Royal Marine Barracks, Chatham

While there was a Royal Marine presence at Chatham Dockyard during the eighteen century, no barracks were available to house them, marines often being billeted at local inns and hotels. After an Admiralty decision in 1764 to provide accommodation for 500 marines, a site at Gun Wharf next to Chatham Dockyard was purchased in 1777, with buildings completed and first occupied by the Royal Marines in September 1779. The barracks were not large enough to accommodate all Chatham-based marines, and in the early 1860s the site was extended.[1] By February 1894 a total of 7 officers and 1,049 non-commissioned officers and men were quartered there.[2] A further expansion took place in 1906 when the adjacent Melville Royal Naval Hospital, originally built between 1827 and 1828 and now closed, was acquired. This was reconstructed for use by the Royal Marines and functioned as a barracks extension known as Melville Barracks,[1][3] specialising in physical training and gunnery.[4]

Accommodation was in long barrack rooms, heated by a central stove. Originally the stove was also used for cooking, but a separate mess hall was introduced in the early years of the twentieth century. The site also housed a theatre, known as The Globe, used for lectures, concert parties and plays.[4]

The Royal Marine Barracks remained in use until 1950 when the Chatham Group, Royal Marines was disbanded,[5] although the adjacent Melville Barracks continued to house parts of the Royal Marines Pay and Records Office until these barracks were closed in 1960. Both the Royal Marine and Melville Barracks were demolished in 1960. The site of the Royal Marine Barracks was subsequently sold to Lloyd's of London who built new offices,[1] which were later acquired by Medway Council for their main offices and car park.[6] The site of Melville Barracks was developed as council housing and is now known as Melville Court.[1]