Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Married Soldiers quarters of the Grand Shaft Barracks, was located on a terrace overlooking barracks complex on the south western side of the site (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• MARRIED QUARTERS (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1869 AD? to 1960 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

The Married Soldiers quarters of the Grand Shaft Barracks, was located on a terrace overlooking barracks complex on the south western side of the site. The sturcture was built in 1869-70 with a pitched slate roof, this two-storey rangeprovided quarters for 26 families, each in a one-room apartment with a covered verandah. Each apartment contained a cupboard and a fireplace with a small range. Stairs at the north and south ends of the range reached the first floor apartments and a sink and ash bin were provided in a separate room at the south end of the range The provision of single room apartments with a first floor verandah conform to the model plan prepared in 1860 by the office of the Inspector General for Fortifications, and first implemented at Hounslow. At Grand Shaft Barracks, the location of the married quarters some distance from the barracks may either be a result of using the only site available by 1869 or the desire to separate families from the rough soldiery. (1)

A plan dating to 1896 shows the additional buildings and improvements which were constructed under the 1860's scheme of works at the Grand Shaft Barracks site, including the Married Soldier Quarters. (2)

Many of the buildings of Grand Shaft Barracks are recorded in detail on a set of plans, mainly of the 1860s and 1870s, which were probably prepared to accompany the alterations and new building resulting from the recommendations of the Commission. The plan/elevation for the Married Soldiers Quarters (and a second which shows the quarters in association with the laundry building and washouse) shows the interior layout of the building and a number of external features. (3-4)

<1> RCHME, 2000, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent. Report No 4: The Grand Shaft Barracks, 19th and 20th-century infantry barracks (Unpublished document). SKE17499.

<2> Royal Engineers, 1896, Grand Shaft Barracks Dover (Plan). SKE51570.

<3> Royal Engineers, 1879, Hand-tinted elevation and plans of the Married Soldiers Quarters at the Grand Shaft Barracks at Western Heights (Plan). SKE51573.

<4> Royal Engineers, 1872, Sections of the Married Soldiers Quarters at Western Heights, the associated wash house and laundry at the Grand Shaft Barracks. (Plan). SKE51574.

Sources and further reading

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