Gloucester Road Drill Hall

The former Drill Hall

Photo by Peter Crowhurst

Home to the Sussex Artillery

By Peter Crowhurst, North Laine resident

What is now a block of recently built apartments was once home to the Brighton Corps of the Sussex Artillery, who moved into the building in 1869. The site had once been the Eagle Iron Foundry, which produced much of the town's ironwork. The building was acquired for use as a drill hall, having been refurbished to include an officers' mess, rest rooms for the different ranks and a main and a smaller hall. Later the building was to be used as a warehouse for Surridge Dawson before being turned into apartments.