Invicta Park Barracks

Invicta Park Barracks
Maidstone

Park House, currently used as the Officers' Mess
Invicta Park Barracks
Location within Kent
Coordinates 51°17′22″N 00°31′23″E / 51.28944°N 0.52306°E / 51.28944; 0.52306Coordinates: 51°17′22″N 00°31′23″E / 51.28944°N 0.52306°E / 51.28944; 0.52306
Type Barracks
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator  British Army
Site history
Built 1936
Built for War Office
In use 1936-Present
Garrison information
Occupants 36 Engineer Regiment

Invicta Park Barracks is a military installation in Maidstone, Kent.

History

Permanent barracks were first established in Maidstone in around 1798.[1] This was a major cavalry barracks which emerged to become the Army Riding School in 1835.[2] The old barracks became the depot of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment in 1881 but began to fall into disrepair: although the barracks blocks were demolished in 1991, the Officers’ Mess still survives as the White Rabbit Public House in Sandling Road.[3]

An adjacent site, just a few hundred yards north, was acquired from the Lushington family in 1936 shortly before the outset of World War II and a hutted camp known as Invicta Lines (reflecting Invicta, the motto of Kent) was built there.[4] The new barracks became the depot of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment[5] but were then demoted to the status of out-station to the Home Counties Brigade depot at Howe Barracks in Canterbury in 1959. The Regimental Headquarters of 36 Engineer Regiment have been based at the barracks since 1959.[4] The current barracks were built between 1965 and 1966.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Parliamentary accounts and papers". UK Parliament. 23 July 1847. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "King’s Troop: the early beginnings of the St John’s Wood Barracks". Ham & High. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "The Barracks, Maistone". 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 "A History of 36 Engineer Regiment" (PDF). Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "New Army Barracks at Invicta Park, Maidstone". Retrieved 6 April 2014.
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