Royal Sussex Regiment and Chichester Barracks

1881

Chichester served as the depot town for the Royal Sussex Regiment from 1881, when the army's Childers Reforms reorganised the infantry into county-based regiments. The regiment's depot was at Roussillon Barracks on Broyle Road, north of the city centre. The barracks had been built in the 1790s during the Napoleonic Wars, when the threat of French invasion prompted the construction of military facilities across the south coast. The Royal Sussex Regiment drew its recruits primarily from Sussex and served in campaigns across the British Empire, including the Boer War and both World Wars. The regiment's battle honours include Ypres, the Somme, Gallipoli, and the Burma campaign. The connection between the regiment and the city was deep. Local families sent sons to serve, and the regiment's colours, memorials and traditions became part of the city's identity. The regimental chapel in the cathedral contains memorials to fallen soldiers, and the cathedral's connection to the regiment continues through annual services of remembrance. The regiment was amalgamated in 1966, becoming part of the Queen's Regiment, and later the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. Roussillon Barracks closed and was redeveloped for housing, with the barracks name preserved in the development. The military history is commemorated at the Chichester District Museum (now The Novium) and in the regiment's own collection.