Caterham Barracks, Surrey, United Kingdom of Great Britain
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:34 pmI was born less than a mile from Caterham Barracks and grew up watching the ins and outs there.
As young lads we would watch the sentries on duty at the front gates and then gain access to the firing ranges round the back to collect spent brass cartridges, keeping an eye over our shoulder all the time in fear of getting caught by some bruiser of a soldier - we were not supposed to be there having scrambled through barbed wire and the like to get there.
We lined the main Coulsdon Road that led to the barracks to wave to the Queen one sunny afternoon on her way to visit the Guards.
I moved away before the decomissioning of the barracks about twenty years ago and was upset when I drove past after the area had been redeveloped. A large area has completely gone now covered by a supermarket and housing but there are still recogniseable parts left. The following is a bit of information I found and I will try and locate some pictures or even the map of the original barracks mentioned by James Higginbottom in a recent email correspondence.
For sixty years Caterham Barracks in Surrey was the home of No.16 Coy., the Guards training Company.
Thousands of Coldstreamers passed through the hallowed portals into an experience that has stayed with Guardsmen for life.
Many have written about this special place, but to endure and enjoy the twenty weeks of basic Guards training,
is a badge of courage that is worn for life.
It is this education that has ensured our Regiment has survived and prospered for 350 yrs.
Construction work on Caterham Barracks commenced in 1850, built to the new 'Army Living Programe',
with modern sanitation, heating and lighting, each man allocated 60 sq. ft. of living space.
The Barracks were handed over in 1877, the home to four Regiments of Foot Guards, occupied by over 12,000 men.
The standard of discipline and training established the benchmark for the Guards training Company,
which eventually took the barracks as its HQ.
The original twelve weeks basic was augmented by a further eight weeks period of 'Battle Training' in various locations,
then settled at Pirbright, with its ranges and large area's of heathland for simulated battle engagements.
The last training recruits marched out of Caterham in 1961 and the Depot finely closed in 1990,
taking with it over a hundred years of Regimental history.
By this time the whole of the training was undertaken at Pirbright in Surrey.
As young lads we would watch the sentries on duty at the front gates and then gain access to the firing ranges round the back to collect spent brass cartridges, keeping an eye over our shoulder all the time in fear of getting caught by some bruiser of a soldier - we were not supposed to be there having scrambled through barbed wire and the like to get there.
We lined the main Coulsdon Road that led to the barracks to wave to the Queen one sunny afternoon on her way to visit the Guards.
I moved away before the decomissioning of the barracks about twenty years ago and was upset when I drove past after the area had been redeveloped. A large area has completely gone now covered by a supermarket and housing but there are still recogniseable parts left. The following is a bit of information I found and I will try and locate some pictures or even the map of the original barracks mentioned by James Higginbottom in a recent email correspondence.
For sixty years Caterham Barracks in Surrey was the home of No.16 Coy., the Guards training Company.
Thousands of Coldstreamers passed through the hallowed portals into an experience that has stayed with Guardsmen for life.
Many have written about this special place, but to endure and enjoy the twenty weeks of basic Guards training,
is a badge of courage that is worn for life.
It is this education that has ensured our Regiment has survived and prospered for 350 yrs.
Construction work on Caterham Barracks commenced in 1850, built to the new 'Army Living Programe',
with modern sanitation, heating and lighting, each man allocated 60 sq. ft. of living space.
The Barracks were handed over in 1877, the home to four Regiments of Foot Guards, occupied by over 12,000 men.
The standard of discipline and training established the benchmark for the Guards training Company,
which eventually took the barracks as its HQ.
The original twelve weeks basic was augmented by a further eight weeks period of 'Battle Training' in various locations,
then settled at Pirbright, with its ranges and large area's of heathland for simulated battle engagements.
The last training recruits marched out of Caterham in 1961 and the Depot finely closed in 1990,
taking with it over a hundred years of Regimental history.
By this time the whole of the training was undertaken at Pirbright in Surrey.