The Iverna Gardens drill hall is a military installation in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London.

History

The drill hall was designed as the headquarters for the 4th (Kensington) Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps and completed in 1903. This unit became the 13th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Kensington) in 1908. 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 ...

. In 1936, on the break-up of the

London Regiment London Regiment may refer to two infantry regiments in the British Army: * London Regiment (1908–1938) The London Regiment was an infantry regiment in the British Army, part of the Territorial Force (renamed the Territorial Army in 1921). The ...

, the unit was re-designated the Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment, The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own). It was deployed to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force at the early stages of the Second World War but did not return to the drill hall after the war. In 1939 the drill hall was instead occupied by the 99th (London Welsh) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery; after seeing action in North West Europe in the closing stages of the Second World War, that unit was re-designated 499th (London Welsh) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery in 1947. By 1951, there were only three Welshmen serving in the regiment and in 1952 it was adopted by the

Royal Borough of Kensington The Metropolitan Borough of Kensington was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London from 1900 to 1965, which since 1901 was known as the Royal Borough of Kensington, following the death of Queen Victoria, in accordance with her wishes. His ...

and changed its designation to 499th (Kensington) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA, and was then disbanded in 1955.474–519 Rgts RA at British Army from 1945 on.
/ref> Since 2014 the drill hall has also been the home of B Detachment 256 (City of London) Field Hospital.

References

{{reflist, 30em Drill halls in London Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea