Invicta Park Barracks

Invicta Park Barracks
Maidstone
250px Park House, currently used as the Officers' Mess
Invicta Park Barracks Location within Kent
Coordinates
Type	Barracks
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	British Army
Site history
Built	1936
Built for	War Office
In use	1936-Present
Garrison information
Occupants	36 Engineer Regiment

Invicta Park Barracks is a military installation in Maidstone, Kent.

History

Permanent barracks were first established in Maidstone in around 1798. This was a major cavalry barracks which emerged to become the Army Riding School in 1835. The old barracks became the depot of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment in 1881 but began to fall into disrepair: although the barracks blocks were demolished in 1991, the Officers’ Mess still survives as the White Rabbit Public House in Sandling Road.

An adjacent site, just a few hundred yards north, was acquired from the Lushington family in 1936 shortly before the outset of World War II and a hutted camp known as Invicta Lines (reflecting Invicta, the motto of Kent) was built there. The new barracks became the depot of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment but were then demoted to the status of out-station to the Home Counties Brigade depot at Howe Barracks in Canterbury in 1959. The Regimental Headquarters of 36 Engineer Regiment have been based at the barracks since 1959. The current barracks were built between 1965 and 1966.