Winchester is home to five military museums all housed separately in their own museums; The King’s Royal Hussars, The Royal Hampshire Regiment, The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles), The Gurkha Museum and The Adjutant-General’s Corps.

A wealth of military history surrounds the site of Peninsula Barracks which now houses the collections. the castle, begun by William the Conqueror soon after 1066, was demolished on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in 1651 only for Sir Charles Wren to begin building a palace there thirty years later for Charles II which was never finished. Eventually the site was developed into barracks in the late 18th century.*

In 1968 as a young captain I once trained recruits at the military barracks now home to Winchester’s Military Museums. In 1894 the barracks, in use since 1796, were destroyed by fire, with many of the replacement buildings you see today being built between 1899 to 1904 to mirror the style and grandeur of Sir Christopher Wren’s architecture. In 1986 the barracks were closed as a military training depot with all the buildings, except those occupied by Winchester’s Military Museums, given over to residential use.**

*From Visit Winchester 2014

**From an article by Lieutenant General Sir Christopher Wallace in Visit Winchester 2014

• Lieutenant General Sir Christopher Wallace’s article ‘A Winchester Life’ can be read on page 40 of Visit Winchester 2014.