Guardroom, Christchurch Barracks

SZ1493 BARRACK ROAD (South West Side) 748/4/245 Guardroom, Christchurch Barracks

12.02.1976 II

Guard house. Mid C19. Red Flemish bond brick with black headers, tiled hipped roof. Single-depth, T-shaped plan. EXTERIOR: single storey; 5-window range. Symmetrical front with red rubbed brick headers to central doorway with 6-panel door, and horned 6/6-pane sashes and 5-bay verandah with cast-iron posts; square timber clock tower has a bellcote on top with open round arches and veather vane. Paired windows to right-hand side, and a round-arched doorway in the rear of front section with half-glazed door. INTERIOR: plain without special features. HISTORY: clock towers typically formed barracks entrances in the mid C19, see also Horseshoe barracks, Southend (qv). Christchurch was built c1792 as a cavalry barracks, became an Artillery and Engineers' barracks, and was partly rebuilt as part of the 1870s Cardwell reforms. Part of a group with the former cavalry barrack block (qv). (SAVE Britain's Heritage: Deserted Bastions, Historic Naval and Military Architecture: London: 1993-: 133; Bournemouth Local Sudies Publications: Baker J: Christchurch Barracks: Bournemouth: 1984-: NO 674).