Lower Barracks

Lower Barracks was a military installation in Winchester. It was the depot of the Royal Hampshire Regiment from its formation in 1881 until it moved out in 1959.

History
The buildings at the Lower Barracks at Winchester date back to 1730 when Serle's House, which had been designed by Thomas Archer, was built for William Seldon. The house was acquired by James Serle, a lawyer, in 1781 and then sold to the War Office in 1796. Most of the other buildings in the Lower Barracks were built during the Crimean War. The Lower Barracks, which incorporated Serle's House, a barrack block and a small parade ground, became the Depot of the Royal Hampshire Regiment on its formation in 1881. The Lower Barracks were demoted to the status of out-station to the Wessex Brigade depot at Topsham Barracks in Exeter in 1959. Searle's House was retained by the Ministry of Defence but many of the other buildings were converted for private residential use in the late 1990s. The Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum reopened at Serle's House in 2004.