Monument record 1160/392 - Gibraltar Barracks

The barracks were built in 1796 comprising barrack buildings around a drill ground. Today only two buildings survive.

{1} This map shows three large barrack buildings at the east end of the site with the caption "Barracks erected 1796". The notes issued by Northamptonshire Libraries in 1978 to go with the map say that the RC Cathedral rebuilt in 1844 lay to the north of Northampton Barracks, which would often have contained many Roman Catholic soldiers, mostly Irish. It goes on to say that anti Catholic feeling was strong in the 1820s and the position of the church near to the barracks may have been chosen with an eye to protection.

{2} The OS 1:2500 map for 1887 depicts a quadrangle of buildings with main barrack buildings to the west and south and east. These are described as "DEPOT (48th Regimental District").

{3} Additional buildings are present by the time of the 1963 1:2500 OS plan, both within the main quadrangle and at the west end of the site. The site is simply described as "Barracks".

{4} On the 1977 1:2500 OS only a small part of the south eastern segment fo the barracks survives, labelled "Gibralter Barracks". The remaining barrack buildings have disappeared to be replaced by a "Depot" and what is presumably the new Post Office sorting office.

{5} 18th-19th century depot of the Northamptonshire Regiment. Most of the site was sold to the Royal Mail in 1980. One 19th century barracks block still remains, now housing.

<1> Wood; Law, 1847, Town Map of Northampton, (unchecked) (Map). SNN752.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1887, First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 Inch Mapping Series (45.05), (unchecked) (Map). SNN47521.

<3> , 1963, Ordnance Survey 25" to 1 mile, (unchecked) (Map). SNN47522.

<4> , 1977, Ordnance Survey 25" to 1 mile, (unchecked) (Map). SNN57884.

<5> Osborne M., 2002, Fieldwork Survey of Military Buildings: Drill Halls, Barracks & Depots: Northamptonshire, p. 1 (Note). SNN103251.

Record last edited

Apr 9 2025 2:36PM