Misplaced Pages

Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut
Camberley, Surrey
Deepcut Camp
Princess Royal Barracks, DeepcutLocation within Surrey
Coordinates	51°18′16″N 00°41′57″W / 51.30444°N 0.69917°W / 51.30444; -0.69917
Type	Barracks
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	British Army
Site history
Built	1900–1903
Built for	War Office
In use	1903–2020
Garrison information
Occupants	Royal Logistic Corps

The Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut, commonly referred to as Deepcut Barracks, is a former British Army installation near Camberley, Surrey. It was the headquarters of the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) and also the Defence College of Logistics, Policing and Administration, before both moved to Worthy Down Camp.

History

The area had been used as a training ground for the army from the late 19th century with no formal military infrastructure until 1900 when the Royal Engineers commenced the build of a number of camps, including Blackdown. The land was owned by the Pain family of Frimley Green who built a number of high status dwellings on the land.

Blackdown Camp was established in the late 1903 initially to accommodate artillery and infantry, centred on Winchester house, renamed Blackdown House when it was appropriated by the War Office for military use. The barracks built in Blackdown Camp were Minden, Dettingen, Alma, Frith, Aisne and Marne Barracks. The Victorian houses were demolished in the 1950s, the land around Blackdown House being left to forestry, and around Dettingen House being redeveloped for a modernised Officers Mess. The site of Aisne and Marne Barracks were also re-developed and used for Military Family Housing. What remained of Frith Barracks were closed in the late 1970s and the land left to vegetation and used as a Military Training Area. Between 1967 and 1971 Minden Barracks was demolished and rebuilt as Blackdown Barracks (renamed Princess Royal Barracks after Anne, Princess Royal).

The Barracks were the garrison of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and the School of Ordnance, until it merged into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Dettingen and Alma Barracks have been closed and sold, and by 2002, demolished for housing development.

A decision to sell the barracks was announced in January 2008 by the then Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth, who said that the sale would not take place before 2013. In 2013, following the Defence Training Review and the merger of tri-service training to a single location, it was confirmed that the barracks were to close with the land being released for housing development. Part of the barracks has been demolished to facilitate the construction of the new 1,200 homes in the Mindenhurst neighbourhood. Work on decommissioning the barracks is expected to last until 2021.

Trainee deaths at Deepcut

Between 1995 and 2002 there were four deaths of trainees at the barracks which prompted families, the public and Ministry of Defence itself to call for investigation into any possible links, following four Coroner's commissioned investigations and inquests. One produced a verdict of suicide by gunshot wounds, the other three returned open verdicts. On 3 June 2016, a Coroner's report into the death of Private Cheryl James in 1995 found that the death was "self-inflicted" and that Private James fired the gun intentionally.

References

1. "Walk around Deepcut Surrey". North Lane Green Steps. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
2. ^ "Historical Pattern of Development" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
3. "Timeline: Deaths at Deepcut". BBC News Online. 8 January 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
4. "Deepcut Barracks plan approved by councillors". Get Surrey. 19 July 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
5. "About Mindenhurst: the vision". Mindenhurst. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
6. "Questions about Mindenhurst". Mindenhurst. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
7. Blake, Nicholas (29 March 2006). "A Review of the Circumstances Surrounding the Deaths of Four Soldiers at Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut between 1995 and 2002 (HC 795)". London, UK: The Stationery Office. ISBN 0102937079. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
8. "Cheryl James: Deepcut soldier's death was suicide, coroner rules - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2017.

External links

• The Scotsman feature page on Deepcut barracks deaths
• BBC news article
• The Royal Logistic Corps

v t e Borough of Surrey Heath
Towns, villages and neighbourhoods	Bagshot Bagshot Bisley Bisley Miles Green Camberley Camberley Crawley Down Deepcut Frimley Frimley Green Heatherside Old Dean Mindenhurst Mytchett Tekels Park York Town Chobham Broadford and Castle Green Chobham Burrowhill Coxhill Green or Mimbridge Penny Pot Valley End Lightwater Lightwater West End Donkey Town Lucas Green West End Windlesham Windlesham
Parks	Chobham Common Frimley Lodge Park Swinley Forest Windlesham Arboretum
Listed Churches	St Tarcisius Church, Camberley Church of St Lawrence, Chobham
Education	Collingwood College Gordon's School Kings International College Tomlinscote School
Transport	Railway stations Bagshot Camberley Frimley Roads M3 A30 A322 A331 Notable other Basingstoke canal and towpath Fairoaks Airport
Buildings and structures	BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies Bagshot Park Frimley Lodge Park Railway Frimley Park Hospital HM Prison Coldingley Lakeside Leisure Complex Pennyhill Park Hotel Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut Updown Court
Sport	Camberley Town F.C. Chobham F.C. Frimley Green F.C.
Places listed are articles or sections notable as settlements, arranged by post town Camberley is the administrative centre and largest single settlement

• Barracks in England
• Buildings and structures in Surrey
• Education in Surrey
• Installations of the British Army
• Military installations established in 1903
• Royal Logistic Corps
• 1903 establishments in the United Kingdom