There aren’t many places in this country where you can visit two empty villages just a few miles from each other. Yet Salisbury Plain is home to two military training villages. Usually closed to the public we took advantage of an open day at Imber church and combined it with a walk across the Plain to a fake German village.
Imber village
Imber stands in the centre of Salisbury Plain, a huge expanse of grassland that the army uses as a military training area.
Until 1943 it was a small agricultural village. The MoD requisitioned Imber for military training and gave the villagers 47 days notice to evacuate. Most villagers agreed readily as they saw it as part of the war effort. They always assumed they’d be able to return but the army eventually decided to keep the village for military use, despite the protests of locals. It’s still off limits to the public although the MoD allows access for a few days each year, usually around Christmas, Easter and August.
Driving along the A360 Salisbury to Devizes road we initially missed the turn off for Imber village, sidetracked by the excitement of seeing road signs with tank pictures on. The road to Imber, which is usually closed to civilian traffic, isn’t signposted but there are plenty of clues to let you know you’re driving in the right direction. These include warnings every few hundred metres about the danger of unexploded military debris if you leave the road.
Entering Imber we drove past the shells of buildings that stand either side of the road, punctuated by more warning signs. It’s only a small village and before long we’d driven out the other side. I turned the car around in the deserted road whilst the kids excitedly pointed out a rusting tank on the hillside above us.
St Giles church, Imber
Heading back in we parked in the small field next to St Giles church. Unlike the rest of Imber the church remains outside of army ownership and is the main destination for visitors. Surrounded by high wire fencing and an out of bounds sign it’s maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust. Inside we read information boards about the eviction. Volunteers provided refreshments; the bottled water and camping stove a reminder that this village has no utilities or concessions to visitors.
Outside I took a walk around the graveyard. Much of it has been reclaimed by nature with huge thistles attracting lots of butterflies. Some of the headstones are dated after the 1943 evacuation, including that of the village blacksmith, Albert Nash. Albert’s wife believes he died of a broken heart just a few weeks after the eviction.
After visiting the church we walked along the main road to see the other buildings. In addition to the original village buildings, most of which are in a poor state of repair, there are a number of newer house type structures built in the 1970s. These were to help soldiers prepare for the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Despite the many Keep Out warning signs I saw one man taking his young son up onto the first floor of the house shown above. The area is still used for live firing and it seemed mad to ignore the warnings.
Copehill Down walk
From Imber we drove a short distance to the nearby village of Tilshead. Imber isn’t the only ghost village on Salisbury Plain and we were about to discover another one, this time purpose built by the military.
We set off on the 6 mile walk across the Plain towards the village on Copehill Down. From Tilshead Down we followed a path through an avenue of trees. These are noted for their tree graffiti, carved by soldiers in the Second World War. The kids tried to decipher some of the initials but most were unreadable as the trunks have grown and morphed the shapes of the letters.
Just off of the avenue we came across a small clearing with a sign warning us not to dig. What was there? Prehistoric skeletons or landmines? I didn’t want to find out!
FIBUA (Fighting in a Built-Up area), Copehill Down village
Our second empty village of the day lay ahead of us. This village was built as an MoD training facility in the 1980s at the end of the Cold War. Originally created as an East German village it has been updated to include an Iraqi section but this wasn’t visible from outside.
It’s not possible to enter the village but the track runs close to the entrances so it’s easy to look in at the houses and crashed cars. Although there weren’t any training activities taking place we spotted lots of empty blank cartridges strewn across the ground.
Salisbury Plain
After leaving we walked up onto Copehill Down and followed a stretch of the Imber Range Perimeter Path. This 30 mile long distance walk skirts the edge of the military training firing area.
Although used by the military Copehill Down is undeveloped and hasn’t been farmed in many years. This is great news for wildlife as Salisbury Plain is now the largest area of chalk grassland in north west Europe. The whole area was full of flowers, insects, butterflies and birds. So different to intensively farmed fields.
