Lancashire Infantry Museum

The Lancashire Infantry Museum at Fulwood Barracks in Preston is the regimental museum of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, the county regiment of Lancashire, and one of the most comprehensive regimental museums in the north of England. Housed within one of Britain's oldest continuously occupied military barracks, it tells the story of Lancashire's infantry regiments from their earliest formation through to the present day — a history spanning over 300 years of service, sacrifice and distinction.

Fulwood Barracks, built in 1848 and still an active military establishment, provides a magnificent and authentic setting for a regimental museum. The barracks were designed in the style of a medieval castle — their crenellated gatehouse and parade ground enclosed by functional Victorian military architecture — and their continued use by the army gives the museum a living context that no purely civilian heritage site can replicate. Visiting the museum within an active barracks, past the sentries and under the regimental colours, is itself part of the experience.

The museum traces the lineage of what is now the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment through its predecessor regiments — the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), the King's Regiment (Manchester), and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment — each with their own battle honours, traditions and histories. The regimental collections encompass uniforms, weapons, medals, colours, silver, photographs and personal artefacts that together constitute a comprehensive archive of the infantry experience from the Napoleonic Wars to the conflicts of the 21st century.

Lancashire men fought in virtually every major British military campaign of the past three centuries: the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Boer War, the First World War (in which Lancashire regiments suffered enormous casualties at Gallipoli, the Somme and Passchendaele), the Second World War, and subsequent conflicts from Korea and Borneo to the Falklands, Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The museum honours all of these campaigns and, more importantly, the individual men and women who served in them.

The museum's educational programme serves schools across Lancashire, bringing the history of the county regiment to life for young people and providing a powerful context for understanding the impact of war on local communities.