Bramley Training Area

Last updated

Bramley Training Area
Bramley, Hampshire
MOD Fence - geograph.org.uk - 825178.jpg
Fence on edge of Bramley Training Area
Hampshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bramley Training Area
Location within Hampshire
Coordinates 51°19′29″N1°3′48″W / 51.32472°N 1.06333°W / 51.32472; -1.06333
TypeBarracks
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
OperatorFlag of the British Army.svg  British Army
Site history
Builtc.1914
Built for War Office
In usec.1914-Present

Bramley Training Area is a British Army training camp, located south of the village of Bramley, Hampshire. Opened during World War I as an ammunition depot, the site now comprises a field training area and an Army Reserve Centre at Lapraik House, the base for C Squadron, 21 Special Air Service. [1] [2]

Contents

Bramley Ordnance Depot

Bramley Ordnance Depot on a target dossier of the German Luftwaffe, 1940 Target Dossier for Bramley, Hampshire, England - DPLA - f629e33140ca81babcdf1b36aaa91707 (page 4).jpg
Bramley Ordnance Depot on a target dossier of the German Luftwaffe, 1940

Bramley Ordnance Depot (known as Central Ammunition Depot Bramley from 1946) [3] opened on the large areas of scrub land in north Hampshire in 1917 for the manufacture and storage of ammunition. [4] A School of Ammunition was established on the site in 1922. [4]

To enable both safe manufacture and storage of munitions, well spaced railway tracks were built both sides of the Great Western Railway line connecting Basingstoke and Reading. The tracks were connected with each other at their northern and southern ends, and the tracks on either side of the running line were connected with each other by means of two tunnels under the GWR running lines. The tracks in the depot served various factories and stores, and the scale of the depot can be gauged that in a site measuring only 1.25 miles (2.01 km) from north to south, there were over 30 miles (48 km) of track: enough to cover the distance from Basingstoke to Reading and back. [5] A spur northwards from the military yard reached the south side of Bramley station, which allowed through running services for depot workers. These started in 1922 but were suspended during World War II, and restarted after the war using stock from London Transport's Piccadilly line. The passenger services ceased in 1970, railway services to the depot ceased completely on 1 March 1987 with a special for rail enthusiasts. [6]

The Central Ammunition Depot was served by the Garrison Church of St. Barbara (known locally as St. Barbara's Chapel). The register of baptisms (1956 to 1975) is now held by the National Archives, Kew. [7] The stained glass window from St. Barbara's Chapel was removed to Bramley Church when the chapel was de-consecrated. [8]

CAD Bramley closed in 1978, the School of Ammunition having relocated to Kineton two years earlier. [9] The depot was then, however, taken over by the US Army, which continued to use it as an ammunition store until February 1987, when the last stocks were removed and the depot finally closed. [9]

Bramley Training Area

Following closure of the ammunitions depot, the facility was renamed Bramley Training Area and sub divided into three areas as training facility. Area A is the smallest, where parts of the ITV1 series Midsomer Murders have been filmed. In Area B, located near to the camp's main base, there is the shell of a Whirlwind helicopter [10] on a concrete training area, adjacent to which there is a respirator test chamber. There are a number of other static helicopters including Lynx and Gazelle airframes in various states of repair scattered throughout the site. [11] In Area C the Channel 4 television series Scrapheap Challenge was filmed. This area has now been cleared and the site is undergoing soil treatment. [12]

The Training Area is used regularly by recruits from Recruit Training Squadron, RAF Halton for Exercise Blue Warrior. This exercise serves to confirm that the recruits can successfully operate in field conditions whilst demonstrating basic force protection skills. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little London, Tadley, Hampshire</span> Human settlement in England

Little London is a village situated between the North Hampshire Downs and the gravel plains of the Kennet valley, 7 miles (11 km) north of Basingstoke and 15 miles (24 km) south of Reading. It is situated within Pamber civil parish and backs on to Pamber Forest, a 500-acre (2.0 km2) SSSI and remnant of the much larger ancient Royal Forest of Pamber. It is recorded as having been established for at least 400 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bramley, Hampshire</span> Village in Hampshire, England

Bramley is a village and parish in Hampshire, England. In the 2001 census it had a population of 3,348. It has a village shop, bakery, estate agency, pub – The Bramley Inn – and a railway station. Also, Bramley Camp houses an Army facility where military training and manoeuvres take place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nesscliffe</span> Human settlement in England

Nesscliffe is a village in Shropshire, England, located north of the River Severn. The village comes under the Great Ness parish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampstead Norreys</span> Village and civil parish in England

Hampstead Norreys is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is centred on the River Pang, north of Newbury. As well as the nucleus of Hampstead Norreys, the parish includes the hamlets of Bothampstead, Eling and Wyld Court. The village was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hanstede.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherfield on Loddon</span> Human settlement in England

Sherfield on Loddon—formerly Sherfield upon Loddon—is a village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. It is located at grid reference SU680580, approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of Reading and 6 miles (10 km) north of Basingstoke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Army Ordnance Corps</span> Former corps of the British Army (1918 – 1993)

The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equipment, ammunition and clothing and certain minor functions such as laundry, mobile baths and photography. The RAOC was also responsible for a major element of the repair of Army equipment. In 1942 the latter function was transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and the vehicle storage and spares responsibilities of the Royal Army Service Corps were in turn passed over to the RAOC. The RAOC retained repair responsibilities for ammunition, clothing and certain ranges of general stores. In 1964 the McLeod Reorganisation of Army Logistics resulted in the RAOC absorbing petroleum, rations and accommodation stores functions from the Royal Army Service Corps as well as the Army Fire Service, barrack services, sponsorship of NAAFI (EFI) and the management of staff clerks from the same Corps. On 5 April 1993, the RAOC was one of the corps that amalgamated to form The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Horsham St Faith</span> Former RAF station in Norfolk, England

Royal Air Force Horsham St Faith or more simply RAF Horsham St Faith is a former Royal Air Force station near Norwich, Norfolk, England which was operational from 1939 to 1963. It was then developed as Norwich International Airport.

