Former depot hospital at Maindy Barracks

Cadw's description

Location

On the NE side of the parade square.

History

Maindy Barracks was built in 1877 and was first occupied by the Royal Glamorgan Militia. The Militia was superseded in 1881 by the newly formed Welch Regiment and it remained the headquarters of the regiment until its amalgamation in 1969 with the 1st Battalion of the South Wales Borderers to form the Royal Regiment of Wales.

The barracks, also originally known as a 'localisation depot', was built under the auspices of the Localisation Act of 1872, which instigated the first national barrack-building campaign to be undertaken in peacetime. These are also referred to as the 'Cardwell reforms', after Edward Cardwell, Secretary of State for War 1868-74 who implemented a range of reforming policies. Regimental depots were established in populous districts to provide a focus for recruitment, and raised the profile of the army by giving it a powerful visual presence in the civilian community. The War Office issued standard designs for barracks, although local variations were permitted, particularly in the choice of materials. Local character at Maindy Barracks was achieved by the use of Pennant sandstone and slate roof. Maindy was also characteristic of the period in its overall layout around a central parade square, and incorporated many of the innovations of the period such as a school and married men's quarters in addition to the normal barrack rooms and officers' quarters, and had one of the earliest depot hospitals.

The hospital was built according to a standard 'pavilion plan'. The main range housed administrative offices, with waiting rooms, orderly rooms and kitchens. A 2-storey wing housed a separate ward on each storey and incorporated a sanitary annex in one corner, at Maindy in the form of a square tower.

Exterior

A 2-storey 'pavilion plan' former depot hospital, comprising a 3-bay main range facing SE and roughly square in plan, with slightly higher wing set back on the NE side that housed wards in each storey. Of snecked rock-faced Pennant sandstone with Bath stone dressings, and slate roof with coped gables on moulded kneelers, stone stack to the L of the main range and 2 stone stacks to the rear of the wing, which has a coped parapet to the SE and NE sides. Transomed windows, mainly also with mullions, incorporate small-pane hornless sashes. The main range has a central gabled porch with double panelled doors and round-headed overlight. Above it is a slightly recessed 3-light mullioned window. Outer gabled bays have 2-light windows.

Set back on the R side is the 3-window wing with transomed windows and relieving arches. Its R end wall has a 3-light mullioned and transomed window, and a doorway to the L. On the R side is the sanitary annex in the form of a projecting square tower at the NW corner. It has 2 narrow sashes to the SE, and 3 narrow sashes to the NE and NW elevations. The rear of the wing has 3 windows similar to the front, in between which are stacks rising from the eaves. The rear of the main range has sash windows in the outer gabled bays, except lower R where there is a boarded door and overlight. The central bay has sash windows with a boarded door and overlight to its L in the lower storey, while in the upper storey is a lean-to porch on the R side at the top of an external cantilevered stairs.

The L (SW) side of the main range is enclosed with a walled yard, which has single and double boarded doors, while the elevation has 3 sash windows in the upper storey and stack to the R.

Reason for designation

Listed as a rare and well-preserved former depot hospital, and as an integral component of one of the best-preserved regimental depots in Wales erected under the Cardwell reforms of the 1870s.