In the year the Corps of Royal Engineers will celebrate the bicentenary of its Kent base, two exhibitions are showing off the work it’s done over the past nine centuries.

With more than 900 years unbroken service to the crown, the Kent-based Corps of Royal Engineers is among the British Army’s finest.

Its origins date back to William the Conquerer and this year the corps marks its 200th year at Brompton Barracks, near Gillingham.

The barracks are home to the Royal School of Military Engineering and next door the Royal Engineers Museum, where its history has been honoured in an exhibition.

The Early Engineers Gallery shows how the corps, commonly known as the Sappers, has evolved from designing castles and planning sieges to the professional role of today.

The gallery also explores the history of the engineers on Gibraltar and their key role in defending the principality from the longest-ever siege on English soil, which ran from 1779 to 1783. The Royal Engineers in Gibraltar has built centuries of fortifications and defences alongside the miles of tunnels within the rock.

A third room in the gallery looks at the corps’ role in the Peninsular War in the 19th century. The war was a turning point for the Engineers as it led to the Engineer Establishment being opened on Brompton Barracks near Gillingham in 1812. This provided the first standardised training for Royal Engineers. Now known as the Royal School of Military Engineering, it celebrates its 200th anniversary this year.

Among the items on show are teeth collected from the battlefield of Waterloo and the medals of Sir Richard Fletcher – including his Peninsula Gold Cross – who built the Lines of Torres Vedras which defended Lisbon during the Peninsula War. Also on show is the map used by the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, complete with his pencil marks. There are also interactive elements, giving visitors the chance to engineer their own forts.

Then when visitors have absorbed the history of the storied sappers, head to the Corps Today Gallery, which looks at its achievements since 2001.

This is split into four main sections: support to communities, Iraq, Afghanistan and Countering the Threat, which looks at the role of EOD specialists and Royal Engineer Search Teams.

The sections are filled with video footage, uniforms and audio clips. Visitors can also see a HESCO sangar, a defence barrier used by the British Army across the world.

A stand out exhibit is the Camp Bastion interactive, which shows what an ops room briefing table looks like in the style of a giant iPad.

It shows the corps’ role in the construction of Camp Bastion, the base of UK forces in Helmand province, Afghanistan, and how the site developed since 2006.

The interactive display also contains an in memoriam section where visitors can remember those who lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Regimental Colonel Sean Harris said: “We are very proud of the Early Engineers and Corps Today galleries. Both demonstrate the ingenuity and bravery of our officers and soldiers and provide an opportunity to the public to better understand what it is that we do on behalf of the nation.

“The Corps Today gallery in particular provides a focus for the serving and recently retired members of the Corps who over the past 20 years have engaged in war fighting and peace keeping duties with associated sacrifice and loss. Having a gallery dedicated to our recent achievements allows for an appreciation of what has been asked of us and why, with the benefit of hindsight.

“The sheer scale of Royal Engineer achievements has to be seen to be believed.”

The Royal Engineers Museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays from 11.30am to 5pm. Admission £7.80, concessions £5.20, families £20.80, under-fives and serving Royal Engineers free. Call 01634 822839.