Weeley Barracks

[ermin]

Hi

I have just been reading the history of the 2nd West York militia which states:-

"Feb 16-17, 1813 - Marched by route Harwich and Weeley Barracks"

Men from the Morley / Leeds area were conscripted to join the 2nd West York militia during the Napoleonic Wars.

Hope this helps.


Ermin

[t mo]

hi all
have a look here www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/.../c_92ndfoot.html several references to weeley in the list of movements for the 92nd  .
probably whats confusing is a part of the post valda has written in that record it states that weeley being 10 miles from chelmsford which i,m certain should read 10 miles from colchester a garrison town from way back in the mists as chelmsford is approx 22 miles from colchester , if you do a google search for weeley barracks lots of hits come up some worth looking at but proof positive that it did exist and bear in mind that back then that harwich was a big naval base so no doubt would be used for transporting troops to where needed and also this part of the east coast has numerous martello towers ready and waiting for an invasion by napoleonic forces these would need to be manned as well with felixstowe having one of the largest in landguard fort this was as much to protect the mouth of the river orwell and harwich naval port as anything else .
regards
trevor

[vabbott]

Just  been reading up on history in Dedham and it stated that timbers from the Weeley Barracks  which were pulled down after the Napoleonic Wars were used to restore the Anchor Pub in Dedham...........

Ronnie

[ninkynoo]

Not sure if this helps. In early 1800's Martello Towers were built in Clacton.In 1812, when the guns were delivered, it was decided that, due to the 'unhealthiness of the coast' the garrison of the towers should be stationed at Weeley Barracks.
Going to dig through and see if I can find anything else.

[ninkynoo]

I have had a quick look through and all I could find were references to a murder in Little Clacton 25/7/1806. A member of the Cameron Highlanders, Alexander McDonald, was murdered in Lt Clacton, but it says he came from Weeley Barracks. cannot see it on any of my old maps.

[Valda]

Hi


The barracks were only there between 1803 (maybe earlier) -1820 and possibly not much in use in the later years. You would need a map from that period as they were dismantled in 1820.
Apparently the field where the barracks stood is now called Barrack Field.

Regards

Valda

[ninkynoo]

Hi again, there is a topic on here already, answered by Musketball. Re Weeley 1812-13.
He is very knowledgeble on the subject. It would appear that the barracks are  behind the present church. Covering an area of 50 acres.
Perhaps worth looking Musketball up as he seems to have a lot of info and could help more.
Lin

[helvissa]

I didn't know there had been a barracks at Weeley until I started transcribing the Weeley parish registers. There were so many babies born at the barracks (which at one point had more people living in it than in Weeley itself!) that they had their own maternity ward, in effect!

My transcriptions are on www.FreeREG.org.uk so if you think your family may have been stationed there, it might be worth searching.

I'm putting together a new website (I used to put my transcriptions on my own site but now they're all on FreeREG) where I will have surname lists (so a surname index, basically) by event in each parish. Not sure when that'll be finished though!

It's very interesting though as you can see local girls marrying the Scottish soldiers (there were a LOT of Scottish Highland regiments passing through Weeley), and there's also lots of illegitimate babies produced by local girls, given Scottish-sounding middle names! Plus you had various militia there - Essex and Surrey, being ones I recall.

There's a book on Google Books which is a compilation of letters written by an officer's wife. She lived at Weeley for a while and she talks about the horrible living conditions - they lived in wooden huts and there were huge amounts of mud whenever it rained, but she talks in amused tones about it, and I suppose she was quite glad that she was able to spend time with her husband, rather than have him stationed overseas while she was stuck in the UK (I think this may explain all those aforementioned babies!).

[MUSKETBALL]

Hi Helvissa
Nice to see that there is someone else with an interest in Weeley Barracks.Like you I have been transcribing the parish records. My interest being the men who were stationed there and of course their families.As you say many of the regiments at the barracks came from Scotland however what is not generally known is that many of the men came from quite obscure miitiia regiments.I have recorded such units as the Luss and Row Volunteers,The Caithness Legion, Dunblane Volunteers and the Ross and Cromarty Rangers to name but a few.I am not saying that these units were at the barracks however men from the  units were, it is believed the barracks served as a training depot for men from the militia volunteering for service in line regiments.Proof of this are buttons found on the site over the past 30 years.English regiments and Irish were also present at various times during the life time of the barracks 1803-1820
I have a large file on the barracks and am willing help anyone researching the site.