On the brow of the down my partner was incredibly excited to see a great bustard in the grasslands. This large bird was reintroduced to Britain in 2004 after becoming nationally extinct in 1832. I had been looking in the opposite direction and, annoyingly, by the time I looked the bird had disappeared into the long grass.
Just outside of Tilshead we passed White Barrow, a Neolithic long barrow in National Trust ownership. It’s one of more than 2000 archaeological sites on Salisbury Plain, many of which lay within the military area. We didn’t visit as time was against us and we were keen to get started on our return journey. Although we did have to make time to pop into the garage for some much needed ice creams and drinks!
If you get the opportunity do visit Imber and Copehill Down. The combination of military usage, environment and prehistoric sites makes for a unique day out.
So jealous! Imber is on my must visit list, in fact just the other day I was trying to talk my husband into a visit. They have caches there which can only be located at certain times obviously so they are quite popular. I know Imber draws a crowd, and I would imagine a lot of them are geocachers.
Great photos – I’ll return to bugging the husband 😉
I never thought of looking for caches. Although I think I’d be a little nervous poking around in the undergrowth there, not sure what I’d find!
I thought you would like to know they are doing an Easter egg hunt this year( https://www.ramsburyraven.com/lifestyle/travel/uk/the-ghost-village-of-imber/ ) it is well worth making a visit.
Such interesting places to visit although it’s a little sad that the villagers weren’t allowed to return to their homes after the war. It’s a slice of history I’d like to share with my children. #whwh
I couldn’t begin to imagine not going home either, particularly given the era when it wasn’t usual to up sticks and move around as much.
Looks like a great walk! Love how its so educational for the children, so hopefully they dont get bored during the walk! Great pictures! #WHWH
The kids enjoyed spotting empty bullet casings, a slightly dubious appeal but it made their day.
Wow! I have never heard of these villages. I don’t know if I could visit though, I think I would be anxious.
#whwh
They’re fine, although I’d be a little hesitant of visiting the German village area when training is taking place (even though it’s allowed and not dangerous if you stick to permitted routes).
How fascinating, I’m going to mention this to a friend who lives in Wiltshire and see if we can arrange a visit at some point when it’s open for visitors #WHWH
Hope you get to go. I think August is a good bet as I hear it’s very busy over the Easter weekend openings.
Oh wow, that would be so interesting to walk around there – I bet it was a bit spooky though wasn’t it?! #WHWH
I think that’s half the fun – imagining what goes on when no visitors are present!
Wow, how interesting! I absolutely love stuff like this and had no idea it even existed, we’re not too far from Salisbury either. Thanks for sharing, will definitely attempt a visit when they’re next open! #countrykids
Definitely worth a visit, their website details the opening dates.
aaa my hubby would love to visit here, loves a bit of history and a few spooky tales #countrykids
Sounds perfect for him!
These villages sound fascinating I would love to visit. My eldest starts school this September so I think we have some UK road trips to come in school holidays!
Ah yes, welcome to our world. It doesn’t help that I work in a school either although I do enjoy the long summer break.
Absolutely fascinating! I lived reading about this. I’ve always fancied visiting a ghost town. The American ones look particularly good. Looks like a great day out. Thanks for sharing.
Fellow linker from Coombe Mill.
The American ghost towns would be amazing, as long as there is tumbleweed rolling in front of them. (I’ve watched too many Westerns).
What a fascinating day out for you all, I bet it was quite spooky exploring the abandoned streets of Imber imagining what life would’ve been like when it inhabitants were there. It’s great that the opportunity to explore somewhere like this is available occasionally to really learn about the way people thought about the war effort. It’s amazing how many warning signs they had up around the area, I bet it put you a little on edge. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
The warning signs contribute to the atmosphere, I guess they have to be ultra cautious and make sure that people have no chance of missing them.
What an interesting outing! It would be eerie to think of all the people evacuated and what they had to leave behind. Sounds like it gave you a great opportunity to discuss military training with your kiddos.
Thanks. I think the residents always assumed they were coming back so they’d left tins of food in the houses, very sad.
Ooh, really fascinating stuff. I didn’t know this was there. Mind you, also not sure about the man who ignored the warnings….
