St Mary's Street drill hall, Huntingdon

St Mary's drill hall
Huntingdon
St Mary's drill hall
St Mary's drill hall Location within Cambridgeshire
Coordinates	52.32805°N 0.18255°W / 52.32805; -0.18255
Type	Drill hall
Site history
Built	Late 19th century
Built for	War Office
In use	Late 19th century-1920s

The St Mary's Street drill hall is a former military installation in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

History

The building was designed as the headquarters of the 1st Huntingdonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps and completed in the late 19th century.^[1] The unit evolved to become the 4th Volunteer Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment in 1900.^[2] The presence at the drill hall was reduced to a single company, H Company, 5th Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment in 1908 but restored to a full battalion when the Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalion was formed in February 1914.^[2] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 but remained in the United Kingdom throughout the First World War.^[3] The battalion was disbanded at the end of the War and the drill hall was subsequently decommissioned and converted for retail use.^[4]

References

1. "The Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalions 1914 - 1919". Porch Museum. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
2. "The Huntingdonshire Battalion". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 26 December 2005. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
3. James, Brigadier E. A. (2012). British Regiments 1914-1918. Naval and Military Press. ISBN 978-0-906304-03-7.
4. "Huntingdon Sale Rooms". Cyclex. Retrieved 20 September 2017.