Le Marchant Barracks is a former military installation in

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England. The site is within the town's built-up area but within

Bishops Cannings Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, north-east of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate (not to be confused with Coate, Swindon) and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little ...

parish, on London Road about north-east of the centre of the town.

History

The barracks were built in the Fortress Gothic Revival style and named after Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant in 1878. Their creation took place as part of the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attentio ...

which encouraged the localisation of British military forces. The barracks became the

depot Depot may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Glacier (disambiguation) * Depot Island (disambiguation) * Depot Nunatak * Depot Peak Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in Chicago, United States * Of ...

for the

62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot The 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was raised in 1756 and saw service through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 99th (Lanarkshire) ...

and the

99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot The 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1824. It amalgamated with the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment) in 1881. History Formation The ...

. Following the

Childers Reforms The Childers Reforms of 1881 reorganised the infantry regiments of the British Army. The reforms were done by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers during 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell Reforms. The reorganisation w ...

, the 62nd and 99th Regiments amalgamated to form the Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's) with its depot in the barracks in 1881. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

5,000 soldiers were processed there and over 3,000 reservists were called up there. Between the Wars, the barracks were the local infantry training centre. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, from September 1944 part of the site was a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

camp, which by the end of that year housed 7,500 German and Italian personnel. In December 1944, it was where the " Devizes Plot" was hatched: this was an attempt at staging a mass escape of PoWs to attack

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 ...

, stalling the

Allied invasion of Germany The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine, a series of offensi ...

and turning the tide of the war. The conspirators were later relocated to

Cultybraggan Camp Cultybraggan Camp, also known as the Black Camp of the North, is a former prisoner of war (PoW) camp located close to the village of Comrie, in west Perthshire, Scotland. Built in 1941, it was one of two high-security PoW camps in Britain dur ...

, where "black" category prisoners i.e. the more ardent Nazis were imprisoned. The barracks remained the home of the Wiltshire Regiment until 1959 after which time they were used as a secondary location by the

Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) was an infantry regiment of the British Army. History Earlier history The regiment was formed on 9 June 1959 after defence cuts implemented in the late 1950s saw the amalgamation o ...

until about 1967. Part of the site was still used as a Territorial Army Centre for the 1st Battalion,

Wessex Regiment The Wessex Regiment was a Territorial Army infantry regiment of the British Army, in existence from 1967 to 1995. Initially consisting of a singular battalion, the regiment was later expanded to also have a second. Formation The regiment was fo ...

after the main barracks closed.

Later uses

The

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

was sold by 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 ...

in the 1980s and was subsequently used as a warehouse. It was sold again in 2012 and converted for residential use in 2013. The keep and gatehouse are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

References

{{Reflist Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Devizes Military units and formations in Devizes Military history of Wiltshire