A drill hall is a place such as a building or a hangar where soldiers practise and perform

military drills A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as drilling or marching. The military parade is now almost entirely ceremonial, though soldiers from time immemorial up until the lat ...

Description

In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, the term was used for the whole headquarters building of a military reserve unit, which usually incorporated such a hall. Many of these drill halls were built through public subscriptions in order to support the local

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

which was raised in the late 1850s. In the United Kingdom, these were later renamed Territorial Army (TA) Centres and later Army Reserve Centres (ARC)s. As well as a drill hall itself, they now usually feature other facilities such as a gymnasium,

motor transport Motor transport (MT) refers to the operation and maintenance of a military vehicle fleet (especially trucks), and sometimes to the servicemembers to operate and maintain them. Traditionally, motor transport organizations are responsible for a unit ...

department, lecture rooms, stores, an

armoury An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are most ...

, administrative offices and the Officer's, Warrant Officers and Senior NCOs, and Junior Ranks

Mess The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

es. Some

Officer Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence and the British Army. Along with the Sea Cadet Corps and the Air Training Corps, the ACF mak ...

and

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

units are also co-located on the site of modern Army Reserve Centres, for example

Blackheath drill hall Blackheath drill hall is a military installation at Blackheath in London. History The site was originally occupied by Holly Hedge House, a building built in the 18th century for the younger sons of the Earls of Dartmouth. The house was acquired ...

. Over 1,860 drill halls have been documented in England, with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

estimating that around 1,500 were extant in 2015. Fifteen purpose built drill halls are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

, dating from 1864 to 1907. The Grade II listed former Drill Hall on York Road,

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

was built for the 2nd Volunteer Battalion Norfolk Regiment in 1867. Other drill halls were converted from extant buildings, including the now demolished St Nicholas Drill Hall in

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

References

External links

The Drill Hall Project
Army Reserve (United Kingdom) {{Mil-stub

Description

See also

References

Further reading

External links