THERE’S a distinctly military feel to this gallery of old York photos. But then, why not, since York has, for so long, prided itself on being a military city?

Our first three images show the unveiling of the South African War Memorial in Duncombe Place by Lord Roberts on August 3, 1905.

The memorial’s distinctive shape is immediately recognisable to anyone familiar with it today - although Duncombe Place itself looks very different.

The memorial was, of course, a monument to those who gave their lives in what we know today as the Boer War.

Little can those who gathered there for the unveiling have suspected that in the next 40 years there would be two devastating world wars that would rip up many of the old certainties for good and change the very fabric of British society.

This photo - like all of the others in today’s gallery - comes from Explore York’s amazing archive of digital photos, which you can find at images.exploreyork.org.uk/

Our gallery today also includes some photos of the barracks on Fulford Road - both the old cavalry barracks, long since demolished, and the the infantry barracks a bit further down, which remains today as Imphal Barracks.

Military quarters had been established off what is now Fishergate by about 1720. And in 1792, a few years after the start of the French Revolution, William Pitt launched a barracks-building programme - although it seems to have been intended more as a way of keeping the peace at home rather than preparing for war with France.

Land was bought in Fulford Field in 1793, and a large cavalry barracks was built between 1795 and 1796. Three troops of ‘ancient British fencibles’, or light dragoons, moved in in October 1795.

A few years ago retired Dragoons major Graeme Green of the York Army Museum told the Press that these light dragoons were essentially militia cavalry, who were used as mobile police. “They were very much about maintaining internal security,” Mr Green said.

The cavalry barracks continued to be occupied by cavalry regiments throughout the 1800s and cavalry were still stationed there until well after the First World War.

The infantry barracks that we know today as Imphal Barracks are more recent, dating from 1877.

They resulted from the Cardwell Reforms undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874. The British Empire was at its zenith and, to aid recruitment, the army decided to introduce localised units that would be able to recruit soldiers from local farms and villages.

As a result of the reforms, the War Department bought 35 acres of land on the south side of the cavalry barracks for the princely sum of £22,000, and the York infantry barracks were built.

During the Second World War, the West Yorkshire Regiment fought at the Battle of Imphal in north east India, where they were part of the Allied forces who drove the Japanese back into Burma - a turning point in the Burmese campaign.

The barracks were renamed Imphal Barracks in the 1950s in honour of the part The West Yorkshire regiment had played.

Since then, the barracks have been variously the HQ of the Army’s Northern Command; HQ of 15 (North East) Brigade - a ‘regional brigade’ responsible for training army reserve units and army cadets; and HQ of the 1st (UK) Division.

The Ministry of Defence has scheduled the barracks for closure in 2030.