Old Market Street Drill Hall, Bristol
History
The building, which is located on the site of a former sugar warehouse and refinery, was financed by George and Henry Wills as part of arrangements to provide alternative accommodation for organisations displaced by the construction of the Wills Memorial Building. The new drill hall was designed as the headquarters of the 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, who had relocated from the Queen's Road drill hall in Clifton (since demolished), in June 1915.
The 4th Gloucestershires was converted into a searchlight battalion in 1938 and transferred to the Royal Artillery (as 66th (Gloucesters) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery) in 1940. It was headquartered at Badminton School, Westbury-on-Trym, for much of World War II and the drill hall was used instead to accommodate US Army troops. These troops created some adverse publicity for themselves when they became involved in a serious brawl in the street outside the drill hall in July 1944. After the war the drill hall was decommissioned and fell into disrepair; it has since been converted for residential use.
References
- ^ "Archaeological Review 2006" (PDF). Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. p. 345. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- ^ "Bristol and the First World War" (PDF). Great Reading Adventure 2014. p. 105. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ "The Gloucestershire Regiment". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ "Bristol". The Drill Hall Project. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- ^ "Gloucestershire Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ 46 AA Bde War Diary 1939–40, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 166/2287.
- ^ "The Old drill hall, Market Street, Bristol". WH Architects. Retrieved 21 August 2017.