Catterick Garrison
garrison and town in North Yorkshire, England
Catterick Garrison is a major garrison and military town 3 miles (5 km) south of Richmond, North Yorkshire, England. It is the largest British Army garrison in the world, with a population of around 14,000 in 2021 and covering over 2,400 acres (about 10 km2).
History
In October 1907, Robert Baden-Powell was appointed to command the Northumbrian Division of the newly formed Territorial Army. His headquarters were in Richmond Castle, which was too small to hold the garrison, so he chose as a replacement the site for the Catterick military town.
On 12 August 1914, the order was issued for the construction of the camp, following the outbreak of the First World War. The original intention was for Catterick to be a temporary camp to accommodate two complete divisions with around 40,000 men in 2,000 huts.
The base was originally named Richmond Camp but was changed to Catterick Camp in 1915 and later modified to Catterick Garrison in 1973. After serving as a prisoner of war camp at the end of the First World War, the idea to make Catterick a permanent military barracks was first suggested after the partitioning of Ireland in 1921, to replace The Curragh. The required land was purchased, and building plans were put forward in 1923. Construction was undertaken by John Laing & Son, and by the mid-1930s most of the camp's facilities were complete.
“Catterick Garrison” enters the record as garrison and town in North Yorkshire, England. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Catterick, Garrison and garrison can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Catterick Garrison” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Catterick, Garrison and garrison provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q386087. Authority coordinates are 54.377, -1.722. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021, 1907, 1914 and 1915.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Catterick Garrison” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.