Six buildings listed show Catterick Garrison's development

They show how the garrison grew from its origins as a collection of bleak huts on a weather-swept plain during the First World War into a grand centrepiece of the British army in the 1930s.

The Sandes Soldiers' Home, of 1928, in Catterick Garrison is now a Grade II* listed building. All pictures courtesy of Historic EnglandOne of the buildings, the former Sandes Soldiers' Home, has been listed at Grade II*, placing it among the most important eight per cent of England’s historic sites.

All but one of the six, which include a squash court, date from the 1920s and 1930s when the garrison, as the home of the newly-formed Royal Corps of Signals, was rebuilt ahead of the Second World War.

“They were built to a very high standard,” says Roger Thomas, one of Historic England’s military historians. “This was partly because of military pride and about building up an esprit de corps – soldiers would feel better about themselves if they were living in a good building.

“It was also partly because in the early stages of the development of Catterick, the camp itself was in a pretty bad state and a lot of men didn’t want to go there – it was such a bleak, wet, messy place.

“And then these buildings were associated with the Royal Corps of Signals, which was a new regiment and they were trying to recruit the best soldiers and officers.”

The Signals were formally created in 1920 as cutting edge wireless technology became important.

Catterick camp – originally called Richmond Camp – was begun in 1915 on high moorland south of Richmond to meet the voracious appetite for men of the trenches of the First World War. Two thousand prefabricated Armstrong huts, to hold 40,000 men, were constructed by East Anglian fishermen who couldn’t reach their fish stocks in the North Sea due to enemy action and so were redeployed to camp building.

Of those 2,000, only five survive on site. The least altered of them, Building 55, has been given Grade II listed status.

“It is a remarkable survivor,” says Roger. “Usually, Armstrong huts were made of timber and clad in corrugated iron or board or felt, but Catterick’s are unusual because they were made of concrete. The concrete was readily available nearby – probably from Middlesbrough – but also there were problems obtaining the corrugated sheeting because zinc was controlled by the Germans.”

After the war, it was decided to make Catterick a permanent garrison, with John Laing & Son beginning construction in 1923. The Vimy officers’ mess, plus servants quarters and squash court, from 1926, have been listed.

The Vimy Officers' Mess of 1926In those days, each officer would have had his own batman, for ironing and polishing duties. Those servants connected to officers permanently based at Catterick would have lived upstairs in the Vimy (as you climb the floors in the Vimy, the decorative features diminish indicating the lower ranks of those who lived on the upper floors), but visiting officers would have had their men stay in the servants quarters.

The Vimy Officers' Mess squash courts of 1926 are still used for squash, a game that was extremely fashionable in the 1920sThe nearby squash court, which is still played in, was a fashionable attraction for officers. In the 19th Century, most garrisons had fives courts – a game like hand tennis – but in the early 20th Century, as squash became more popular – its rules were official codified in 1926 – officers wanted to play the new game.

The Sandes Soldiers' Home, of 1928, in Catterick Garrison is now a Grade II* listed building. All pictures courtesy of Historic EnglandThe star of the newly listed buildings is the Sandes’ Soldiers Home, of 1928. It is named after Elise Sandes, an Irish evangelical Christian who, in the 1860s, became concerned with the mental and moral health of the young British soldiers she saw in Ireland falling into alcoholism.

Elise Sandes, the Irishwoman and Christian evangelical who saw the need to provide social care for soldiers. When she died in 1934, she became one of only two civilian women to be given a full military funeralShe opened her first “home from home” in Cork in 1877, offering a warm welcome and a cup of tea to soldiers, and the idea quickly caught on – especially in India, where the lure of the opium dens and bazaar brothels overwhelmed many soldiers.

The Catterick home was designed by prestigious Belfast architects, Young & Mackenzie, and, at Sandes’ insistence, were built by Irish contractors who came over specifically for the task.

A sign on the Sandes Soldiers' Home in Catterick GarrisonIt was opened on November 23, 1928, and featured a canteen, cinema, reading room, billiards room and library, plus rooms for soldiers to stay in if they faced a break from the barracks and places for visiting family members to stay.

Other buildings listed this week are Pinhill Mess (1928), the Army Education Centre (1930) where the first radio operators were trained, and Baden Powell House (1935), which was the grand headquarters of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division.

Baden-Powell House in Catterick Garrison was built in 1935. In 1908, Robert Baden-Powell was the Inspector-General of Cavalry, based at Richmond Castle, and he first suggested the creation of a garrison up on the moor“It was built for status,” says Roger. “It is hard to appreciate now how big and imposing it is because of the trees. It is neoclassical externally but it’s Art Deco on the inside. It is very unusual to have the two styles cheek by jowl, and inside there are a lot of surviving original features – even the double padded doors, to stop sound travelling between the commanding officers’ offices and the secretaries’ offices, are still there.

“These Catterick buildings have been adapted over time but have survived remarkably well.”

The buildings were assessed by Historic England following a request from a member of the public.