Ripon Military Heritage Trust - RMHT

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Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Ripon Military Heritage Trust - RMHT, Charitable organisation, 30 Market Place West, Ripon.

The RMHT has been established to research, conserve, interpret and provide access to the tangible and intangible military heritage of the City of Ripon and its environs.

01/11/2026

Following on from Halloween we have a bit of a mystery on our hands about Deverell. When the Militia Camp was built in 1939 some of the land was owned by a Mr Gothorp who lived in a farmhouse called 'Gooseberry Grange'. Unlike the other landowners who were very reluctant to sell up, Mr Gothorp did a deal with the War Office and moved out within 3 weeks! His farmhouse 'Gooseberry Grange' however remained and was only demolished in 1970. During WW2 it was 'Invasion H.Q.' for Ripon, but after that we don't really know what it was used for. Neither do we know what it looked like. Positioned between the Main Entrance and the Upper Parade Ground it would have stood out amongst all the wooden huts. Does anyone remember it? Could this old photo. possibly be the mysterious 'Gooseberry Grange'? Does anyone have Scooby-Doo?

Photo 1: Gooseberry Grange?
Photo 2: Deverell Barracks Plan - Gooseberry Grange "Demolished 1970"
Photo 3: Deverell Barracks 1941 Plan showing location Gooseberry Grange

31/10/2026

The main entrance to Deverell is from Kirkby Road. Here a group of mainly administrative huts are grouped alongside the Guardhouse. As well as containing lock-up cells, the Guardhouse was an important building - the main checkpoint - signing everyone in and out of the Camp. The layout of these types of huts was pretty standard for the 1939 Militia Camps which meant even visitors would have a rough idea of where things were.
Opposite the Guardroom is a long hut - actually two huts - containing offices, stores and garaging (Huts 56/57). Further down are the Regimental Offices - (Hut 54).

Photo 1: The group of admin. huts looking towards Kirkby Road
Photo 2: The Guardhouse
Photo 3: Huts 56/7 - Offices, stores & garaging
Photo 4: Regimental Offices

30/10/2026

Right at the top of the upper Parade Ground at Deverell is the 1939 'Institute for 100 Corporals & 1,000 Men'. This had a large open-plan restaurant at the front and to the rear a kitchen, scullery & servery and segregated spaces for soldiers and corporals. There is also a nice large 'B**r Store'! On either side of this large hut there were smaller annexes used as reading/writing and games rooms.

When the School of Military Engineering moved to Deverell in Oct 1940 the Institute became the Officers' Mess - an indication of how many senior ranks attended the courses.

This building later became the NAAFI

Photo 1 1939 Institute Hut, Deverell
Photo 2 Plan of Institute

29/10/2026

Sandwiched between the upper and lower parade grounds at Deverell Barracks are the two original 1939 Dining Room & Cookhouse huts. Now greatly altered they continued their 'mess' use. Although the 1939 huts were not direct matches to the standard plans, it is clear that they were very similar containing: cookhouse, servery and dining hall.
Newspaper reports from 1939 note that the 'Militiamen' were served, "meat pie, new potatoes, beans followed by prunes and custard for lunch with tea later in the day being fishcakes, peas, bread and butter." They even got hot chocolate and biscuits mid-morning!
Can anyone remember any of the meals you were served?

28/10/2026

Up towards the Kirkby Road end of Deverell Barracks, the original Officer Quarters still survive. Situated South of the main road, in plenty of green space with trees, are two 'Living Huts for Officers'. Both are 'H' - shaped in plan form and contain a rear and front hut of individual bedrooms with basins, joined by a small ablution block. A 1941 Plan of the SME shows they were occupied by the Staff Officers who ran the courses for visiting Engineers. There are rumours of recent Royal visitors to these Quarters!?!

Having now heard what went on in the Spiders.....!! we're hoping that there are some stories waiting to be told of what went on in the Officer Quarters. Let us know!

27/10/2026

It's not quite Halloween but today we bring you - The "Spiders" of Deverell!!

If you have served you will remember them - probably the most iconic C20th barrack blocks built. Strange insects with only 6 legs, these huts were first built for the 1939 Militia Camps. Based on the then new Sandhurst Barracks they were officially called 'Sandhurst Huts', but before the first militiamen had even arrived they were already known as 'Spiders' - the earliest reference we have found for the name is July 1939. When built they were the height of luxury, six accommodation blocks linked to a central ablutions block that had hot water!

Deverell originally had 8 spiders (next door Harper Barracks had 14) - only 5 now survive at Deverell. Incredibly of the hundreds that were built, only a handful survive today at Pirbright(4), Lydd (2)and Kimnel (1)

We have no photos of life inside the Spiders at Deverell - if you have any (interiors or exterior) and would be happy to share them please get in contact.

Photo 1: Spiders at Deverell
Photo 2: Exterior of Spider at Deverell
Photos 3 & 4: Deverell - Spider Interiors

26/10/2026

This is the 1939 'Lecture Room' - part of the WW2 School of Military Engineering. Part of the interest of Deverell is that it was not just a barracks but also the centre of Royal Engineering training during the War. Thousands of Allied Engineers came to this small wooden hut to be taught about Bailey bridges and new assault engineering techniques. It is one of three such teaching huts left at Deverell.

Thank you to everyone who has commented and liked our previous post. There are so many stories out there about Deverell and we want to record them in our Oral History Project. If you would be happy to share them please contact us via the Oral History Project page on our website:

riponmht.org

Photo 1. Lecture Room - front elevation
Photo 2. Lecture Room - rear elevation

25/10/2026

It's easy to forget how unique Deverell Barracks is. Part of our City since 1939, it is now a familiar part of the landscape. It is not only the largest surviving example of a 1939 Militia Camp left in the country but also contains the most varied selection of different types of huts.

The Quartermaster's Stores and Office is the only known such hut of its type, the architecture a direct reflection of its use. It has 2 special louvred windows at the front to ventilate the meat and bread stores - as seen the photo of the plan below.

Another rare hut is the Guard Room which contains individual cells to the rear. Here there are special cell windows which provide ventilation without opening and attached metal bars. Originally there was a small, enclosed exercise yard outside, the walls of which have long since gone.

Photo 1: Deverell Barracks
Photo 2: Q.M.'s Stores & Offices - Deverell Barracks
Photo 3: Detail of Q.M.'s Stores & Offices Plan
Photo 4: Rear elevation of Guard Room - Deverell Barracks

30/09/2026

We've had some amazing comments about our "Ripon Goes To War!" exhibition which was recently at Ripon Library. As a direct result of the exhibition we are thrilled to have been gifted a very special WW2 scrapbook. It contains images from the Ripon Gazette of the men and women from our city who served in the forces between 1939-1945. This is a very special acquisition which will help us produce a database of Riponians during this period.

!! HERITAGE WORTH FIGHTING FOR !!

16/09/2026

A big thank you to all who attended our Heritage Open Days tour of Deverell Barracks this morning, especially those who travelled all the way from Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire! Sorry to all those people on our very large waiting list; because of circumstances outside of our control, numbers were very limited.
The weather was kind and we hope those who were there enjoyed this special opportunity to see and hear about the rare and important military heritage at Ripon.
Remember our exhibition "Ripon Goes To War!" at Ripon Library continues all this week. If you have time pop along and learn about some of the incredible deeds of those who came from our City and served during WW2.

Address

30 Market Place West
Ripon
HG41BN

Website

http://riponmht.org/

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