The Defensible Barracks at Pembroke Dock, is a Grade II* listed,

Victorian-era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...

fortification and barracks in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. It is a 20-sided stone fort surrounded by a dry moat with masonry walls. A

parade ground A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

occupies the centre of the fort. It was built in the mid-1840s to house the Royal Marines based in

Pembroke Dockyard Pembroke Dockyard, originally called Pater Yard, is a former Royal Navy Dockyard in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. History It was founded in 1814, although not formally authorized until the Prince Regent signed the necessary Order in Counc ...

and to protect the dockyard.

History

The barracks was built between 1841 and 1846 to house the dockyard's garrison of Royal Marines and to cover the landward side of the dockyard from an infantry assault. It was probably the last trace bastion fort built in Europe. Prior to the Defensible Barracks' construction, the Royal Marines were housed in the hulked 74-gun ship, , that had been deliberately

run aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

in 1832. The barracks was acquired by a private developer, with plans to convert it into residential accommodation, in September 2019.

Description

The barracks is in the form of a square bastion trace with four two-storey, barracks ranges surrounding the central parade ground. "The enclosed yard remains notable for being the finest Georgian-style square in Wales". A fortified

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...

is in the middle of the north wall. The moat is about deep and wide and is crossed by a fixed modern steel bridge that replaced the original wooden sliding drawbridge that leads to the gatehouse. The scarp or inner wall of the moat rises above the height of the platform to serve as a parapet with musketry loopholes, except at the salient angles of the bastions to allow the guns mounted on the bastions' platform to fire over the parapet. All but the southwestern bastion still have some gun mountings remaining. The external walls of the gatehouse and the barracks ranges are also loopholed, although some of these have been fitted with sash windows.

Notes

Bibliography

*{{cite book, last1=Phillips, first1=Lawrie; Lieutenant Commander, title=Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History, date=2014, publisher=The History Press, location=Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, isbn=978-0-7509-5214-9 Forts in Pembrokeshire Grade II* listed buildings in Pembrokeshire Pembroke Dock