Yeomanry House is a drill hall of the

Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry The Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry (SNIY) is a reserve Light Cavalry Regiment, formed in 2014, created out of the restructuring of the British Army's Territorial Army. It is operationally paired with The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, (SCOTS DG ...

located in

Cupar Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fif ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

History

This complex of buildings within a walled compound was completed in 1842 and was used as a prison for criminals until it was converted into a military barracks. Burials of prisoners who were executed or died while incarcerated took place within the prison compound and human remains have been found adjacent to the north east boundary wall. The complex was converted into a drill hall for the 1st Fifeshire Light Horse Volunteer Corps in 1890. This unit amalgamated with the 1st Forfarshire Light Horse to become the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in 1901 with 'A Squadron', the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry based at Yeomanry House in Cupar. 'A Squadron' was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

and ultimately to the Western Front. After the end 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 ...

, the regiment was re-constituted at the Hunter Street drill hall in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

but it amalgamated with the

Scottish Horse The Scottish Horse was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army's Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army raised in 1900 for service in the Second Boer War. It saw heavy fighting in both the World War I, First World War, as the 13th Battali ...

to form the

Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse The Fife & Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse is unit of the British Army regiment formed in 1956. Originally a regiment in its own right, it is currently a Yeomanry Squadron of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry. History The regiment was forme ...

with its headquarters at Yeomanry House in Cupar in 1956. After being reduced to a

cadre Cadre may refer to: *Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff *Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...

in 1969 and being disbanded in 1975, a squadron was reformed again as C (Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse) Squadron, The

Scottish Yeomanry The Scottish Yeomanry (SCOTS YEO) was a Yeomanry Regiment of the British Territorial Army formed in 1992. It was disbanded in 1999. History The Scottish Yeomanry was raised on 1 November 1992 as a result of Options for Change with headquarters at ...

at Yeomanry House in Cupar in 1992. This unit evolved to become C (Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse) Squadron, The

Queen's Own Yeomanry The Queen's Own Yeomanry (QOY) is one of the Army Reserve(United Kingdom), Army Reserve light armoured reconnaissance regiments. History The Queens Own Yeomanry was initially formed on 1 April 1971 as the 2nd Armoured Car Regiment from five of th ...

in 1999 and C (Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse) Squadron the

, still based at Yeomanry House in Cupar, in 2014. The building contains a small regimental library and archive collection relating to both the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and the Scottish Horse which can be viewed by appointment.

References

{{reflist Drill halls in Scotland Buildings and structures in Fife 1842 establishments in Scotland