ATE South West
Public Information Leaflet

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Training Areas

FREMINGTON TRAINING CAMP AND BRAUNTON BURROWS

History

Fremington Training Camp was built in 1943 by the US Army as a hospital and rehabilitation centre. The Americans left in 1945, and soon afterwards it became the School of Combined Operations, commanded by an Admiral. In the late 1950s it became home to various Royal Army Service Corps/Royal Corps of Transport amphibious squadrons, until in the 1970s it became an Army training camp.

Facilities

Fremington Camp stands in 35 acres (13 hectares). It can accommodate 360 – or significantly more if ‘double-bunking’ and tentage is used. Braunton Burrows Training Area is located about 20 minutes away from Fremington Camp, on the other side of the Taw Estuary, and covers 1,450 acres (585 hectares).

Training activities

Units come to Fremington Training Camp to carry out a variety of military training. It is particularly popular with medical, signal and driver training units, as well as the TA and cadets. Due to the location of the Camp, many units also come to carry out adventurous training. The Guards Adventurous Training Wing has a permanent team based in the Camp, as does the Army Training Regiment, Pirbright, who train recruit platoons here weekly. Various water activities take place on the Estuary or the sea. Climbing also takes place, with local quarries and cliffs providing variety. Hill-walking is carried out on Exmoor, which is quite close; and, an hour away, pot-holing is also undertaken. Units use these activities both as challenges in their own right and, for those which have returned from active duty tours – perhaps in Bosnia, or Kosovo – as post-operational re-invigoration exercises away from barracks. The training area at Braunton Burrows is used for demolition, live firing and driver training, as well as military dry training.

Conservation

Braunton Burrows owes its name to the rabbits which have lived there – and dug holes – for centuries. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an International Biosphere Reserve. The MoD employs a permanent warden on the Burrows (who previously spent many years working there for English Nature). There is a Conservation Group, of which the Camp Commandant is Chairman, consisting of local people with an interest in Braunton Burrows. The Commandant and his staff also work closely on conservation matters with English Nature and other interested organisations.

Community liaison

Because Fremington and Braunton Burrows are respectively on the edge of Fremington Village, and in a rural area, there is a close relationship with the local people. Financial and active support is given to events like Fremington in Flower (class winners in 1999), and by doing work locally when possible, either on the Camp staff’s initiative or when asked. Recently, the path which runs around the Camp perimeter and which is very popular with local people, has been completely renovated to make it easier to use by the elderly, the disabled, and mothers with children. The Commandant also regularly speaks to local groups about the purpose of the Camp, its importance to the armed services, and the use of Braunton Burrows, with particular emphasis on the ATE’s conservation role there.

Access

Unless live firing or demolition training is taking place on Braunton Burrows, the area is open to the public.

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Training Areas

PENHALE TRAINING CAMP AND PENHALE SANDS

History

The area had five mines and many mineshafts scattered along the cliffs. The mines produced small quantities of silver, lead and iron ore. Penhale Camp was established in 1939. During the Second World War it was used as an anti-aircraft training camp by the Allied forces and many Americans were trained there.

Training activities

Today the training area and its camp are used by all three armed services to achieve the operational standards necessary for the defence of our nation and its interests. Units visiting for a few weeks carry out tactical training and adventurous activities designed to develop leadership and improve team skills.

Conservation

Penhale Training Area’s 940 acres (380 hectares) contains the most extensive system of dunes in Cornwall, a dune system renowned for its beauty, with dunes over 200 feet (60 metres) – among the highest in the country. They are formed of wind-blown calcareous sand established by vegetation, mostly marram grass. Recognised by its declaration as a SSSI, it is also a haven for wildlife, and the associated flora is exceptionally rich, with a number of very rare plant species. The large rabbit population keeps the sward short for typical dune plants. The Penhale Conservation Group, made up of local conservation experts, meets twice a year.

Access

On the Cornwall coast, south of Newquay, Penhale Camp is to the west of the A3075, on the seaward side of the village of Cubert. Because of military training, access is restricted for safety. Permission for access must be obtained from the Commandant, Penhale Training Camp, Holywell Bay, Newquay, 01637 832001. The public is free to walk the South West Coastal Path but please:

• Keep to the seaward side of all notices and marked posts
• Be aware that the danger of grass fires can be considerable
• Do not go past the red flags if they are hoisted. There is no danger if you keep to the coastal path
• Take care: the path is long and arduous in places and care is needed when close to the cliff edge
• Do not trespass on to the Camp roads or try to take short cuts through the military training area.

Caution

The cliffs are high and precipitous, and often backed by a rounded slope, rather than an obvious sharp edge. Do not approach the cliff edges too closely.

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Training Areas

PILNING RIFLE RANGE

History

Under the Bylaws (1935) the Gloucestershire Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association used Pilning (New Passage Rifle Range) until 1 April 2000, when ATE SW assumed control of the Range.

Training facility and activities

The Range is contained within 119 acres (48 hectares), and consists of three 8-lane gallery ranges. There is a bivouac site for up to 50 personnel which is also used for dry training when ranges are not in use. Helicopter exercises also take place.

