CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Erskine Barracks

Open-knowledge reference entry

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ16835621 ↗
Source-derived summary

Erskine Barracks was a military installation at Fugglestone St Peter, in Wilton parish some 2+3⁄4 miles (4 km) northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England.

History

The site, which had been farmland until used for temporary army buildings during World War II, was acquired by the British Army for use as a headquarters for Southern Command in 1949. The establishment was centred on Fugglestone Farmhouse and an Ordnance Survey map of 1958 labels it as Fugglestone Camp.

The barracks were later named after General Sir George Erskine, who had been GOC Southern Command from 1955 until his retirement in 1958. The site went on to become in 1968 the headquarters of Army Strategic Command, which was renamed UK Land Forces in 1972 and Land Command in 1995. On 1 April 2008 Land Command amalgamated with Headquarters Adjutant General under 'Project Hyperion' and became Land Forces. Land Forces moved from Erskine Barracks to the former RAF Andover site now known as Marlborough Lines on 23 June 2010, and the site became vacant.

At time, that the site covered 9.6 hectares to the north of the railway line and 3.8 hectares (less fully developed) to the south. The former farmhouse had been demolished by 1968 and all standing structures were from 1950 or later. In 2014 the headquarters building was described as "an impressive example of brutal modernism".

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Erskine Barracks” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Erskine, Barracks and Open-knowledge.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1949, 1958, 1955, 1968—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1949. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Erskine, Barracks and Open-knowledge providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Erskine Barracks”, the useful work is to connect “open-knowledge reference entry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16835621. Authority coordinates are 51.087, -1.851. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1958, 1955 and 1968.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. 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

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Erskine Barracks”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Erskine Barracks primary sources, Erskine Barracks archive and Erskine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Erskine Barracks”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Erskine Barracks” 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.