Former Barracks To Rear Of Portsmouth Grammar School

The former barracks located at the rear of Portsmouth Grammar School, known as Cambridge Barracks, were built around 1856-1858. This structure is made of red brick with paler brick dressings, featuring ridge stacks and a slate hipped roof, reflecting a late Georgian style. The building consists of a plan with four pairs of back-to-back soldiers' rooms separated by through passages, a cook house at the southern end, and a central office section with a through arch.

The exterior is three storeys high and has a 23-window range, characterized by a long plain façade with regular rubbed-brick flat arches above 6/6 pane sashes. There is a central round-arched entrance leading to a vaulted through arch, with doorways positioned between pairs of former barrack rooms. The rear, southwest elevation has similar fenestration, with projecting bays at the through passages opposite the entrances.

Inside, the fire-proof cook house at the southern end features a stair bay against the gable, which contains a cast-iron stair supported by curved wall brackets. The lower rooms are adorned with heavy cornices and cast-iron T-shaped cross beams. The barracks first appeared on the 1861 Ordnance Survey map and were likely constructed concurrently with the officer's quarters across the street for regiments passing through Portsmouth. This site is notable for its internal fireproof kitchen and as part of the former Cambridge barracks, which includes the officer's quarters and attached outbuildings, now part of Portsmouth Grammar School. It is significant as the only complete barracks remaining in an area that once housed a large amount of barrack accommodation within the old Portsmouth Lines during the 19th century.