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).
History of the RASC Lines
The RASC Lines area was developed in the mid-19th century. It is shown on an 1867 map of
the site as ‘Barrack Establishments’ with a range of rectangular buildings arranged in a grid
pattern. The same buildings are shown in greater detail on the 1873 Ordnance Survey, and the
smaller buildings appear to have been temporary huts of the type built in the central camp area.
The larger buildings were of corrugated iron, but none of the buildings of these early phases
appear to have survived. By the time of the 1898 Ordnance Survey the smaller huts had been
replaced and the complex extended to the west, although the larger corrugated iron buildings
of the earlier phase had been retained.
A ground plan of the area in 1906 when the area was labelled ‘ASC Barracks’ survives in the
National Archives (WO 78/3658) – it seems likely that the redevelopment between 1873 and
1898 coincided with the adoption of the site by the Army Service Corps. Annotation of the
plan indicates that the newer buildings were of brick, although the earlier corrugated iron
buildings were also still in use as barrack stores. The buildings are not in a grid pattern; this
appears to be due to the constraints of the site, with the falling ground level to the west
meaning the buildings are fitted into the more level area. At this time the southern portion of
the site was taken up with accommodation blocks including (from east to west) the
Commanding Officers’ Quarters, Warrant Officers’ Quarters and Married Soldiers’ Quarters.
North of these were the large, mid-19th century barrack stores. In the northwest section
buildings included further soldiers’ accommodation, a large wagon store, extensive stabling and
workshops including two forges and a wheelers shop. There is a large open manege (riding
arena) marked, which divides the northwest and northeast sections. The northeast section
includes sheds for livestock, an abattoir, a large bakery and kitchens – presumably catering for
most of the barrack complexes in the camp.
The complex appears to have survived in that form until at least the mid-20th century, but the
late 20th century saw considerable alteration – unsurprising given the specialist nature of the
buildings on the site. The majority of the buildings were demolished, and those retained have
been considerably altered.
History of the Military Cemetery
The Cemetery is first shown on a plan of the camp from 1867 as the graveyard for the Garrison
Church, which was sited in the northeast corner of the current cemetery area (NGR TR 19205
35421). The original church appears to have been contemporary with the hutting constructed
in the 1850s, and the first surviving record of a burial is from 1856 (George and George 2004,
151). Early 20th century photographs show it to have been a large and quite plain corrugated
iron building. Its exposed position led to continual problems with storm damage, including half
of the roof structure torn off in a gale in 1877 (George and George 2004, 154).
A graveyard is first labelled next to the church on the 1873 Ordnance Survey plan; at this point
it still appears to have been relatively small, occupying the remainder of the level section on
which the church was built. In 1910 the purchase of the western perimeter area allowed the
extension of the cemetery southwards onto the cliff terraces. Following World War One a
Belgian Mausoleum was built on the western side of the graveyard, but this was damaged in a
later landslide and replaced with a memorial wall (George and George 2004, 155).
In 1935 further storm damage led to the church being declared unsafe and it was demolished
and replaced by the surviving large brick church between Somerset and Napier Barracks (now
the Tower Theatre), although the cemetery continued in use. The 1938 Ordnance Survey map
shows that there were some small glasshouses in the lower part of the cemetery (NGR TR
19098 35371). Mid-20th century plans show the regular layout of the plots with paths cut
between. Later this was changed to a more informal layout with fewer paths.
Description
RASC Lines
The accompanying plan of the area shows the various buildings of the RASC Lines, each given a
letter. The description below gives the date range for the construction of the building, with
detail of what it was built for (if known). However, these buildings were not examined in detail
on the site visit and descriptions of current form and use cannot always be given.
A) Detached building, built between 1873 and1898 as soldiers’ accommodation (NGR TR
19153 35929).
B) Long rectangular building built between 1873 and 1898 – housing shoemaker, tailor, saddlers,
wheeler and two forges in 1906 (NGR TR 19184 35924).
C) Square building built between 1907 and 1938 as a workshop (NGR TR 19157 35901).
D) Built post-1950 (NGR TR 19177 35886)
E) Small building built between 1873 and 1898 as an Officers’ Stables (NGR TR 19197 35902).
F) Small building built between 1873 and 1898 as a Coal Store and yard (NGR TR 19198
35888).
G) Possibly a small building built between 1873 and 1898 as a Mess and Grocery Store (NGR
TR 19195 35874). Marked as a Regimental Institute c1950. Subsequently altered and extended
(possibly rebuilt or partially rebuilt).
H) Long rectangular building built between 1907 and 1938 (NGR TR 19211 35883). Marked as
a MT Vehicle Shed c1950.
I) Small square building built between 1907 and 1938 and originally attached to the food
preparation range (NGR TR 19267 35883).
J) Large rectangular building built post-1950 (NGR TR 19198 35834).
K) Two storey brick building, possibly incorporating some elements of a building constructed
between 1873 and 1898 as Officers’ Quarters. Marked as an officers’ mess in 1950 (NGR TR
19252 35828).
L) Rectangular building built between 1907 and 1938 marked as offices in 1950 (NGR TR
19300 35902).
Military Cemetery
The cemetery is accessed via a gateway in the northeast corner of the cemetery with some of
the large levelled area of the former church now laid out as gardens. There are two main areas
of burial, largely defined by the steeper gradient of the areas around them. One sits on the
higher level area adjacent to the entrance and the other in an area below accessed via a sloping
path in the side of the scarp that divides this from the level area above. The burial areas are
carefully maintained, with mature trees and wilder planting around the edges of the burial
grounds and on the sides of the slopes.
Most of the gravestones are of standard military form, although varying in age and in the wide
variety of regiments represented. There are graves from all three elements of the British
military (army, navy and air force) as well as many other countries, particularly Belgium (as
represented by the memorial wall) and Canada, but also the United States of America and
China. (1)

<1> English Heritage, 2012, Shorncliffe Camp, RASC Lines and Military cemetery (Unpublished document). SKE56219.