Reasons for Designation
The Keep at Kingston Barracks, built 1875 by Major HC Seddon, Royal Engineers, and built as part of Cardwell's reforms have been designated at Grade II for the following reasons:
* It is one of a few surviving keeps from this important national building programme following Cardwell's 1872 Localisation Act.
* It demonstrates a conscious policy of using architecture as a promotional tool, rather than for purely operational purposes.
* In the context of C19 military history it is a building of special architectural and historic interest which, true to its purpose, is a prominent landmark.
Details
59/0/10103 KINGS ROAD
19-AUG-08 The Gatehouse (or Keep) and attached w
alls and railings at Kingston Barracks
II
Keep to Kingston Barracks. Dated 1875. By Major HC Seddon, Royal Engineers, Director of Design Branch, following Edward Cardwell's Localisation Act of 1872 which set out to reform army recruitment by establishing a network of local depots.
MATERIALS. Stock brick with red brick and stone dressings. Flat roof behind a pierced brick parapet with stone copings. Where visible, ceilings are supported on an iron framework.
PLAN. The symmetrical roadside elevation has a central archway at the base of a three stage turret, flanked by three two-storey bays to each side and square three-stage stair turrets at the angles. To the west of the entrance on the ground floor and entered from the covered archway, is a guardroom leading to a prisoners' dayroom. At the rear two cells lead off a secure corridor and overlook an originally external yard enclosed behind a single storey wall. To the east of the entrance is the former armoury entered from the covered archway. Stairs in the outer turrets rise to the first floor on the west and to the roof on the east. On the first floor is a longitudinal corridor linking the stairwells. To the rear, formerly a single space, the iron frame of the flat roof is supported on slender iron shafts. To the roadside the open space is divided by transverse brick arches with splayed bases, either side of the entrance.
EXTERIOR. Entrance under a four-centred red brick arch of graded brickwork with a pronounced keystone. Above is a tripartite window under a deep cornice above which is a datestone inscribed VR 1875. The upper stage of the turret has three narrow lights under a pediment with a dentil cornice. The parapet, which has been rebuilt in solid brickwork was formerly crenellated, and is over a dentil cornice. Outer crenellated square towers have staged stair lights with fixed metal framed glazed lights. to the left of the entrance are shallow windows under cambered arches set high. The windows to the right, in enlarged openings to match upper floor windows, are replacements of similar ground floor secure windows. First floor windows have red brick architraves, with flat arches with pronounced keystones and dropped voussoirs. Most have metal framed casements. The east return is similarly detailed. Rear windows are in similar architraves, those on the ground floor have sashes with small panes in frames without horns, upper floor windows have metal casements. The central bay breaks forward slightly. The guardroom entrance is set back under a deep red brick architrave and has a plank and muntin door, flanked by a small window under an enriched arch. The armoury entrance is less ornate and also flanked by a small secure window.
INTERIOR Internal walls are of painted brick and there is no visible evidence of an iron frame. The first floor has a continuous longitudinal passage running between the stairwells. Two visible iron shafts support the ceiling of the rear section. One shaft appears in the spine wall on the ground floor. On the first floor, either side of the central passage at the front are a pair of large transverse arches with splayed bases. The west face of the eastern arch bears multiple incisions suggesting it may have been used for sharpening blades. The eastern stair rises to the roof and has cantilevered stone and concrete steps with possibly later square timber newels and a solid panelled balustrade on the lower stage. The west staircase which rises to the first floor is similar. The west wing contains a guardroom now subdivided internally, but the layout of the dayroom, and two cells, leading off corridors is intact. There is no reported evidence of a water tank in the central or west turret (inaccessible at visit). Some original panelled or plank internal doors are obscured by C20 fireproof panels, and some are under glazed overlights. Cell doors are replaced. Later C20 and later suspended ceilings, wall partitions and doors are not of special interest.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Walls and railings attached to the keep to east and west have stock brick piers and plinth and brick piers surmounted by iron railings of which each bay has an ornamented crested central shaft.
HISTORY: Kingston upon Thames has a long military association. Kingston Barracks was built in 1874-75 replacing an earlier barracks in the centre of the town. It was initially the depot for the 47 Sub-district Brigade, comprising the 31st Foot and 70th Foot Regiments; following their amalgamation in 1881, it continued as the depot of the East Surrey Regiment.
Edward Cardwell, appointed to the War Office in 1868, addressed a chronic recruitment issue through a process of reform set out in the Localisation Act of 1872. He set up a network of local depots each centred on an area with a population large enough to sustain it, rather than based on operational needs. It was the first national barrack building initiative in England during peacetime. Across Britain almost 30 new depots, including Kingston, were built from scratch, while about 40 existing barracks were adapted. The building programme was under the supervision of Major HC Seddon, Royal Engineers, Director of the Design Branch. The new barracks conformed to a standard model with local variations, and incorporated many of the improvements for which the Army Sanitation Commission and its predecessors had called. At the centre of many of the new depots was the 'keep' or armoury designed to dominate visually as an expression of military strength, often with a medieval flavour. They were self-consciously designed to attract new recruits and alter the image of the army.
Contemporary accounts describe the armoury which contained racks for a thousand stands of arms, and on the first floor another 2120 weapons accommodated over the whole if the upper floor.
The brick walls enclosing the ten-and-a-half acre depot remain on three sides of the site. In the south-west corner of the barracks are officers' stables, extant 1879, but now much altered and extended and used as offices. Immediately to the north east is a later tall stock brick building used as a squash court. None is of sufficient architectural and historic interest to be listed, but all contribute to the history of the site.
SOURCES
James Douet, British Barracks 1600-1914, English Heritage, 1998
Surrey Comet, 30 October 1875
Col Les Wilson, MBE, The Barracks, Kingston upon Thames, Queens Royal Surrey Regiment Museum Newsletter, 2007.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The Keep at Kingston Barracks is listed Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is one of a few surviving keeps from the important national building programme following Cardwell`s 1872 Localisation Act.
* It demonstrates a conscious policy of using architecture as a promotional tool, rather than for purely operational purposes.
* It is a building of special architectural and historic interest which, true to its purpose, is a prominent landmark.
