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Question

Ever since doing National Service on Salisbury Plain, I have always wondered when it became reserved for Army training: have you any suggestions please? I don't have access to the internet.

Question asked on

04 July 2011

Answer

For the origins of the Salisbury Plain Training Area, I can do no better than quote from Bruce Purvis's “Salisbury: the changing city” (2003), page 87:-

Mass tourism began with the development of the railways, and was augmented when the Army became a major economic force in the county from the late nineteenth century onwards, with the development of the Salisbury Plain Training Area. The plain was first used for the large formation exercises known as manoeuvres by the Army in 1872, culminating with a royal review of the troops on 12 September of that year at Bulford. The need for manoeuvres and target practice over a distance once rifles were developed with a range in excess of 1000 yards prompted the purchase of some 40,000 acres at £10 per acre. The training area extended roughly from Shrewton and Bulford in the south to West Lavington and Everleigh in the north, while today's training area occupies some 92,000 acres.

But the book you should really read is "Plain soldiering: the history of the armed forces on Salisbury Plain", by N.D.G James, and published in Salisbury by the Hobnob Press in 1987 (ISBN 0 946418 03 9). This book is now out of print, but your local library should be able to obtain a copy for you to read. If you wanted to buy a copy, there are three copies on the internet each available at £25 plus postage and packing, and doubtless someone - even a local bookseller, I am sure - could help you with this. The book was £20 when first published so anything up to £30 is not unreasonable.

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