page_title: Royal Marine Depot, Deal
section_title: 1869-1996
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Marine Depot, Deal / History / 1869-1996
caption_attribution_description: English: The Church was built on a site alongside the Drill Field; it was consecrated in January 1907. It is similar in design to the Naval Barracks churches at Chatham and Eastney. Following the departure of the Royal Marines School of Music the church was converted into flats.
context_page_description: The Royal Marine Depot, Deal was a military installation occupied by the Royal Marines and located in South Deal, Kent, on the road to Walmer. The Depot was first established in Deal in 1861, occupying part of the Royal Naval Hospital. In 1868 the Depot expanded and took over the nearby 18th-century Army barracks.
  From 1930, Deal served as the headquarters of the Royal Naval School of Music. Renamed the Royal Marines School of Music after the Second World War, it expanded to provide musical training for both junior and senior recruits for all 36 Royal Marines bands.
  In 1977 the training Depot closed; the site then became the headquarters of the newly re-formed 41 Commando and was renamed Royal Marines, Deal. In 1988 parts of the site were demolished and sold for housing, leaving only the Royal Marines School of Music, which remained at Deal until 1996 whereupon it relocated to HMNB Portsmouth.
context_section_description: In 1869, the Royal Marine Depot expanded into North Infantry Barracks and South Infantry Barracks, which the Admiralty received in exchange for the Royal Marine Barracks, Woolwich, which were handed over to the War Office following the closure of Woolwich Dockyard. These were then re-named Royal Marine Barracks (North) and Royal Marine Barracks (South), with the Royal Naval Hospital now referred to as the Royal Marine Hospital Barracks The Cavalry Barracks for the time being remained a separate entity, with a wall delineating its boundary with the South barracks. Later, a new row of buildings was built along the line of the boundary, on what is now Wilkinson Drive, providing an Armoury, recreation rooms and a Sergeants' Mess.
  To accommodate the expanding depot, three new barrack blocks were added to RM Barracks (North), along with a drill hall behind the main block; additional two- and three-storey blocks were also added to the Hospital Barracks site, alongside the old cemetery at the back. RM Barracks (South) also had new buildings added, including a canteen (opposite the Cavalry barracks) and a gymnasium (built in connection with the RM Physical Training Instruction School, which was established in the Depot in 1871). In the late 19th century an iron-frame drill shed was added to the original Cavalry Barracks, which now backed on to its own three-sided quadrangle of buildings.
  In 1896, a parcel of land was purchased behind South Barracks to serve as a new, larger Drill Field. On what had been the old Drill Field, west of the RM Hospital Barracks, a completely new Hospital was built for the Depot (later referred to as Infirmary Barracks). In 1900 the erstwhile Hospital Barracks was re-named East Barracks, to avoid confusion with the new hospital, with the other areas referred to similarly as North Barracks and South Barracks (the latter now incorporated the old Cavalry Barracks, which served as married men's quarters and Depot offices). In 1905, work was begun on building a new Depot Church (similar in design to those at Eastney and Chatham) on a site alongside the new Drill Field; it was consecrated in January 1907 and dedicated to St Michael and All Angels.
  In 1923 the Royal Marine Artillery (which had previously had its depot at Eastney) amalgamated with the RM Light Infantry to form a unified Royal Marines; thenceforward all recruits came to Deal for their basic training. In 1930 the Royal Naval School of Music relocated from Eastney into the East Barracks. During the Second World War, the RN School of Music was evacuated away from Deal and much training activity also moved elsewhere; however, a Non-Commissioned Officers' School was located there, in the East Barracks, from 1940-1946. On 29 October 1940, the Royal Marines Depot was attacked from the air. The Battle of Britain campaign diary records: Army Stations 29 October 1940, Deal: At 1640 hours, three HE bombs were dropped in the barracks, the casualties being 1 Officer and 7 other ranks killed, 6 Officers and 6 other ranks wounded. In 1942, volunteers for the first Royal Marine Commando unit were assembled at Deal, where they undertook initial training and testing.
  After the war, Deal continued to be used for initial training of recruits (who would then move elsewhere for their commando training or other subsequent training). The (newly-renamed) Royal Marines School of Music returned to Deal in 1950; at the same time the old Divisional Bands of Portsmouth, Plymouth and Chatham were amalgamated to form the Royal Marines Band Service, which had its headquarters in the East Barracks. Boy Musicians (recruited from the age of 14) were accommodated in East Barracks, where they also received general schooling; SNCOs and trained musicians lived in North Barracks (or in the married accommodation by the old Cavalry Barracks). During the 1950s most of the old North Barracks buildings were demolished: the row of officers' houses on the south-west side of the parade ground were replaced in 1951 with a new Dining Hall and Naafi, and on the other side of the parade ground a 
caption: RM Depot Church of St Michael and All Angels (consecrated in 1907).
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