones are still marked in locations corresponding to the earlier mapping information. At least
two historic boundary stone points appear to correspond to points still marked with a ‘BS’
(NGRs TR 19262 35755 and TR 19025 35884), and others may survive. The earthworks of
Shorncliffe Redoubt also survive, now heavily overgrown.
ASU & POL area
A) Garage (NGR TR 19177 36227) Small late 30s [?] three bay brick building with large
doorway to each bay and gable tile roofs with lights to the north side only. Appears on a site
plan of c1950 as a ‘Pellet range’.
B) Garage (NGR TR 19223 36191) Large late 30s [?] brick building of 17 bays with hipped tile
roofs with lights to north and south of each roof section. Appears on a site plan of c1950 as
Garage.
C) Small late 30s [?] building (NGR TR 19265 36083) Single storey brick with hipped tiled roof.
Marked on a site plan of c1950 as a miniature rifle range.
D) Small late 30s [?] building (NGR TR 19222 36298) Single storey brick with hipped tiled roof.
Marked on a site plan of c1950, but not labelled.
Nursery
A) Engineer House (NGR TR 19256 35638) Large brick detached house, two storeys with
hipped slated roofs. On the site of a building which appears on the 1898 Ordnance Survey, but
apparently a rebuilt between 1907 and 1938. Labelled as the CO’s quarters on the site plan of
1950.
B) Burgoyne House (former Nursery) (NGR TR 19254 35607) L-shaped single storey brick
building with pitched slate roof, built 1906-7? Marked as a red-ink addition to the 1906 plan
and labelled as officers’ quarters. Still marked as single officers’ quarters on the 1950 site plan.
Subsequently extended with a flat roof extension to the west (front). Latterly used as a
nursery.

No Sources are recorded in the National Record of the Historic Environment record from which this record is compiled.