Ardwick Barracks

Image: © Gerald England Taken: 21 Mar 2012

Originally the old Volunteer Barracks, a Victorian castellated structure bearing the old volunteer motto "Defence Not Defiance". During WWII, after the 8th Battalion had moved out of their HQ on Ardwick Green, for most of the wartime period the drill hall was used by the Military Police as a "lockup" and would have housed deserters and absentees when apprehended and waiting for escorts to return them to their own unit. When Keith Williamson photographed the building in 2005 Image it was home to the Kings and Cheshire Regiment. In July 2006 the King's Regiment companies were amalgamated with the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers to form the 4th Battalion (Volunteers), Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border), and the Cheshire Regiment companies amalgamated with the West Midlands Regiment to form the 4th Battalion (Volunteers), Mercian Regiment. Now called Tanzano House and bearing the motto "Always Ready", the barracks is currently the home of the 4th Battalion of The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. It is the only TA Infantry Unit in the North West of England which consists of 4 rifle company locations and 4 detachment locations employing some 500 men and women. The Battalion supports the Regular Army both at home and abroad, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it provides assistance to the civil authorities in times of crisis such as the Foot and Mouth epidemic in 2001.

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