own perimeter wall) consisted of a 'Lower Barracks' with accommodation for the soldiers and 'Upper Barracks' (later known as 'The Terrace') which housed the officers; between the two was a large parade ground. The three-storey barrack blocks were aligned north–south. Externally, all the blocks were similar in appearance. Those for the officers were placed in a single row on elevated ground to the east, accessed from the parade ground by way of a double ramp; they provided housing for two field officers, twelve captains and thirty-seven subalterns. The subalterns were given one room each, the captains two, and field officers four. The officers all had servants, who were provided with their own accommodation in the garret. The barracks for other ranks were arranged in three rows, west of the parade ground, with soldiers sleeping sixteen to a room in eight double beds, as was standard practice at that time. Similar but smaller blocks to the north and south housed ancillary services, such as the pay office, infirmary and Quartermaster's stores. Within the space of 20 years, Chatham Barracks had taken on an additional role as the Army Depôt of Recruits and Invalids: accommodating 'a mixed mass of people, viz. recruits destined for regiments which were abroad, prisoners confined on account of desertion and other military offences, added to which was a proportion of invalids, sent home from foreign stations on account of old age, or bodily infirmity'. The establishment of the Depôt was linked to the appointment in 1778 of an 'Inspector General and Superintendent of the Recruiting of all the Forces employed on foreign service', based in Chatham, who provided a degree of centralised oversight of recruitment (responsibility for which had previously been left entirely to the regiments). During this time, Chatham Depôt provided basic training for new recruits. This role ceased in 1801, however, when the entire Depôt establishment moved to Parkhurst Barracks on the Isle of Wight (where the recruits were less prone to find ways of deserting). During the Napoleonic Wars large numbers of troops were concentrated at Chatham Lines to counter the threat of a French invasion. In the years of peace after 1815 Chatham continued to serve as a major embarkation port for troops serving overseas. The Infantry Barracks went on to serve as a home depot for numerous regiments. A Royal Commission of 1861 (set up in the wake of the Crimean War