Armoury Towers, The Barracks

The Armoury Towers, part of The Barracks, are a keep and headquarters building that date from 1855-65 and were converted in the 1980s. Constructed of roughly coursed and squared sandstone rubble, they are built in a Picturesque Tudorbethan Revival style with a double-depth plan. The building has a hipped roof and axial and corbelled exterior stacks.

The exterior is two storeys and an attic, with a five-window range. Round stair towers protrude from each corner, featuring battered plinths and conical roofs, though the roof of the rear left tower is missing. The main range has three bays of pointed-arched arcading on the ground floor, with a central entrance and flanking foiled mullioned and transomed windows recessed behind pointed polychrome relieving arches. Similar windows are found in the outer bays, also beneath pointed relieving arches. The upper floor features two- and three-light mullioned and transomed windows with banded relieving arches, with matching dormers above. Returns include corbelled exterior stacks serving the attic, alongside flat-topped half-dormers. Metal-framed casement windows are present.

The interior has not been inspected.

These buildings likely served as the headquarters and secure armoury for the regiment, constructed following the Militia Act of 1852 to provide secure storage, NCO’s barracks, and drilling space. The barracks at Macclesfield are notable for their size and picturesque design, acting as a central focus for the regiment and featuring a complex architectural composition, of which the former keep was the focal point.