Imber facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Imber |
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 Part of the Urban warfare training area at Imber; original dwellings in centre |
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 Imber
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| Population | 0 |
| OS grid reference | ST965485 |
| Civil parish | |
| Unitary authority |
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| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | SN10 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | Great Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament |
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Imber is an uninhabited village in part of the British Army's training grounds on the Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It is situated in an isolated area of the Plain, about 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the A360 road between Tilshead and West Lavington. 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. The village, which is now part of the civil parish of Heytesbury, remains under the control of the Ministry of Defence despite several attempts by former residents to return. Non-military access is limited to several open days a year.
The area around Imber has been settled since the Iron Age, before the Romans came to Britain. The first mention of the village was in Saxon times, in 967. The village is also listed in the Domesday Book. At that time, around fifty people lived there. The village has a church that was built in the 13th century. In the 14th century, about 250 people lived in the village. In 1851, the population reached its peak at about 440 people. When they left in 1943, about 150 people had to move.
Eviction and military use
In the late 19th century the War Office began buying land on Salisbury Plain, primarily to the east of Imber, and using it for manoeuvres. Beginning in the late 1920s farms around Imber were purchased, as well as the land on which the village itself sat. The pressures of agricultural depression, combined with the good prices offered by the military, encouraged the sale of land, with few being put off by the new conditions of their tenancy. This allowed the War Office to assume control and evict the residents if necessary. By the time of the Second World War, almost all of the land in and around Imber, with the exception of the church, vicarage, chapel, schoolroom and Bell Inn, belonged to the War Office.
On 1 November 1943, with preparations for the Allied invasion of mainland Europe under way, the people of Imber were called to a meeting in the village schoolroom and given 47 days' notice to leave their homes. Imber was to be used by US forces to practise street fighting. Richard Madigan's evidence to the Defence Lands Committee (DLC) stated that street fighting practice never took place and that his, and others', duties were to keep the village in good repair for the villagers' eventual return. The reason for eviction was the village's proximity to shell impact areas. Although upset about being forced to leave, most villagers put up no resistance, even leaving canned provisions in their kitchens and taking the view that it was their duty to contribute to the war effort in this way – making sacrifices on the Home Front for the greater good. Compensation for the move was limited, and the occupants of one farm had to be forcibly evicted by the Army.
Images for kids
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Ordnance Survey map of Imber from 1902
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The Imber Ranges by-laws
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The tower of St Giles' in 2002
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The former Seagrams Farm
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Houses used for training purposes
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This building was a pub known as The Bell
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Imber Court building
