Surviving army buildings from WW1

[CharlesPeter]

I am involved with a project by Historic England to consider the physical remains of the home front and I have some requests for information that I am sure members with knowledge of their local areas will be able to help me with. I have read past posts that already provide some answers.

I am interested in buildings built during the conflict 1914 to 1918 that remain standing today. I am only dealing with those built for or by the army and I am NOT looking for examples of re-used structures such as huts that were moved to new locations and remain either in use today or still standing in a civil use location.

So if you know of army buildings in England from 1914-18 that remain standing where first built I would be pleased to hear about their locations and to receive any further details. To set the ball rolling I know of possible examples in Ripon, Woldingham (Surrey) and near Uxbridge in Bucks. There are references in past posts to examples in Wiltshire but I am not sure where these are.

My last request concerns Nissen huts. Does anyone know of any surviving example in England that can be securely dated to WW1 as opposed to later periods ?

Thanks for your help.

Peter

[johnboy]

Do you mean buildings built during the war or before?

[johntanner]

The workshop complex at RAF Halton built by German POWs 1917/18.

[CharlesPeter]

I had in mind buildings built specifically during the war and not pre 1914.

Peter

[Moonraker]

... I am interested in buildings built during the conflict 1914 to 1918 that remain standing today. I am only dealing with those built for or by the army and I am NOT looking for examples of re-used structures such as huts that were moved to new locations and remain either in use today or still standing in a civil use location ... There are references in past posts to examples in Wiltshire but I am not sure where these are.

Peter

Welcome to the Forum, Peter. I've a vague idea that extant WWI buildings have been discussed before here, as indeed has a centenary project akin to yours (it may the same one), but finding the threads could be challenging. Over the years I've referred to huts that have been re-sited, but the only one still in situ in Wiltshire that comes immediately to my mind is

hut at Devizes Wireless Station

which last February was in a very sad state, with the roof having fallen in.

Then there are the

RFC hangars at Yatesbury

Possibly WWI buildings remain at Old Sarum Airfield.

Good luck.

Moonraker

[Terry_Reeves]

There was a balloon hanger at Rolleston Camp which still stood some twenty years ago. I am not sure if it is still around now though. This link gives some details:

http://www.crossandcockade.com/uploads/Gaz_17.pdf

TR

[Moonraker]

Though No 1 Balloon School moved to Rollestone in July 1916, the first hangars on the site were unstable Bessonaux, replaced in 1932 by the present structures.

Terry: your link leads to the Report of the Ministry Overseas Military Forces of Canada 1918. I've done a very quick search for "Rollestone", but this produced no hits. I'm in a bit of a rush, but will look at the download more thoroughly in the next couple of days. It looks to be a good read.

Moonraker

[Terry_Reeves]

Moonraker

I have just checked the link and it is the correct one. Vagaries of the internet I guess.

TR

[Stoppage Drill]

The Grade 2 listed black and white buildings at Netheravon Airfield (then Choulston Barracks) were built immediately pre-war - 1913.

[Guest Richard Great War Cumbria]

the Bridge at the head of Wasdale, Cumbria. It now leads to the camp site ( National Trust - I think). Perported to been built by German POWs).

[NigelS]

Not a complete building, but the overgrown foundations & engine inspection pit of the engine shed shown in this extract from the 6" OS map of 1920 (Click) can still be found. Although not buildings, the embankments of the railway lines (& associated drainage work) shown to the east of the shed are still present and clearly visible during the winter months once undergrowth has died back. The railway (& engine shed) were built during the war as an approximately 3 mile extension to the existing pre-war branch line between Brookwood and the National Rifle Association camp at Bisley to serve camps at Deepcut, Pirbright & Blackdown. Work was carried out under the direction of the Military Camp Railways - a wartime off-shoot of the Railway Training centre and the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway at Longmoor - with part of the work said to have been carried out by German POWs (from nearby Frith Hill camp) & the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps.

NigelS

[Guest]

I am involved with a project by Historic England to consider the physical remains of the home front and I have some requests for information that I am sure members with knowledge of their local areas will be able to help me with. I have read past posts that already provide some answers.

