Llanion Barracks
This large complex of red brick buildings was built for the local garrison at the turn of the 20th century to complement a hutted encampment which had existed since the Crimea War. A further phase of construction was undertaken during WWII.
The last regiment to serve there before the barracks became surplus to British Army requirements in 1967 was 37 Heavy Air Defence Regiment, Royal Artillery.
Llanion has changed considerably since this photo was taken, with the terrace in the foreground comprising Sergeants' Quarters and Married Sergeants' Quarters having been demolished
Many of the buildings are now used as offices. The surviving buildings include the two storey colonel’s residence which is now the area office of the Countryside Council for Wales, and the officers’ mess, dated 1904, and the two storey officers’ quarters which are home to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority. The National Park offices contain a display of cap badges and photographs reflecting the building’s military past. Other surviving buildings include a single storey store, a motor transport shed and NCOs’ quarters.
The officers' quarters are now home to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority
In nearby Devonshire Road can be found a small arms ammunition store, recreation rooms, the institute and a guardroom, while a former produce store survives in Glen View Avenue. The Kingdom Hall was the sergeants’ mess. Devonshire Road also leads to the former parade ground. The old parade square was used as a car park for many years but is now largely given over to housing development. On this square on April 1, 1944, General Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander for the Invasion of Europe, inspected troops of the 110th Regiment, 28th US Infantry Division, some 800 of whom were based at the barracks from October 1943 until April 11, 1944 when they took their leave for a camp in Wiltshire in readiness for D-Day. They were replaced at Llanion Barracks by the US 2nd (Indianhead) Infantry Division who arrived from Armagh, Northern Ireland on April 15, 1944. Their stay was brief for they left for France on D-Day Plus One, June 7. The Americans were the only foreign troops to be based at Llanion Barracks during its 40 years’ military history.
Troops on parade at Llanion Barracks
Sussex Row, Kent Row and Dorset Row comprise the barrack blocks themselves, now altered into flats. Built in 1904, these two storey, 28-bay blocks originally had verandahs to the rear. Each block could accommodate half a battalion, giving the barracks a capacity of a battalion and a half. The married quarters attached to the barracks still survive in Shropshire Road and Canterbury Road, two-storey, brick-built houses. In Essex Road, the former administrative offices have been converted into a pair of bungalows. In Stockwell Road are a number of ancillary buildings, including a chapel gymnasium, a gun store, a motor transport shed/ workshop with a large sliding door in the gable end, and a ‘Romney hut’ type store and caretaker’s house behind the former Grainger Tubolt building, which itself was an anti-aircraft ordnance depot.
Alongside the footpath on the north side of the hill, overlooking the Haven, are the remains of ammunition magazines built into the hillside in the 1860s and ‘70s. During the Cold War, these magazines were used to instruct troops about convoy movements. A little to the east of the magazines was a rifle range.
The Guard House - a dockyard office building dating from about 1840