11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Regiment RLC is a specialist regiment of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) responsible for counter terrorist Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), the safe recovery or disposal of conventional munitions. The regiment also has an ammunition inspectorate role supporting the Inspector Explosives (Army). With headquarters in Didcot, the regiment has sub units geographically based throughout the UK to provide a nationwide high readiness response capability in support of the police.

The Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search Training Regiment is an element of the Royal School of Military Engineering responsible for the provision of training to British Army Ammunition Technicians, Ammunition Technical Officers and Search Operators. The Regiment provides training from two locations: Marlborough Barracks, MoD Kineton near Kineton, Warwickshire and St George's Barracks, MoD Bicester, near Bicester, Oxfordshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldershot Garrison</span> Military installation in Hampshire, England

Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. The garrison was established when the War Department bought a large area of land near the village of Aldershot, with the objective of establishing a permanent training camp for the Army. Over time, this camp grew into a military town and continues to be used by the Army to the present day. It is home to the headquarters of the Army's Regional Command, and it is also the administrative base for the 101st Logistic Brigade. The garrison plays host to around 70 military units and organisations.

Bramley Green is a small village in the civil parish of Bramley in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. It lies approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south-east from the village of Bramley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reading–Basingstoke line</span> Railway line in England, linking Reading and Basingstoke

The Reading–Basingstoke line is a railway link between the South West Main Line and the Great Western Main Line, constructed by the Great Western Railway between 1846 and 1848. The line is served by GWR local services between Reading and Basingstoke, stopping at the intermediate stations of Reading West, Reading Green Park, Mortimer and Bramley. The line is also an important through route for longer distance passenger and freight services: CrossCountry services from Bournemouth and Southampton to Birmingham and the North of England and freight trains between the Port of Southampton and the Midlands use the line. South Western Railway weekend workings also operate between Reading and Salisbury.

Camp Navajo was originally opened in 1942 in Bellemont, Arizona. It was originally designated Navajo Ordnance Depot, and its primary use was the storage of ammunition used in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It was renamed Navajo Army Depot in 1965, changed to Navajo Depot Activity in 1982, and then changed in 1993 to its current name. In 1993 the Department of Defense transferred all ammunition activities to Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant in Nevada. Following the transfer, Camp Navajo remained federal land under the Department of the Army, overseen by the Arizona Army National Guard. The Ordnance Operations and Industrial Park are managed by the Arizona Department of Emergency of Military Affairs (AZDEMA), and the military training mission remains managed by the Arizona Army National Guard. All authority is given through the Department of Defense Army Corps of Engineers regarding engineering, design, and construction management processes for potential DoD and DoD type customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontrilas Army Training Area</span>

Pontrilas Army Training Area is a British Army training camp, located just north of the village of Ewyas Harold near to Pontrilas in Herefordshire, England. Originally developed pre-World War II by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as an ammunition dump, it was served by the Golden Valley Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MOD Corsham</span> Ministry of Defence site in Wiltshire, England

MOD Corsham is a Ministry of Defence establishment located between the towns of Corsham and Box in Wiltshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chetwynd Barracks</span> Military installation in Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

Chetwynd Barracks is a British Army installation at Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is set to close in 2026.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MOD Bicester</span>

MoD Bicester is a large military installation consisting of two barracks and a storage and distribution centre, just outside Bicester in Oxfordshire. The St David's Barracks part of the base, home to 1 Regiment RLC, is set to close in 2028.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chattenden and Lodge Hill Military Camps</span>

Chattenden and Lodge Hill Military Camps were British Army training camps in Chattenden and Hoo St Werburgh in Kent. They were built as ordnance depots and functioned as such through to the second half of the twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7 Naval Ammunition Depot</span> Ammunition Depot in Western Australia

US Navy 7 Naval Ammunition Depot was located at Springhill, near Northam, Western Australia. It was one of three US Naval Ammunition Depots developed across Australia during World War II to support the service's operations in the South West Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bow Brook, Hampshire</span> River in Hampshire, England

Bow Brook is a small river in the English county of Hampshire, which is a tributary of the River Loddon. Contributary streams rise near Ramsdell and Sherborne St John, and after flowing through rural countryside, it joins the Loddon near Sherfield on Loddon. Historically it has powered at least two watermills.

References

  1. ↑ "Reserve Forces in the South East" (PDF). Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  2. ↑ "C Squadron 21 Special Air Service Regiment (V) Artists Rifles". Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  3. ↑ Parliamentary Written Answers Archived September 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1 2 "Ammunition Depots". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "A History of the Railways around Basingstoke". Basingstoke & District Railway Society. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Tolley, Chris (4 January 2001). "Bramley Ordnance Depot". A History of the Railways around Basingstoke. Archived from the original on 7 June 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "Register of Baptisms, Garrison Church of St Barbara, Bramley Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), Hampshire" . Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "National Archives - Photographs held by the Royal Logistic Corps Museum". c. 1980. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  9. 1 2 Steer, Brigadier Frank (2005). To The Warrior His Arms: the story of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 1918-1993. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen & Sword.
  10. ↑ "Whirlwind XK970". Archived from the original on 3 May 2003. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Out of Service Aircraft - Bramley, Hampshire". Demobbed. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  12. ↑ "Captain Bob leads scrap team to victory". Basingstoke Gazette. 7 June 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  13. ↑ "RAF recruits demonstrate their skills". UK Government. 3 December 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.