The Jubilee Gates and South Barracks

The Jubilee Gates were installed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. At the top of the drive behind the flagstaff is the iconic facade of the Officers’ Mess South Barracks. To the left of the main doors was the bar and to the right the dining room. Two later extensions were added on both sides of the original Officers’ Mess to provide additional accommodation.

To the right and left of the Officers’ Mess are two buildings built initially as men’s quarters. From the 1960s the left-hand building was used as accommodation for members of the Womens Royal Naval Service (WRNS) working alongside the Royal Marines.

Roads on this site are named after further Royal Marine holders of the Victoria Cross including Colonel Lewis Stratford Tollemache Halliday VC, KCB, who was Commanding Officer of the Depot Royal Marines from 1923 – 1925. He had won his Victoria Cross in 1900 as a Captain and went on in 1927 to become Adjutant General Royal Marines, now known as the Commandant General.

To the right of the lawns leading back to the Dover Road boundary are the Armoury, the Sergeants’ Mess and the Sergeant Major’s Quarters.

The two large and very impressive lawns on either side of the drive had been used as drill and training areas, as well as sports fields. The lawn to the left had at one time been described as a “damp swampy” grass area. The top turf was at some point removed and under-laid with wattle and branches to absorb water to become “...one of the finest hockey pitches of its time in the country...” The lawn to the right in front of the Sergeants’ Mess was used as a cricket field.