Territorial Army Drill Hall

History of Territorial Army Drill Hall

Mary Burgess writes in East Road 1950 to now:

This was originally built in 1914 as the Drill Hall for three local territorial units, the Cambridge Squadron of the Loyal Suffolk Hussars, the 1st Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, and the First Eastern General Hospital  RAMC. After the war it was used as the home of the local army cadets as well.

The Post Office took it over in 1967 and it was used for administration. During the Christmas rush, it was often used as an overflow sorting space when they ran out of room in the main sorting office just round the corner in Mill Road, where Petersfield Mansions now stand. The new main sorting office opened in Clifton Road in August 1988.

The copper regimental crest on the outside of the building was removed when the Post Office moved to Clifton Road, restored and given to the local battalion of the territorial army at their new site in Cherry Hinton Road in October 1988.

The owners, Turnberry Holdings Ltd, knocked the hall down in 1993, and the plot stood empty for many years, before the County Court was built in 2006.