Barrack Block, Maker Heights Barracks

This is an infantry barrack block, later used by social services and now disused. It was constructed between 1804 and 1808 by the Ordnance Board, with the upper floor rebuilt between 1859 and 1860. The building is constructed of rubble with brick and granite dressings, later rendered to the front and ends. It has truncated ridge stacks and a slate hipped roof.

The plan is in an “I” shape, with double-depth officers' quarters at the South end and three single-depth barrack rooms on each floor. The symmetrical front has a 3:8:3-window range, with the end sections set forward. There are two ashlar porches, located six bays from the ends, featuring pilasters, a cornice, and a blocking course; the left-hand porch is back-to-back and includes gun slits and side openings. Horned 6/6 pane sashes were boarded at the time of a 1995 survey, and the windows in the officers' section have label moulds. The three-window South return features a two-storey porch and label moulds. The North end has a doorway and an external stair.

The rear of the building is unrendered, showing more pronounced end projections and a central external granite stair, formerly with iron rails, with two opposing flights joining to a later brick platform.

The inaccessible officers’ section has an axial corridor with a stair flight from the entrance hall, featuring an uncut string, a column newel, stick balusters, and a 4-centred fanlight at the end of the hall. The rooms are fitted with cast-iron fire surrounds, featuring a pulvinated frieze and shelf above, along with panelled doors and shutters. The central section contains three barrack rooms with king post roofs and tiled fire surrounds, including some simple timber fittings. The North end of the block has double depth, and a large fireplace in the party wall, possibly a later addition.

Originally constructed with a timber and tile-hung upper storey, the building exemplifies an 18th-century plan where officers and men shared the same range. Maker served as a barracks for over 200 infantry, protecting the Heights overlooking Devonport Dockyard and garrisoning the line of 1782 redoubts Nos 1-4. It was built as part of an extensive building campaign during the Revolutionary War to protect Devonport Dockyard. This barrack block represents the most complete and unaltered example of its type in England from this significant period, and retains many of the ancillary buildings within a defensible site.