Report - Imber - Wiltshire - April 2014

[Miss Drippy]

I used to go to Imber a lot as a child, my brothers and I would play in the tanks and explore the houses, picking up any ammo cases we could find or things left behind by the army. The good old days. I've not been there for many years, access is restricted to a few days a year but this Easter I went back with a friend. The village is emptier than I remember it with many of the original buildings gone and the inside of the old council houses just being shells. Still it was nice to go back.

History
Imber is an uninhabited village on the Salisbury Plain. The entire civilian population was evicted in 1943 to provide an exercise area for American troops preparing for the invasion of Europe during the Second World War; after the war villagers were not allowed to return to their homes.

Non-military access is limited to several open days a year.

Thanks for looking.

 

[wellingtonian]

Nice shots mate. Been through there a few times on tarmac stage rallies over the years. Never had time for pics if course

 

[Fairdo's]

Very nice m8....

 

[canute]

Good set of pictures Keep meaning to go there

 

[Miss Drippy]

If you get the chance to go then you should but the next open day will likely be around Christmas. They also have security patrolling the area now, trying to stop people from entering the buildings but they are easily dodged. ;-)

 

[wormster]

AHHH the seecas at imber are complete and utter jobsworth pillocks!

One told my then 5y.o. daughter that "if she picked up any empty cartridge cases, she'd be "escorted off the area"
what a complete wanker, he then proceeded to follow us as we went up onto the ridge to look at the tank targets, EVERY flipping move we made there was a secca 100 yards behind us, fooking rediculous waste of taxpayers money!

 

[Ordnance]

Its a Fooking waste of taxpayers money till somebodies 5 year old daughter picks up an unexploded detonator or such like and blows her fingers off! then its neglect on the MoD's part!!!

Sorry to post such a negative response, but as an ex serviceman I respect un-exploded ordnance and know what I am looking at, and Imber is an active FIBUA Training area (Fighting In Built Up Areas) and the MoD try hard to keep it clear of un-exploded bits & pieces. Yes you may be able to recognise a fired cases, but it is a Court Martial Offence even for a serving soldier to remove them from the area.

 

[krissigalores]

What a very interesting place!

 

[ewar]

Been to a couple of raves there

 

[wormster]

Its a Fooking waste of taxpayers money till somebodies 5 year old daughter picks up an unexploded detonator or such like and blows her fingers off! then its neglect on the MoD's part!!!

Oh don't get me wrong, I agree with you over the liability bit, but have to disagree with the way that the seccas handle the public, my daughter wasn't the only one to be treated in such an abrupt manner that day, maybe the MoD (or whoever hire these seccas) could do with a bit of the old "politeness training when dealing with members of the public"

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Don't forget, there's no public access 363 days a year. It's your privilege to be there, not your right, and the people granting access get to make the rules.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Ah good old Imber, pretty sure this is still used for FIBUA training isn't it?

 

[Reverend]

i did a 2 week exercise here back in 98 whilst servinin in the army, all the archived reports ive seen on ere no one seems to have found all the underground tunnels? theres loads if I get chance to get back down there ill try an get some pics

 

[Miss Drippy]

I know of a few tunnels just outside the Imber village that you used to be able to gain access to via what I can only describe as a sunken leanto (where the soldiers could hide and sniper during practice) but last I knew about it many of them had collapsed. Of course that may just be hearsay to keep people out of them.