Madness. I’m sure they don’t put warning signs up for fun!
What a really informative post! We don’t live too far away and saw photos of Imber on a friend’s Facebook page a while back and thought we must go there! The walk looks really good too. Will definitely check it out.
Hope you get to visit, I’d imagine that everyone who visits takes quite a lot of photos.
How interesting! I knew about the East German/Irish (?)/Iraqi village but I didn’t know the story of Imber. Which is a sad one. And lovely pics of Salisbury Plain too. #MondayEscapes
I was the other way around until I started researching it, I knew about Imber but not the East German village.
What an interesting place to visit and a great bustard too – I may just be bit jeaslous of your day out at Imber!
Ah I didn’t get to see the great bustard so I’m rather jealous of my other half for seeing this. Evidently it was hard to miss but I did!
This is a really different attraction, is very interesting. I would keep it in mind for future daysout.
Thanks Anca, glad you enjoyed.
I’ve visited Tyneham in Dorset which was evacuated for the same purpose in 1943. It’s an eery place but fascinating to see somewhere that has been frozen in time. The village is open most weekends and well worth a look if you want to see another ghost village. The church is beautiful #MondayEscapes
Ah I’d love to go to Tyneham. I’ve heard about it before but it’s a bit far from us as a day trip.
My son loves signs so he read the warning signs and loves it! Sounds like a nice walk. I can only imagine how spooky it is in there which makes the place more interesting to visit! #countrykids
He would love the signs around Imber! Not your usual Highway Code warnings.
Oooh, spooky! I absolutely love to find unique places to visit around the UK and this looks like one of them. We are currently taking part in our 50 counties challenge, and Salisbury is a place I have yet to visit, so aside from the Cathedral it is lovely to be able to add somewhere new to the list. Anything else we should do in Salisbury?
Thanks
Katrina #MondayEscapes
Not sure about Sailsbury itself but we have also visited Boscombe Down Aviation Collection and Old Sarum which are just a couple of miles from the city and highly recommended (search my blog posts for it). I like the idea of the 50 counties challenge!
Wow, I read this whole thing with great interest! It must have been so bizarre walking around and seeing this village, and peeking to a military training area as well… Glad you got to see that famous bird too! 🙂 #mondayescapes
This sounds absolutely fascinating – and slightly spooky! Must have been such a memorable day out, I’d heard of ghost villages before but never really known much about them. Thanks for linking up to #mondayescapes
How fun, although I do find some of those signs a little ominous. Where I come from in Washington State, there are a lot of old and forgotten military bunkers. When we were kids, it was the thing to do to run through them at night in the pitch black. I was always terrified of them, and still am a little. They are just so spooky!
Funnily my older friend was telling me about these places just a couple of weeks back so absolutely amazing to see pictures of them. It’s quite far for us to get to Salisbury but I really want to go, have to do some planning as I absolutely want to visit. Great information, thank you.
These villages look so interesting and spooky! Such an interesting history there…it’s cool that there is an opportunity to peek inside. I grew up near a “ghost town” in Pennsylvania called Centralia and it always fascinated me…
Ooh, I have a fascination with Imber. We had planned to go on the Imber Bus tomorrow but I’m dog sitting instead. Trying to keep the date free for next year now. Great post x
Would you allow a paranormal group to spend a night here.we do not shout or scream we are very respectful of people’s property.we mostly are spiritualists and come from the church in winchester.we are trying to raise money for the homeless in winchester.we need places like this but they are not easy to come by anymore.we would be most grateful to you.there would be no more than 12 of us.we are also older.we will also keep quiet about this as well.we will be in and out and no one will know.
Hi Stephen, this is MoD land so you’d need to contact them to discuss access. We were merely day trippers and are not officially connected with it in anyway. Best wishes, Christine
I trained at Copehill down during my Army days an invaluable asset in the beautiful countryside.
That must have been interesting (or at least it sounds it for an Army outsider like me!)
Looks like you guys enjoyed an interesting trip! I have been planning to visit but it might be a little spooky.