[1] The site had previously been a large timber-yard and carpenters' workshops; it was purchased by the government during the Napoleonic Wars and converted into an 'immense' stores complex for the Commissariat (responsible for supplying food, fuel and forage to the troops).

[2] These former warehouses are still in place, forming an asymmetrical open courtyard at the south-west end of what is now Portsmouth Grammar School: they stand three storeys high and originally contained open-plan store rooms accessed through external hoist doors on each storey.

[2] In 1856–1858 the barracks were extended and enhanced to create accommodation for regiments in transit for operations overseas.

[5] It was at around this time that the barracks were named after Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge who had recently died.

[1] In January 1887, there was a serious gas explosion at the site in which five members of the Worcestershire Regiment died and fourteen were injured.