Type Barracks In use 1936-Present Year built 1936 Built for War Office | Operator British Army Occupants 36 Engineer Regiment Owner Ministry of Defence Occupant 36 Engineer Regiment | |
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Invicta Park Barracks is a military installation in Maidstone, Kent.
History
Permanent barracks were first established in Maidstone as part of the British response to the threat of the French Revolution in around 1798. This was a major cavalry barracks which emerged to become the Army Riding School in 1835. In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the Cardwell Reforms and the barracks became the depot for the 50th (West Kent) Regiment of Foot and the 97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot. Following the Childers Reforms, the 50th and 97th regiments amalgamated to form the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment with its depot in the barracks in 1881. The old barracks began to fall into disrepair and were decommissioned in 1936; although the barracks blocks were demolished in 1991, the Officers’ Mess still survives as the White Rabbit Public House in Sandling Road.
An adjacent site, just a few hundred yards north, was acquired from the Lushington family in 1936 shortly before the outset of the Second World War and a hutted camp known as Invicta Lines (reflecting Invicta, the motto of Kent) was built there. The new barracks became the depot of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment but were then demoted to the status of out-station to the Home Counties Brigade depot at Howe Barracks in Canterbury in 1959. The Regimental Headquarters of 36 Engineer Regiment have been based at the barracks since 1959. The current barracks were built between 1965 and 1966.
In November 2016 the Ministry of Defence announced that the site would close in 2027.