The Barracks, White Cross

SD 4761 SE LANCASTER SOUTH ROAD (East side) 1685-1/8/259 The Barracks, White Cross 18/02/70

II

Militia armoury and store, now offices. 1854, converted c1983. Reputedly by Edmund Sharpe. For the First Royal Lancashire Militia. Squared coursed sandstone with rock-faced quoins. Slate roofs. Scottish Baronial style. H-shaped plan. EXTERIOR: 2-storey 5-bay recessed centre under a parapet carried on a corbel-table, and cross-wings of 2 storeys plus attic and 2 bays under crow-stepped gables with central finials and with corbelled comer turrets with conical stone roofs and finials. The windows are mullioned, each with a single transom, and are of 2 lights except for the 2nd and 4th bays of the recessed centre, which have windows of 3 lights. All have casements with glazing bars. The upper lights on the 1st floor have heads with shouldered arches. The cross-wings have 2-light attic windows. The doorway, in the central bay, is casement-moulded and has a depressed 2-centred arched head with rusticated voussoirs and carved keystone. The chimneys have corbelled cappings. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORY: built for the First Royal Lancashire Militia, following the Militia Reform Act (1852), which required the county to build a secure quarters to act as a muster point for the new militia regiment. The regiment moved to Bowerham Barracks in 1881. The building was purchased by Storey Brothers, who used it as offices for their adjoining White Cross works. Following the closure of the works it was bought by Lancashire Enterprises Limited in 1983 and converted for letting as office suites. Reputed to be designed by Edmund Sharpe, but if so this was after the time when he handed over control of his architectural practice to EG Paley.

Listing NGR: SD4784061234