I am interested in buildings built during the conflict 1914 to 1918 that remain standing today. I am only dealing with those built for or by the army and I am NOT looking for examples of re-used structures such as huts that were moved to new locations and remain either in use today or still standing in a civil use location.

So if you know of army buildings in England from 1914-18 that remain standing where first built I would be pleased to hear about their locations and to receive any further details. To set the ball rolling I know of possible examples in Ripon, Woldingham (Surrey) and near Uxbridge in Bucks. There are references in past posts to examples in Wiltshire but I am not sure where these are.

My last request concerns Nissen huts. Does anyone know of any surviving example in England that can be securely dated to WW1 as opposed to later periods ?

Thanks for your help.

Peter

In the remote chance that you have not already done so, I would suggest contacting the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent. Nissen was an RE Officer and the RE were fairly good at record keeping. They might at least have a record of what was built in the first place. MG

Presumably this is all linked to the CBA initiative announced back in November... there is a lot of related info on the web.

Personally I would start with the MOD, RE Museum, Builders Journal, Architects Journal, Pevsner etc ....local council records etc... Much seems to be in motion so it might be useful to let us know what you have already explored to save duplication of effort.

Possibly the largest complex built on UK soil during the Great War was the ammunition factory near Gretna on the Solway Firth. Click Much of Gretna and Eastrigg was built to house the ammunition workers. Pevsner might also provide some clues I guess.

The Devil's Porridge

MG

[Moonraker]

... I've a vague idea that extant WWI buildings have been discussed before here, as indeed has a centenary project akin to yours (it may the same one), but finding the threads could be challenging.

Good luck.

Moonraker

I have risen to the challenge and found

one such thread

Before that, two or three GWF members started something comparable, but after an initial response the project withered away, I think.

I appreciate that Peter's enquiry relates specifically to buildings, so excluding other relics, including practice trenches and hill carvings such as the original Fovant badges. He has also specified "army buildings" and may wish to clarify whether this includes airfield structures; the RFC was part of the British Army for almost all the war, before becoming the RAF on April 1, 1918.

I imagine that WWI airfield structures other than those I've mentioned above survive, such as those at Lopcombe Corner (aka Jack's Bush) on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border.

Previous thread

Moonraker

[Dragon]

Are you aware of the Great War Huts project? Their Facebook page.

There are some drill halls which were built in 1914, but I think they were probably just before the war. Eg Melton Mowbray, Shepshed, just from memory.

Gwyn

[CharlesPeter]

Thank you to everybody who has responded. This is all helpful. I am most concerned with buildings for the mainstream army and not the RFC/RAF. Other colleagues are concerend for the aviation services and I will pass on information to them.

I am familiar with the other WW1 initiatives and datasets that exist and I am using these. I hoped most that the forum could confiirm my present belief that most buildings built during the conflict years for the army consisted of "emergency" accomodation (mostly hutted in timber or concrete) and that today very little of the once numerous and extnsive examples remain in situ. I think this must be right as people who have been studying the subject for years do not tell me about lots of examples. There are of course many more relocated examples of huts etc.

Unless someone knows differently I think I am also justified in thinking that there may not be a WW1 period Nissen hut now surviving in situ in England.

I think some drill halls were under completion at the start of the war in 1914 but that few new examples or indeed any permanent new barrack buildings appear to have been planned and built during the conflict years. Is this correct?

Thanks again for all the helpful posts.

Peter

[Moonraker]

Peter

You probably know of

this quest

for a WWI Nissen hut.

(I visited the museum three years ago and was most impressed.)

In my own researches I've yet to come across such a hut in Wiltshire and have never noticed one in contemporary photographs.

Moonraker

[Terry_Reeves]

The original Nissen Bow Hut had a flatter arch than the one pictured in the link and no windows in the side.

TR

[barkalotloudly]

The "fitzmaurice carriers" workshops and some of the surrounding buildings date from the Mousehold airfield in Norwich 1914-1918