Claro Barracks

The barracks, which were originally established as the command depot i.e. convalescent camp for Northern Command,[1] opened in April 1915 during the First World War.[2] Wilfred Owen wrote many of his poems when based at the barracks, known at the time as Ripon Army Camp,[3] in spring 1918.[4]

At the start of the Second World War, the School of Military Engineering, which had been based in Chatham, was split into two training battalions, one of which re-located to the barracks. The barracks were renamed Harper Barracks, after Lieutenant-General Sir George Harper, a famous engineer general. The site was identified as a home for the School of Bomb Disposal, formed in 1941, reflecting the nomination of the Royal Engineers as being responsible for the discipline. Both the School of Military Engineering and the School of Bomb Disposal returned to Chatham in 1949.[5] During the 1950s, Harper Barracks was the home of a Royal Signals training regiment.[6]

In 1959, the barracks became the home of 38 Engineer Regiment, who would remain there for nearly half a century.[7] The barracks was rebuilt and renamed Claro Barracks, after Claro Hill - a local beauty spot, in the 1960s.[8] In 1974, a bomb attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army badly damaged the barracks.[9]

The barracks went on to become the home of 21 Engineer Regiment in 2008.[10]

The following notable units are based at Claro Barracks.[15]