Cowley Barracks

Cowley Barracks
Oxford
250px Cowley Barracks showing the original keep
Cowley Barracks Location within Oxfordshire
Coordinates
Type	Barracks
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	British Army
Site history
Built	1876
Built for	War Office
In use	1876-1959
Garrison information
Occupants	Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Cowley Barracks (originally Bullingdon Barracks) was a military installation in Oxford, England.

History

The barracks were built in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style at Bullingdon Green using Charlbury stone as a depot for the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot and the 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers) and completed in Spring 1876. Under the Childers Reforms the 52nd Regiment merged with the 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Oxfordshire Light Infantry in 1881. Following the Haldane Reforms the Oxfordshire Light Infantry became the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1908. Many recruits enlisted at the barracks during the early stages of the First World War.

The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Museum was established at the barracks in 1925 and during the Second World War the barracks were used as a base for the Home Guard.

The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry left the barracks in 1959 and, although the men's quarters were retained, the keep was subsequently demolished. The museum collection moved from Cowley Barracks to the Slade Park Territorial Army base at that time.

Between 1980 and 1992 the national headquarters of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation was located on the site. Co-located with this organisation was the Headquarters of No 3 Oxford Group Royal Observer Corps. The site now belongs to Oxford Brookes University who have built student accommodation on the site.