War Memorial and Gibraltar Barracks Gateway

This war memorial, in the shape of a Celtic Cross of Clipsham stone, was dedicated on  October 13th, 1921 to the 427 fallen in The Great War, as WWI  was known then. Their names are recorded in a book of remembrance in the Cathedral, the pages turned daily. In the distance can be seen a wall pre-Borough Offices, the house it belonged to destroyed by fire in 1929. Still constant is Angel Corner, which once housed the Frederic Gershom Parkington clock collection left in memory of John Parkington killed in WW2. The clocks were subsequently moved to the Manor House Museum after burglaries.

Built in 1878 to designs by Major Seddon, Royal Engineers, this date  is on the shield left of the gateway  to the Barracks. These became the depot for the two battalions of the 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot.  Following the Cardwell Reforms, 1868-74 and its  re-structuring of the British Army,  the regiment became the Suffolk Regiment. The Childers Reforms of 1881 encouraged localisation of British military forces hence the Suffolk’s home here. The barracks went on to become the regional centre for infantry training as the East Anglian Brigade Depot in 1960 till closing in 1964/5.

With thanks as always to Martyn Taylor author of Bury St Edmunds through Time Revisited.