MoD Shoeburyness is a military installation at

Pig's Bay Pig's Bay is a coastal area in East Shoebury, a small beachland area in the suburb of Shoeburyness in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. The main entrance to the site is at Blackgate Road, Shoeburyness. This ...

near

Shoeburyness Shoeburyness (; also called Shoebury) is a suburb of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. east of the city centre. It was an urban district of Essex from 1894 to 1933, when it ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

History

In 1849, the

Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...

purchased land at South Shoebury with a view to setting up an artillery testing and practice range (until then,

Plumstead Common Plumstead Common is a common and urban park in Plumstead in the Royal Borough of Greenwich ( SE18), south-east London. It is part of the South East London Green Chain. Location and geology Plumstead Common is bound to the north by Old Mill Roa ...

and

Woolwich Common Woolwich Common is a common in Woolwich in southeast London, England. It is partly used as military land (less than 40%) and partly as an urban park. Woolwich Common is a conservation area. It is part of the South East London Green Chain. It is al ...

had been used, but these were no longer viable due to the increasing power and range of the weapons.)

The 'Old Ranges'

Initially, the range was only used in the summer, but its use grew significantly during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

and from 1854 it was established as a permanent station. The officers' mess was set up in a former

Coastguard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

station on what is now Mess Road, facing the sea; officers were accommodated in the terrace of coastguard cottages, to which a library and dining room were added in 1852. A simple 'hut barracks' was also built on the seafront, to the north-east (on what is now Parade Walk); and in 1856 a garrison hospital was established nearby. The ranges and practice areas were laid out to the west.

RA School of Gunnery

In the wake of the

, the Royal Artillery School of Gunnery was established at Shoeburyness in 1859 'for individual improvement as well as for the advancement of artillery science in general'. Horseshoe Barracks and various other amenities were added not long afterwards and the site was extended to cover some 200 acres lying between Ness Road and the coast. Over the years that followed Shoeburyness was integral to the development of new and improved artillery weapons. Alongside its use as a training facility, the ranges were used for experimental trials of guns, rockets and explosives and for the testing of armour and defensive works. As the scale of these experiments began to outgrow the site, its gun emplacements were adapted for seaward firing and it later specialized in

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...

training. A branch of the School was opened in Woolwich, in the 1870s, which took over the training of

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

and

Volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

Artillery (with a view to ensuring a standardisation of training across both the

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

and the Regular forces). Memorial Plaque (geograph 2242090)

An accidental explosion in February 1885 killed seven Royal Artillery personnel including the Commandant and his deputy. After 1889, experimentation and testing was progressively moved on to 'New Ranges' to the north-east, but the 'Old Ranges' remained in active use as a training area.

The 'New Ranges'

As early as 1865 the Ordnance Select Committee was recommending the purchase of additional land at Shoeburyness, to accommodate the increasing power and range of artillery then in development. In due course land was acquired to the north-east, and from 1889 the establishment expanded on to a 'New Range', which encompassed

Foulness Foulness Island () is a closed island on the east coast of Essex in England, which is separated from the mainland by narrow creeks. In the 2001 census, the usually resident population of the civil parish was 212, living in the settlements of C ...

and Havengore.

Proof and Experimental Establishment

Girl Gunners- the work of the Auxiliary Territorial Service at An Experimental Station, Shoeburyness, Essex, England, 1943 D12697

The Experimental Branch (part of the School of Gunnery since 1859) became an independent operation in 1905 (it was renamed the Experimental Establishment in 1920, and the Proof and Experimental Establishment (P&EE) in 1948, before becoming part of the

Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

(DTEO) in 1995).

The Coast Artillery School

In 1920 the School of Gunnery was redesignated as the 'Coast Artillery School' of the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

, following the move of the

Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

and

Horse Artillery Horse artillery was a type of light, fast-moving, and fast-firing artillery which provided highly mobile fire support, especially to cavalry units. Horse artillery units existed in armies in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, from the early 17th to t ...

equivalents to a new establishment (the School of Instruction for Royal Horse and Field Artillery) at

Larkhill Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

. In 1940 the Coast Artillery School was moved from Shoebury to

Great Orme The Great Orme ( cy, Y Gogarth) is a limestone headland on the north coast of Wales, north-west of the town of Llandudno. Referred to as ''Cyngreawdr Fynydd'' by the 12th-century poet Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, its English name derives from the Old N ...

Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...

, where it remained for the rest of the

Second World War 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 ...

, before relocating to

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

Shoebury Garrison

After the war, artillery and other regiments continued to be garrisoned at Shoebury until 1976 when the garrison headquarters closed. At the same time, the number of military personnel on the staff of the P&EE was reduced, especially in the 1980s, as civilian contractors increasingly took over the running of the Establishment. Following the closure of the Old Ranges in 1998 the old garrison land and buildings were sold and converted for housing. The New Ranges remain in use, however; the work of the Experimental Establishment, begun in 1859, continues today under the auspices of Qinetiq. The site is known as MoD Shoeburyness.

Present-day use

MoD buildings, Shoeburyness (geograph 3835066)

Active military site

Qinetiq manages the site on behalf of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and "provides defence Test and Evaluation (T & E), and training support services which help ensure the safety and effectiveness of munitions and skills used by the UK Armed Services". In particular, the site provides a closed and controlled environment for testing weapons systems at various stages of development, for safe disposal of expired ammunition and for live-ammunition training in Explosive Ordnance Disposal techniques.

Former military site

Several buildings and structures on the site are

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

; together they are described by

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 ...

as constituting "a complete mid-19th century barracks". As of 2016 many of these have been refurbished for sale as private houses, and additional housing is being built in the vicinity. A tower was planned to stand in the Shoeburyness Garrison housing development. The tower was to be 18 storeys high and designed to mark the start of the

Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...

development.

Gallery

File:Commandants House, Shoeburyness Barracks (geograph 2739861).jpg, Commandant's House (1851) File:Garrison Cottages, Shoebury - geograph.org.uk - 291256.jpg, Accommodation range (1898) linked to Officers' Mess (1852), Mess Road File:Former Officers Mess, Shoeburyness Barracks (geograph 3806331).jpg, Officers' Mess: dining room (1852, extended 1898) File:Former Powder Magazines, Shoeburyness Artillery Barracks (geograph 2741153).jpg, Powder Magazines (1852–3) File:Beach House, Shoeburyness Barracks (geograph 2739864).jpg, Beach House, Mess Road (1856); built for the second-in-command File:Former Garrison Hospital, Shoeburyness Barracks (geograph 2741109).jpg, Garrison Hospital, Hospital Road (1856) File:Entrance to former parade ground, Horseshoe Barracks, Shoeburyness (geograph 2741190).jpg, Offices and Guard House flanking the clock tower (1856) File:Shoebury Garrison - Former barracks (P & Q) (geograph 5857593).jpg, One of the eight barracks blocks around Horseshoe Crescent (1859) File:Gunnery Drill Shed, 1859 - geograph.org.uk - 308568.jpg, Gunnery drill shed, Chapel Road (1859) File:Former Single Officers Quarters, Shoeburyness Barracks (geograph 2741140).jpg, Single Officers' Quarters, Warrior Square Road (1860) File:Former Clerk of Works Quarters, Shoeburyness Barracks (geograph 2741132).jpg, Clerk of Works House, Warrior Square Road (1861) File:Houses on The Terrace at the former Shoeburyness Artillery barracks (geograph 2434665).jpg, Married Officers' Quarters, The Terrace (1861–2) File:Shoebury Garrison -The Terraces (geograph 5858208).jpg, Surgeon's House, The Terrace (1861–2; with Instructor's House added in 1871) File:The Old Garrison, Shoeburyness - geograph.org.uk - 66600.jpg, Sergeants' accommodation, Hospital Road (1861) File:Garrison church - geograph.org.uk - 1331193.jpg, Garrison Church of St Peter and St Paul (1866) File:Long Course Officers Quarters, Shoeburyness (geograph 2740210).jpg, Long Course Officers' Quarters, Chapel Road (1871) File:Shoebury Roundhouse (2) - geograph.org.uk - 317239.jpg, Light Quick Firing Battery (1872) File:Front of former Sergeants Married Quarters, Thorpe Green, Shoeburyness (geograph 2742955).jpg, Sergeants' Married Quarters, Thorpe Green Mews (1886) File:Shoeburyness QF battery (2) - geograph.org.uk - 317535.jpg, Heavy Quick Firing Battery (1898)

References

Sources

*{{cite book, last=Glennie, first= D, year=1948, title=Gunners' Town, publisher=Civic Publications Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Buildings and structures in Southend-on-Sea