A former military installation in South Lanarkshire, Winston Barracks occupies a 17.8 ha (44 acre) site a half-mile (0.8 km) north of Hyndford Bridge and 2 miles (3 km) east southeast of Lanark. Built 1936-39 at a cost of £150,000, the barracks became the home of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) from 1941 until the regiment was disbanded in 1968. Since then the barracks were kept on a care-and-maintenance basis, with occasional use by the Territorial Army for training. Latterly, known as RAF Lanark, the barracks were maintained as a United States Contingency Wartime Hospital, but returned to the Ministry of Defence at the end of the 1980s and sold for development in 1994. The substantial former accommodation block, Sergeants' Mess, Officers' Mess, Guardhouse and Museum are all B-listed.
The Cameronians were raised in 1689 by James Douglas, the Earl of Angus (1671-92), and named after Richard Cameron (c.1648-80), the notable Covenanter, whose supporters Douglas recruited. From 1751 they were known as the 26th (The Cameronian) Regiment of Foot and, in 1881, this regiment was amalgamated with the 90th Perthshire Light Infantry (formed in 1794) to become the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Since 1795, the Cameronians Depot had been at Hamilton, however the buildings were in poor condition and the site was suffering from subsidence, due to undermining by a coal pit, hence the move to Lanark.
