Volunteer Street drill hall, Chester

The Volunteer Street drill hall is a former military installation at the corner of Albion Street and Volunteer Street in Chester, Cheshire. The building is designated by Historic England as a Grade II listed building.[1]

Volunteer Street drill hall, Chester
Chester, Cheshire
Volunteer Street drill hall, Chester
Volunteer Street drill hall, Chester Location in Cheshire
Coordinates	53.18823°N 2.88818°W
Type	Drill hall
Site history
Built	1868
Built for	War Office
In use	1868 – 1921

History

The building was designed by James Harrison as the headquarters of the 6th Cheshire Rifle Volunteers who relocated from the cockpit outside Newgate in 1868.[2] The drill hall was also used by elements of the Royal Garrison Artillery.[3] The 6th Cheshire Rifle Volunteers evolved to become the 2nd Earl of Chester's Volunteer Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment in 1883 and the 5th (Earl of Chester's) Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment in 1908.[4] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front.[5] The battalion amalgamated with the 4th Battalion to form the 4th/5th (Earl of Chester's) Battalion at the Grange Road West drill hall in Birkenhead in 1921.[4] The Volunteer Street drill hall itself, being surplus to requirements, was demolished in 1983 but the facade was retained to create the frontage for some residential apartments in a building which is now known as Albion Mews.[3]

References

1. Historic England, "Albion Mews (1376042)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 3 December 2017
2. "Chester Rifle and Artillery Volunteer Corps". National Archives. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
3. "Chester". The Drill Halls Project. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
4. "The Cheshire Regiment". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
5. "Cheshire Regiment". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 18 December 2016.