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 little more than an open field, with temporary
buildings, put in place for seasons of training. Permanent training grounds for the army began to
be established in the 1820s (Newsome et al. 2009). From the 1850s, against the backdrop of
the Crimean War, the need for further permanent training grounds was acknowledged – the
first at Aldershot was laid out in 1858, with Shorncliffe and Colchester laid out soon afterwards.
Shorncliffe and Aldershot were first use to accommodate foreign troops (George and George
2004, 74). After the war the temporary wooden huts were retained, and used to provide
accommodation for the army during training exercises. An 1867 map of Shorncliffe shows the
hutting of the original camp laid out in grid patterns around the central parade ground. 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 was 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’. An 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 communal buildings or those which had more complex constructional requirements.
By the late 19th 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
barrack huts to be constructed in the country (Schofield 2006, 2). By the late 1880s 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 permanent
buildings forming Moore Barracks, Napier Barracks, Somerset Barracks, Ross Barracks and the
Royal Engineers Barracks (later Burgoyne; also incorporating some earlier buildings). 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 an Army Ordnance Depot was laid out in
a series of construction phases from 1899 into the first decade of the 20th century.
Further expansion was undertaken in the First World War with the establishment of further
complexes on St Martin’s Plain, comprising Dibgate and St Martin’s Plain Camps. Schofield
(2006) records these as corrugated iron huts, and gives a date of 1915 for their construction.
Other additions around the time of the war include the service block to the east of Risborough
Barracks (dated 1914).
The temporary camps on the St Martin’s Plain site remained in use after the end of the war. St
Martin’s Plain Camp 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. Further garages or stores were also built to the east on what is now Hillside Industrial
Estates (TR 20130 35923), including a large four aisle building with glass roof lights. Around the
outbreak of the Second World War the perimeter of the site was defended by a ring of
pillboxes, a number of which survive, and St Martin’s Plain was used as the base for anti-aircraft
batteries.
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 (now listed at
grade II), designed by Zbigneiw Piet of Westwood Piet and Partners in 1966-8 (Harwood 2003,
470; Anon 1969).
History of Somerset Barracks
The area around the main parade ground was originally laid out with wooden huts in the mid-
19th century, probably reflecting the arrangement of temporary tents in the early 19th century.
The huts were organised in a series of ranges, labelled A to E, with Somerset Barracks covering
the area that was originally E range. By the late 19th century the wooden huts were clearly
inadequate, and following the 1890 Barracks Act, and the availability of funds to build
permanent barrack buildings, the huts were systematically replaced with separate barrack
complexes. The original plans for the construction of the Somerset Barracks survive (NA WO
78/3553) dated 1897, the earliest of the three barrack complexes replaced at Shorncliffe in the
period around 1900. The majority of the Somerset Barracks sat north of the perimeter road
(North Road), on an area that is now housing. This included all the barrack buildings and the
associated communal blocks. South of the perimeter road only the officers’ mess and some
ancillary buildings were constructed. The Officers’ Mess appears to have been built to a
standard design of the period, as is identical to those provided at Napier Barracks and Moore
Barracks (the latter subsequently demolished). The amenity buildings adjacent comprised an
infant school, adult school, schoolmaster’s house, ball court, quartermasters’ accommodation
and forage barn. This area, west of the officers’ mess obviously continued to provide space for
communal buildings, as subsequently a small corrugated iron church was added (before 1907)
and the Sir John Moore Memorial Library in 1916. It is not clear how the small church
operated in conjunction with the large garrison church available adjacent to Napier Barracks,
which remained in use until 1935, and it is not labelled as a church on the early maps, but the
form of the building strongly suggests it had a religious purpose.
The Library was a particularly notable addition, as it was erected in memory of Sir John Moore,
an early and important figure associated with the camp in the period of the Napoleonic Wars.
A subscription was raised following an appeal by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Aylmer Haldane, the
camp commander in the period just prior to the First World War, to provide a lasting memorial
to Sir John Moore. It received patronage from some prestigious figures, and the design was
commissioned from Aston Webb (later Sir Aston Webb), a notable architect of the time who
had done some work for the military in London, most notably designing Admiralty Arch. The
designs were published in order to help the campaign (The Times, Wednesday 3rd June 1914,
5). The original drawings for the building appear to survive in the on-site archive (Brian
Simpson, pers. comm.). During the appeal the building was described as a recreation hall. The
building was completed, notwithstanding the outbreak of war, in 1916, although its official
opening was held back until the accompanying bronze statue of Sir John Moore could be
completed by the sculptor John Tweed. The opening finally took place in 1923, by which time
the building was described as a library. It is not clear whether this was a subsequent change of
use for the building, which had been in use for some 7 years by that date, or whether the
original designs were modified prior to construction. Accounts also suggests that the
weathervane on top of the building was salvaged from a village church in Zillebeke Belgium, and
brought back to be placed on top of the building (George and George 2004, ** on the basis of
Aylmer Haldine’s war diaries?, also quoted in newspaper accounts contemporary with the
opening).
If the small corrugated iron building was in use for religious purposes then the construction of
the permanent Garrison church in 1939-40 adjacent to Somerset Barracks must have rendered
it obsolete, although it appears to have been retained as a communal space or hall. Between
the Memorial Library and the Officers’ Mess a small domestic building was constructed
sometime between 1907 and 1938, presumably as the residence for a senior officer’s residence.
The barrack blocks and associated land appear to have been sold off in the 1980s and
demolished to make way for a private housing development. The Officers’ Mess was retained
and converted into offices. The senior officer’s residence is now a Military Police Station.
Description
The remaining buildings of Somerset Barracks sit between the perimeter road to the north and
east and the Sir John Moore Plain to the south. For ease of reference the buildings have been
lettered on the accompanying plan and briefly comprise:
A) Officers’ Mess (NGR TR 19818 35767) Built circa 1897, converted to offices. Large twostorey
brick building with slate roofs, fronting south onto the plain. Originally it had a central
entrance, although this has been blocked, with flanking wings providing accommodation.
Interior not inspected, but considerable alteration appears to have been undertaken.
B) Quartermasters’ Quarters (NGR TR 19739 35833) Built c1897. Pair of semi-detached
houses in standard domestic style of the period, brick 2 storey with slate roofs.
C) Military Police Station (NGR TR 19731 35761). Originally built in the early 20th century
(after 1907) as domestic accommodation, although not part of the original layout of Somerset
Barracks. For a senior camp officer? A two-storey brick house with slate roofs. Indications of
considerable alteration including modern uPVC windows.
D) Sir John Moore Memorial Library (NGR TR 19694 35766). Built 1915-16. Now used as a
hall. Single-storey brick building with tile roof in an Arts and Crafts Style with stone detailing.
Detailing includes stained glass windows to the windows at the west end of the hall and fine
stone carving over the main entrance. The statue to Sir John Moore (UID 1344157) sits in the
garden of the hall, to the south of the building.
E) Church room (NGR TR 19699 35790) Built prior to 1907, as a small garrison church, later
used as a church room. Small corrugated iron building, with a steep pitched corrugated iron
roof and ecclesiastical detailing, including a timber traceried east window. Also has decorative
barge boards.
F) School (NGR 19694 35834). Built c1897 as part of Somerset Barracks. Two single-storey
blocks set at right-angles. Brick with decorative detailing to eaves courses and corners etc. (1)

<1> English Heritage, 2012, Somerset Barracks, Shorncliffe Camp (Unpublished document). SKE56221.