The Harold Street Old Barracks Building
The existing building was originally known as the Militia Depository and shows a birth date of 1856 on a keystone over its entrance. It was designed as a block-house – seven bays by five –under a low pitched slate roof with a central open courtyard. It has the appearance of a modest late Georgian country house; its plainness reflecting its utilitarian purpose. The design by local architect John Gray (1796-c.1862) has managed to deliver an elegant simplicity within what was a tight budget. It sits well within the Victorian street scene that grew up around it.
As its name suggests it was designed as a storage depot for military equipment but as time passed it became known as the Barracks, perhaps providing transitory accommodation for volunteers being transferred to professional regiments or service overseas. The west façade remains as it was built with a central two storey porch, flanked by slightly projecting two bay wings. The porch was provided with military-looking rifle slots – now filled in -the one architectural embellishment that indicates its purpose. In addition, there are faint dark bull’s eyes painted regularly on the west wall at about four feet from the ground either side of the porch. These would have been painted for sighting practice when the Herefordshire Rifle Volunteers were founded in 1859.
The building as it stands is an excellent example of a mid-Victorian militia depot, which must have once existed in every shire in the country but few remain today. Its domestic character epitomises the civilian context in which young men from the community were recruited to serve their country. For over a century many young men, drawn from the farming communities along the Welsh Border, passed through this building and saw active service in the remotest parts of the world. Many never returned home. The building is associated with a significant aspect of Victorian history. Here in Hereford we have evidence in the Militia Depot of the beginning of the story. The role of volunteer forces is often neglected in the official histories of the regular regiments of the British army. This is redressed in the survival of this building.
The Old Barracks has been well maintained by Herefordshire Council and so should be expected that it could be adapted or incorporated for future purposes.
We therefore urge that every effort is made to retain, as much as possible, of this unique part of Herefordshire history. It is modest and in keeping with the Victorian neighbourhood that it is part of. It is therefore of local significance to its community.
(Historical research based on the existing work of David Whitehead of Hereford and used with his consent).
As its name suggests it was designed as a storage depot for military equipment but as time passed it became known as the Barracks, perhaps providing transitory accommodation for volunteers being transferred to professional regiments or service overseas. The west façade remains as it was built with a central two storey porch, flanked by slightly projecting two bay wings. The porch was provided with military-looking rifle slots – now filled in -the one architectural embellishment that indicates its purpose. In addition, there are faint dark bull’s eyes painted regularly on the west wall at about four feet from the ground either side of the porch. These would have been painted for sighting practice when the Herefordshire Rifle Volunteers were founded in 1859.
The building as it stands is an excellent example of a mid-Victorian militia depot, which must have once existed in every shire in the country but few remain today. Its domestic character epitomises the civilian context in which young men from the community were recruited to serve their country. For over a century many young men, drawn from the farming communities along the Welsh Border, passed through this building and saw active service in the remotest parts of the world. Many never returned home. The building is associated with a significant aspect of Victorian history. Here in Hereford we have evidence in the Militia Depot of the beginning of the story. The role of volunteer forces is often neglected in the official histories of the regular regiments of the British army. This is redressed in the survival of this building.
The Old Barracks has been well maintained by Herefordshire Council and so should be expected that it could be adapted or incorporated for future purposes.
We therefore urge that every effort is made to retain, as much as possible, of this unique part of Herefordshire history. It is modest and in keeping with the Victorian neighbourhood that it is part of. It is therefore of local significance to its community.
(Historical research based on the existing work of David Whitehead of Hereford and used with his consent).
