Drill halls Options

[Graeme Fisher]

My previous post made Gwyn sound like my office junior..... Sorry, Gwyn!

Not only is she the technical genius who turns my notes into a valuable online resource, she's also a major collaborator, providing hundreds of images from around the country, hours in archives looking through books and newspapers and then going out to talk to people and pound the streets in search of elusive drill halls.

Quite useful, really.......

Ta, Gwyn

[meltow]

Sorry - Yorkshire isn't there yet! The website is a work in progress, with all my research being converted to something sensible and legible by Gwyn.

No problems Graeme. I am more than happy to wait, and will keep checking the website for progress. Admirable piece of work, and thank you!

Mel

[rouben]

Hi Graham.
Checked, cant locate this one.
There is a Drill Hall situated at Birdwell. Near Barnsley. South Yorkshire.

Recently part of the building has been taken over by a commercial company, but the part remaing is used by the Army Cadets.

It used to be the local recruiting drill hall for the Yorks & Lancaster Regiment.


Regards.

Brian.

[Dragon]

Sheffield Road, Birdwell?


Graeme, I think we're going to have to prepare Yorkshire next! We have some great photos from Roger and others, which deserve to be shared.

Graeme's Little Helper.

[rogerpopeye]

Hi there Gwyn,

Nice one (hehe)

Cheers Roger.

ps Just sent Graeme photo's of Mirfield Drill Hall at last and also a press release from Kirklees Council about it.

Roger.

[Graeme Fisher]

Roger - Ta, mate

Gwyn - Get on with it

Brian - Get yer camera out....

Seriously, folks, Yorkshire is absolutely huge, both in real terms and drill halls.

Gwyn suggested breaking it up into four for processing, as it will take a lot of work to turn it into HTML, so which Riding do you lot want first?

Let's get Hants up and running, whilst i tidy Yorkshire....

Graeme

[Dragon]

Gwyn said three. West, North and East. What's the fourth?

[Steven Broomfiel...]

As any fule kno, there are only three Ridings

I'm off to Eastleigh tomorrow - as long as the rain stops

[Graeme Fisher]

OK, OK, three it is...........

Steve - take yer camera.... Leigh road and possibly Chamberlayne road..... Hope it stays dry

Graeme

[ExREME]

Barracks, Barracks Road, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire


Date: 1960 - 1979 (c.)

Description: The Italian styled Militia Barracks were built in 1855 from red brick. The Barracks were the headquarters of the 3rd King's Own Staffordshire Rifle Regiment, which assembled annually at Newcastle for training, until 1880. In 1882 W.H. Dalton bought the Barracks and settled them in trust for use by the Rifle Volunteers of Newcastle, which became the Territorial Force in 1907. In 2002 the Barracks had been let and contained small businesses.

[rogerpopeye]

Hi all,

Since 1974 the Broad acres of Yorkshire have been demoted from 3 Ridings to 4 Shire North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire(although its now been renamed East Riding), South Yorkshire(the 4th one), and West Yorkshire.

But as you can tell by my profile I still prefer the old Ridings Tradition, what do politicians know.

Cheers Roger.

[Dragon]

The Drill Halls website uses the county names, structure and the place name spellings of the time, so we'll have three Ridings if we decide to divide up Yorkshire. One of my concerns is that most visitors wouldn't know which Riding a specific town was in; I wouldn't, if I wasn't sure whereabouts in Yorkshire it was. It needs thought.

Gwyn

[rogerpopeye]

Hi there Gwyn,

Point taken, as I would be lost with other counties.

But keep up the good work.

Cheers Roger.

[Dragon]

Thank you, ExREME. We haven't got a photo of that one, so if you happen to come across one, we'd love to have a copy.

Roger - thank you for the off-forum offer of help with Ridingising the towns.

Gwyn

[Dragon]

Has anyone got any info on the Railways drill hall in Swindon ?
It stands on Church Place in the Railways park.
I understand it was used by the Wiltshire Fortress RE (TF).
The present building stands on the site / foundations of the original building having been rebuilt in the 1960's.
Any info appreciated

Hello Grant

Sorry for the delay.

Here are links to some documents I used:

Swindon Railway Village Conservation Appraisal.

Swindon Conservation appraisal.

and this contains a few snippets which might be interesting (if it's the right place):
UNESCO World Heritage sites proposed list

Without a map in front of me I don't know whether these answer your question, but if not, please say and I'll look further. I have hundreds of links to documents!

Gwyn

[rogerpopeye]

Hi Graeme,

I have posted a PM for you.

Cheers Roger.

[rogerpopeye]

Hi there Graeme and Gwyn,

I have this morning been out and photographed Castleford, Normanton and possibly what remains of Pontefract Drill Halls, once I have them resized I will send and post them.

The one I thought wouldn't be there was Normanton, but it is very much an active building called Carlton Lodge ans is now a care home owned by Hapton Care Homes.

Cheers Roger

[Dragon]

Wow, Roger. Thank you! Looking forward to seeing the photos. I hope it was drier for you than it was here.

Gwyn

[Dragon]

Llandrindod Wells drill hall is under threat. See Martin's thread in Chit Chat here.

I'm posting this note here for the sake of keeping a record of Drill Hall information in this thread.

Gwyn

[rogerpopeye]

Hi Gwyn,

Yes it was, which is more than can be said for me after throwing all that Stella down my throat last night(hehe).

Cheers Roger.

[Dragon]

Public thanks for taking your camera out and about at the weekend on behalf of the Project, Roger. The photos arrived safely.

Gwyn

[JPG]

Hi to both,

I have located the opening day information about the Handsworth Drill Hall, and two newspaper images to compliment. Graeme, they have been sent to Gwyn

John

PS I will keep looking

[Dragon]

Brilliant stuff! Thank you, John. I'll forward them to Graeme.

I must say that the drill hall looks cold - all those glazed roof-lights and all that space. It's lovely to have an internal shot, though. I wonder whose the portraits were?

Gwyn

[rogerpopeye]

Hi there Gwyn,

Good news at last about Huddersfield Drill Hall, I have spoken to the Captain there and been invited to attend next Tuesday night to have a look around inside the hall, he also as scrapbooks and such like and details of the unit/units present during the War years.

There is also a Roll of Honour of 2,000 men who left the Drill Hall never to return.

He as also given me permission to photo the exterior of the Hall and also anything within it as well, so it should be an interesting night, and he seemed pleased about the interest we have in this project.

Cheers Roger.

[FROGSMILE]

Graeme,

There is still a Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry Drill Hall standing on the 'Wilton Road' going out of Salisbury (it still has a carved stone badge at front and centre). The current Drill Hall was moved to what was RAF Old Sarum.