Description

WHITTLESFORD

1767/0/10021 NORTH CAMP,IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM (RAF DU
10-OCT-02 XFORD)
Building 147 (First World War Barracks)

GV II

Barracks block, in use as store. 1918, by Lieut. J.G.N. Clift of the War Office's Directorate of Fortifications and Works. Drawing No 481/18. Rendered brick, asbestos-cement slating on timber trusses.

PLAN: A long narrow block with raised central area and clerestorey, divided longitudinally in plan with entrances in short gable ends. In 8 bays each of 13ft (3.96m).

EXTERIOR: Windows are all standard steel casements, originally standard 12-pane casements, but in the lean-to ranges replaced by later casements with side-hung lights and small top vents, without glazing-bars. The gabled ends have a raised centre with lower sides, all in one plane, having a pair of tall plank doors flanked by 2-light small-pane casements. The long sides have a series of 8 horizontal small-pane casements set tight to the upper eaves, above the later windows in bays separated by shallow flat buttresses; on the right (E) side is a small further projection to the first bay, with a small 8-pane light.

INTERIOR: Some partitions remain.

HISTORY: This is a very rare surviving example of a common type of standard barracks hut of the First World War period, in this case built as single officers' quarters. Originally there were at least 4 identical huts, in parallel, just to the N of the Officers' Mess (qv, Building 45), and on plans of the station from 1918 to 1933 they are shown as Officers' Quarters, still in-situ, and linked in pairs. This remaining building lies immediately N of the current Officers' Mess, forming with it and the Squash Court (qv, Building 46) a significant group. This is the only surviving building from 1917 on the domestic site at the Training Depot Station at Duxford, the technical site on the S side of the A 505 being the most complete surviving group of buildings on an airfield of the First World War period. Duxford represents the finest and best-preserved example of a fighter base representative of the period up to 1945 in Britain, with an exceptionally complete group of First World War technical buildings in addition to technical and domestic buildings typical of both inter-war Expansion Periods of the RAF. It also has important associations with the Battle of Britain and the American fighter support for the Eighth Air Force. For more details of the history of the site see under entry for the Officers' Mess (Building 45).

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26320630

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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