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 St Martin’s Plain
St Martin’s Plain was purchased as a large detached area of land as part of an expansion of
Shorncliffe Camp in the early 20th century (circa 1903), more than doubling the available land
for training, particularly following the construction of permanent barracks on much of the area
of the earlier camp. Prior to purchase by the military the land was predominantly in use for
agriculture, with a dispersed pattern of farms, mainly 18th century in origin. Several of these
remain as listed buildings, including Sene Farm and Dibgate Farm. Others appear to have been
subsequently demolished as part of the military use of the site, including Underhill House, to the
west of the area (NGR TR 18691 36397).
During the First World War, in response to intense pressure on accommodation provision for
additional troops, two relatively small hutted camps were developed on the northern half of the
camp. Dibgate Camp and St Martin’s Plain Camp remained in use after the war, initially still as
temporary sites. By 1938 St Martin’s Plain Camp was in use by the Army School of Education,
and it may have been at the point that they took over the site that it was given buildings in
permanent (or semi-permanent) materials. The layout of the huts and communal buildings
appear for the first time on the 1838 Ordnance Survey map. Dibgate was also retained
although providing less permanent buildings.
During the Second World War the area was again heavily utilised. The high ground around
Dibgate Camp was used to house a number of anti-aircraft batteries. South of Dibgate Camp a
Prisoner of War Camp (numbered 33) was established, and was used to house German
prisoners. A number of pillboxes were also constructed to defend the area. After the war land
on the western edge of the site was used for a small military housing estate. The construction
of this estate may have necessitated the demolition of Underhill House, which was located just
south of the new housing. Alternatively the house may have been demolished during the
Second World War.
Both camps remain in use as training centres for cadet forces.
Description
Dibgate Camp
NGR TR 17859 36406 A levelled area to the west of the site, laid out as a camp in circa 1915.
Some permanent buildings, including communal buildings and a firing range. There is a grid
pattern of roads and permanent concrete standings for temporary accommodation.
St Martin’s Plain Camp
NGR TR 18605 36747 Series of huts in modern corrugated materials, with uPVC windows.
The surviving layout of huts appears on the 1938 Ordnance Survey map, and the mixture of
brick and concrete footings to the surviving buildings suggests that these may be earlier huts
upgraded with modern materials. Some permanent buildings in brick, also dating from before
1938. To the west of the camp there is some post-war MoD housing.
Remainder of the area
Open ground with a series of metalled and un-metalled tracks running across it, some following
earlier field boundaries and pathways. Areas of woodland survive, particularly around the high
ground to the northwest and in patches to the south. To the northeast of the area is an area
of post-war housing, in use by the military. This is laid out around an open area of land in which
sits St Martin’s Church and its associated rectory. (1)

<1> English Heritage, 2012, St Martin's Plain, Shorncliffe Camp (Unpublished document). SKE56224.