Brock Barracks

Brock Barracks
Reading, England
Brock Barracks Keep
Brock Barracks Location within Reading
Coordinates	51°27′29″N 01°00′12″W / 51.45806°N 1.00333°WCoordinates: 51°27′29″N 01°00′12″W / 51.45806°N 1.00333°W
Type	Headquarters building
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	British Army
Site history
Built	1881
In use	1881-Present
Garrison information
Garrison	7th Battalion The Rifles

Brock Barracks is a British Army barracks in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Located on Oxford Road in the district of West Reading. The majority of the buildings and structures within Brock Barracks are Grade II listed.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

History

The barracks, which were named after Major-General Sir Isaac Brock,^[7] were built in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style for the Royal Berkshire Regiment and completed in 1881.^[8] During the Second World War the 401st Glider Infantry Regiment of 101st Airborne of the United States Army were based at the barracks in preparation for the Normandy landings.^[9]

The barracks ceased to be the home of the Royal Berkshire Regiment when that regiment merged with the Wiltshire Regiment to form the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment at Albany Barracks on the Isle of Wight in 1959.^[10] The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment retained their administrative headquarters at Brock Barracks until they moved to Cathedral Close in Salisbury in 1982.^[11]

The barracks continued in use as a Territorial Army base with D Company (Berkshire), Wessex Volunteers using the base from 1967: this unit evolved as D Company, the Wessex Regiment in 1972,^[12] the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Company, the Royal Rifle Volunteers in 1999^[12] and HQ Company, 7th Battalion The Rifles in 2007.^[13]

References

1. "Keep and Attached Walls and Gateway, Brock Barracks, Reading". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
2. "Anson Barrack, Brock Barracks, Reading". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
3. "Tofrek Barrack, Brock Barracks, Reading". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
4. "Former Hospital, Brock Barracks, Reading". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
5. "Officers Quarters and Mess, Brock Barracks, Reading". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
6. "Former Sergeants Quarters, Brock Barracks". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
7. "Notes and Queries". Oxford Journals (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press) 170: 1011. 1936. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
8. Phillips, Daphne (1980). The Story of Reading. Countryside Books. p. 135. ISBN 0-905392-07-8.
9. "Revealing Reading'sWartime History: Part 3". Reading Museum. p. 17. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
10. "Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
11. "Museum history". The Wardrobe. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
12. "Royal Berkshire Regiment". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
13. "Brock Barracks Reading". 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Retrieved 10 May 2011.

External links

Media related to Brock Barracks at Wikimedia Commons

• 7 RIFLES - British Army Website