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ARMY BARRACKS AND DEPOTS
MILLBAY BARRACKS
| Updated:
02 February 2011
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Millbay Barracks was built circa 1794 to house
prisoners-of-war. [1]*
A description of the Barracks published in 1812
reads [2]:
'Temporary barracks have been
erected here capable of holding 1,000 men; apartments for
the officers are stationed near them. The first
enclosure contains the guard-room for the prison, where a
captain's guard is daily mounted, and various necessary
appendages to the barracks are placed; in the second
enclosure are the barracks and a hospital for the sick.
The prospect from this parade is a very fine one. At
present the Shropshire Militia are quartered here.'
Close by the Barracks was the Millbay Prison for
prisoners of war.
The site was later used, in the 1870s, for the headquarters
of the 2nd Devon Volunteer Corps and a huge drill-hall was built for them.
* This statement seems
to have confused the Barracks with the Prison,
unless the Prison was originally built as a Barracks and the
soldiers were
turned out to make way for the prisoners of war. This question
is yet to
be resolved.
Sources:
[1] ?
[2] "The Picture of Plymouth",
Messrs Rees and Curtis, Plymouth, 1812.
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