The Ferry Road drill hall, known locally as Seaforth Barracks, is a military installation in
Dingwall,
Scotland.
History
The building was designed as the headquarters of the 4th (Ross Highland) Battalion, the
Seaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw servic ...
in around 1910.
[ (The 1:2500, 2nd edition, Ordnance Survey Plan no. 88.03 (Ross and Cromarty), published in 1906, does not show the drill hall)] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
*Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
.
The battalion amalgamated with the 5th Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders to form the 4th/5th Battalion, The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's), with its headquarters at the
Old Bank Road drill hall in
Golspie, in 1921.
The 4th Battalion and 5th Battalion operated separately from 1939 and 1941, when they amalgamated again after the surrender at
Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
[
After the Second World War, the combined battalion amalgamated with 6th (Caithness and Sutherland) Battalion and 7th (Morayshire) Battalion to form 11th Battalion, The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's), with its headquarters at the Ferry Road drill hall.][
The home defence battalion of the Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) was in turn absorbed into the ]51st Highland Volunteers
The 51st Highland Volunteers (51 HIGHLAND) is a battalion in the British Army's Army Reserve or reserve force in the Scottish Highlands, forming the 7th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, also known as 7 SCOTS. It is one of two Re ...
in 1969, with a rifle platoon of C (Queen's Own Highlanders) Company, 2nd Battalion, 51st Highland Volunteers still based at the Ferry Road drill hall.[ However, following the Strategic Defence Review carried out in 1998, the rifle platoon was disbanded, and only an army cadet unit remains at the drill hall.][
]
References
{{reflist
Drill halls in Scotland
Buildings and structures in Highland (council area)
Dingwall