The Regent's Park Barracks, commonly known as the Albany Street Barracks, is a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

located on Albany Street,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, near

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

History

The barracks were constructed in 1820–1821 as cavalry barracks for the Life Guards and the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

as part of John Nash's original design for Regent's Park. Nash had originally intended the barracks to be situated in the northern area of the park, well away from the residential area, and separated from the rest of the park by

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in ea ...

. However Nash's plan was not accepted in its entirety by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

with one of the changes involving a change in the location of the barracks to its present site. In 1848, the barracks were described in the ''Topographical Dictionary of England'': The British Army Prior To the First World War Q71670

The British Army Prior To the First World War Q71670

Originally designed to house 450 officers and men and 400 horses the barracks were almost entirely rebuilt between 1891 and 1893. The rebuilding followed the original general layout, and carried out under the supervision of Colonel R. Athorpe. The layout comprises a complex of buildings arranged around a parade ground. The only building to survive from the original barracks is the officers' mess which was built between 1820 and 1821 and is situated on the east side of the parade ground. Other buildings at the northern end of the site include the Gothic chapel which was built in 1857 and the hospital which was built in 1877. Three parallel blocks used for soldiers' accommodation and stables, service buildings and the riding school were all built in 1891. From 1896 to 1969, the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, also known as the Blues, or abbreviated as RHG, was one of the cavalry regiments of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry. In 1969, it was amalgamated with the 1st The Royal Dragoons to form the ...

were based there, which later became part of the

Blues and Royals The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) (RHG/D) is a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. The Colonel (United Kingdom)#Colonel of the Regiment, Colonel of ...

. On 24 September 1971 an anarchist group called

the Angry Brigade The Angry Brigade was a British group responsible for a series of armed actions against the establishment in England between 1970 and 1972. Using small bombs, they targeted banks, embassies, a BBC Outside Broadcast vehicle, and the homes of Co ...

bombed the barracks in response to

Operation Banner Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history. The British Army was initia ...

, the British Army's presence in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

during

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

Current units

Today the barracks are the home of 20 Logistic Support Squadron,

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

, 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve) and the regimental headquarters of the

Queen's Royal Hussars The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish) (QRH) is the most senior armoured regiment in the British Army, equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks. The regiment was formed on 1 September 1993 from the amalgamation of the Quee ...

, as well as the Queen's Royal Hussars Collection Trust charity.

Popular culture

The

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

singer Ida Barr, whose real name was Maud Barlow, was born in the barracks on 17 January 1882, the daughter of a corporal-major in the Life Guards. In

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

' ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'', there is a mention of the barracks: ''"the sound of drumming and trumpeting came from the Albany Street Barracks"''.

References

{{reflist

External links

Royal Logistic CorpsSpecial Air Service (Reserve)The Queen's Royal Hussars
Installations of the British Army Barracks in London

History

Current units

Popular culture

See also

References

External links