Keep At Whittington Barracks

Keep at Whittington Barracks

A double keep completed in 1881 under the supervision of Major HC Seddon, Royal Engineers, Director of the Design Branch.

EXTERIOR

Built in the style of a medieval donjon, the keep straddles the pair of main original entrances on the north western edge of the barracks. The red brick building, laid in English bond with blue brick sill and lintel banding, stands three storeys high, with a small basement and flat roof. The cambered arched windows with stone sills have original sash fittings. Three turrets attached to the outer face have loop windows, a large recessed rectangular panel at roof level and a crenellated top carried on stepped corbelling. The two western turrets protrude beyond the line of the perimeter wall. The western elevation is asymmetrical with the northern turret being taller and possessing a portrait orientated recessed panel. On the roof are two magazine buildings complete with original loop windows and air vents.

INTERIOR

Access to the keep is through doors situated in each of the turrets, each of which contains an original stairwell with concrete stairs and iron balustrade. The eastern turret provided access to both parts of the keep and previously contained a lift. Originally, there were two large rooms on each floor separated by a substantial brick wall. These have been sub-divided by a single partition. The floors and ceilings are carried on girders supported by cast-iron columns. In places, false ceilings have been inserted. On the ground floor the original metal window shutters complete with gun loops survive.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES

A perimeter wall of red brick in English bond with rounded blue brick coping. The outer face has a pair of blue brick bands at gun loop lintel and sill level. Attached to the inner face of the wall adjacent to the keep is a brick built firing platform with stone top and three gun loops. Next to this is a brick blocked gateway complete with brick and stone piers with corbelled band and chamfered stone top. North of this is a blocked pedestrian doorway with cambered arch and two further gun loops.

HISTORY

Whittington Barracks were built as part of a far reaching national modernisation programme carried out by the Secretary of State for War, Edward Cardwell during the 1870s. Work on the barracks started around 1877, was carried out by Harry Lovatt & Son of Wolverhampton and was completed by 1881 when they were occupied by the 1st and 2nd South Staffordshire Regiments and the 1st and 2nd North Staffordshire Regiments.

Edward Cardwell, appointed to the War Office in 1868, addressed a chronic recruitment issue through a process of reform set out in the Localisation Act of 1872. He set up a network of local depots each centred on an area with a population large enough to sustain it, rather than based on operational needs. It was the first national barrack building initiative in England during peacetime. Across Britain 29 new depots, including Whittington, were built from scratch, while about 40 existing barracks were adapted. The building programme was under the supervision of Major HC Seddon, Royal Engineers, Director of the Design Branch. The new barracks conformed to a standard model with local variations, and incorporated many of the improvements for which the Army Sanitation Commission and its predecessors had called.

The keep, or armoury, was built to provide high security storage for the barracks, but was also designed to dominate visually as an expression of military strength. Such keeps were architecturally the most overtly military buildings on the sites, often as at Whittington with a medieval flavour. They were self-consciously designed to attract new recruits and alter the image of the army.