Erskine Barracks was a military installation at

Fugglestone St Peter Fugglestone St Peter was a small village, manor, and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, lying between the town of Wilton and the city of Salisbury. The civil parish came to an end in 1894 when it was divided between the adjoining parishes, and ...

, in Wilton parish some northwest of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England.

History

The site, which had been farmland until used for temporary army buildings during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, was acquired by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

for use as a headquarters for Southern Command in 1949. The establishment was centred on Fugglestone Farmhouse and an Ordnance Survey map of 1958 labels it as Fugglestone Camp. The barracks were later named after General Sir George Erskine, who had been GOC Southern Command from 1955 until his retirement in 1958. The site went on to become in 1968 the headquarters of

Army Strategic Command The Army Strategic Reserves Command ( id, Komando Cadangan Strategis Angkatan Darat; abbreviated ) is a combined-arms formation of the Indonesian Army. Kostrad is a Corps level command which has up to 35,000 troops. It also supervises operationa ...

, which was renamed UK Land Forces in 1972 and Land Command in 1995. On 1 April 2008 Land Command amalgamated with Headquarters

Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

under 'Project Hyperion' and became Land Forces. Land Forces moved from Erskine Barracks to the former

RAF Andover RAF Andover is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station in England, west of Andover, Hampshire. As well as RFC and RAF units, units of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, Royal Canadian Air Force, United States Army Air ...

site now known as

Marlborough Lines Marlborough Lines is a British Army installation on the former site of RAF Andover in Hampshire, England. History Marlborough Lines was built on part of a former airfield on the western outskirts of the town of Andover Andover may refer to: P ...

on 23 June 2010, and the site became vacant. At time, that the site covered 9.6 hectares to the north of the railway line and 3.8 hectares (less fully developed) to the south. The former farmhouse had been demolished by 1968 and all standing structures were from 1950 or later. In 2014 the headquarters building was described as "an impressive example of brutal modernism".

Post-Army use

The site was sold to housebuilder Redrow in March 2013, and all its buildings were demolished in 2014. Besides housing, the site has Erskine House which provides 44 flats for former military personnel, and offers training for their return to civilian work.

Legacy

The

National Army Museum The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the "Chelsea Pensioners". The museum is a non-departmental public body. ...

has a Bath stone fireplace salvaged during the demolition in 2001 of Bridge End House, a building of c.1900 used as an administrative block by the Army. During demolition in 2014, a photographic record of selected buildings – including the Sergeants' Mess and the Headquarters – was made by

Wessex Archaeology Wessex Archaeology is a British company that provides archaeological and heritage services, as well as being an educational charity. Apart from advice and consultancy, it also does fieldwork and publishes research on the sites it surveys. The comp ...

to form a historic building record, as required by

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

under a planning condition. No archaeological features were found during a simultaneous watching brief.

References

{{Reflist Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Wilton, Wiltshire