Copthorne Barracks was 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 ...

military installation in Copthorne, a suburb of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

The barracks were built between 1877 and 1881 and initially included a hospital, married quarters, stabling and stores. Their creation took place as part of the Cardwell Reforms which encouraged the localisation of British military forces. The barracks became the depot for the

43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) to form the 1st and 2nd battalions o ...

and the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot. Following the Childers Reforms, the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot amalgamated with the 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers) to form the

King's Shropshire Light Infantry The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I, World War II and Korea ...

with its depot in the barracks in 1881. The barracks went on to become the regional centre for infantry training as the Light Infantry Brigade Depot in 1960 and was referred to in that period as Sir John Moore Barracks. In 1967 the West Midlands District was established with headquarters at Copthorne Barracks. In the early 1980s West Midlands District became "Western District". In 1991, the first three of the minor districts to be amalgamated were North West District, the former Western District and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, to form a new Wales and Western District. The enlarged district was disbanded on the formation of HQ Land Command in 1995, when Copthorne Barracks then became headquarters of the 5th Infantry Division from 1995 until the division was disbanded in 2012. The King's Shropshire Light Infantry museum was first established at Copthorne Barracks but moved to Shrewsbury Castle in 1985. The name of the establishment reverted to Copthorne Barracks when Sir John Moore Barracks, Winchester opened in October 1986. It was also the administrative headquarters of the

's regional 143 (West Midlands) Brigade which was successively a subordinate part of Western District, Wales and Western District and the 5th Division, until 11 Signal Brigade and 143 (West Midlands) Brigade amalgamated to form 11th Signal Brigade and Headquarters West Midlands in November 2014. Following the amalgamation, the staff moved to Venning Barracks at Donnington, Telford (11 Signal Brigade's base). The barracks also remains the home of two Army Reserve units, E Company, 8th Battalion,

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the ...

and 202 (Midlands) Field Hospital, whose drill halls are within its perimeter. In November 2014, the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

declared the parts of the barracks left unused by the departure of the 143 Brigade surplus to requirements and officially put it up for sale. The exception is 0.193 hectares of land used by the Army Reserve Centre which will remain Ministry property. In July 2016 the

Defence Infrastructure Organisation Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is an operating arm of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the United Kingdom, which is responsible for the built and rural estate. Its chief executive is Mike Green. ...

applied for planning permission to

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council, known between 1980 and 2009 as Shropshire County Council and prior to 1980 as Salop County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire (district), Shropshire in t ...

to demolish 40 buildings at the barracks while retaining boundary walls, prior to sale.News Briefing column. The site was sold in May 2018 to builders Bellway Homes who in December 2018 gained approval from Shropshire Council to build 216 homes, and permission to begin demolition work to clear the site. Under this, the acquired buildings were entirely demolished apart from part of the 19th century 'Keep' which was retained for conversion to apartments. The development has been named Copthorne Keep.

References

{{reflist Barracks in England Installations of the British Army Buildings and structures in Shrewsbury