Port Hill drill hall, Hertford

The building was designed as the headquarters of the 1st (Hertfordshire) Volunteer Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment and was completed at a cost of £2,000 in 1898.^[1] This unit evolved to become the Hertfordshire Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment in 1908 and then the 1st Battalion, The Hertfordshire Regiment in 1909.^[2]

The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front.^[3] Approximately 100,000 rounds of ammunition were stored in the drill hall at that time ready for issue to soldiers who were about to see action in the First World War.^[4]

The battalion was still located at the drill hall when it was mobilised for service in the Second World War.^[5]

The battalion was absorbed into the 3rd East Anglian Regiment in 1958.^[2] However the British Army continued to maintain a presence at Port Hill drill hall, for the training of both Territorial Army personnel^[6] and of cadets.^[7] Nevertheless, the drill hall eventually became surplus to requirements: it was decommissioned and subsequently demolished and, in 2003, a new residential development, which won the 2004/2005 Civic Design Award, was created in its place.^[8]