Conservation

Meetings are held regularly with the Association of Severn Estuary Relevant Authorities, and conservation policy on the ranges follows MoD directives. Live firing is limited to 1 April – 31 October, and there are further restrictions on firing between 1 June – 15 August for salmon fishing.

Access

There is no public right of way to Pilning Rifle Range, although bylaws permit the public footpath along the bank of the River Severn to the rear of the butts. The Range is situated north-west of Bristol near the village of Pilning, overlooking the River Severn, between the two Severn bridges. Farmers with leaseholds or contracts have access when there is no live firing in the ranges. Contact is through the Range Warden’s Cottage, New Passage Road, Pilning, Bristol, BS35 4LT.

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Training Areas

TREGANTLE FORT AND THE ANTONY TRAINING AREA

History

Reacting to people’s fear of the French naval build-up under Napolean Bonaparte’s cousin Louis in the 1850s, the Prime Minister of the day, Lord Palmerston, decided the area of the Devonport naval dockyards – among other potential targets along the English southern coast – needed significant defences, and commissioned the Royal Engineers to construct a series of 30 forts, gun batteries and earthworks around Plymouth to achieve this. Two of these were Tregantle and Scraesdon forts, on the Cornish side of the River Tamar, and construction began in 1858. They took over six years to build and, by the time of their completion, not just events in Europe, but also the advance of technology, made these fortifications obsolete – as a result of which the whole series of structures became known as ‘Palmerston’s Follies’. A generation or so later, the firing ranges next to Tregantle Fort were commissioned, and have been in use since 1903.

Training facilities and activities

Tregantle and Scraesdon Forts are within ATE SW’s Antony Training Area on the Rame Peninsula in south-east Cornwall, consisting of approximately 865 acres (350 hectares). Tregantle is used by all three armed services and their respective cadet organisations as a base from which to carry out military or adventurous training. The Fort itself can accommodate up to 360 personnel, and the backdrop of sandy beaches and rolling surf mark out the Tregantle ranges themselves as a unique experience for visiting troops. Tregantle Beach is also occasionally used for amphibious landings and parachute drops.

Scraesdon Fort, on the outskirts of the village of Antony, is a demanding objective for troops to ‘attack’ as part of their training programme. It is also used as a camp site and abseiling facility.

Conservation

The Peninsula is a spectacular combination of coast, estuary and countryside environments. The Antony Training Area Conservation Group was formed in 1995 to advise on the conservation of Tregantle Fort and Ranges, and the Antony Training Area. The group is made up mostly of local volunteers who are members of the Caradon Field and Natural History Club. Both Tregantle and Scraesdon Forts are listed as Ancient Monuments. English Heritage is fully consulted in the conservation and maintenance of these historic buildings.

The Rame Peninsula is recognised to be of national importance for its coastline in terms of landscape, geological and ecological interest. The landscape has distinctive areas, from the rolling farmland landscape interspersed with small settlements, to the traditional fishing villages of Kingsand, Cawsand and Portwrinkle.

Rame Head and Whitsand Bay are important sites for wildlife, and SSSIs. The site extends for approximately five miles (8 km) along the south Cornwall coast from the east side of Rame Head to Oldhouse Cove, near Portwrinkle in the west. The coastal cliff habitats are of particular importance for one of the largest colonies of the nationally-rare shore dock (rumex rupestris) in mainland Britain. This feature has led to part of the SSSI being selected for inclusion in the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the EC Habitats Directive (1992).

In addition to the shore dock, the short maritime turf of the cliff tops support two other Red Data Book plant species: Britain’s second-largest population of slender bird’s-foot-trefoil, and early meadowgrass. Three other rare British plants, musk stork’s bill, golden-samphire and rock sea-lavender, also occur in these more open, short-sward and rocky cliff-ledge habitats, together with the maritime variety of the common broomgrape.

Wacker Quay, which is situated within the Lyhner Estuary, owned by the MoD and leased to Caradon Council, is also listed as a SSSI. The SSSI is of international importance for wildlife, notably for the frequent visits by the little egret and avocet. The mouth of Wacker Lake is a favoured area for a regular small winter flock of the rare spotted redshank; the lake is also favoured by the rare green sandpiper.

Access

The public has access to Tregantle Beach via a permissive footpath when the firing ranges are not in use. Firing dates are published in the local press and distributed to local libraries and post offices. The public does not have access to either of the forts, but bi-annual open days have been planned for Tregantle. There is a designated picnic area at Wacker Quay, provided by Caradon Council, to which there is year-round access.

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Training Areas

YOXTER TRAINING CAMP AND AREA

History

Purchased in 1933, Yoxter is used extensively by the British Army. After the Second World War it reverted to the TA. In 1964 the Royal Anglian Regiment renovated the whole camp, and it has been in continuous use by the Royal Marines, Regular Army, TA and Cadets ever since.

Training facility and activities

The camp is contained within 885 acres (360 hectares), and is principally used for live firing on an 8-lane gallery range. But it is also used for platoon and section dry training when firing is not in progress and has bivouac accommodation for 100. In addition, the training area can be used for helicopter exercises, Forward Operating Base exercises, as well as limited use as a ‘ harbour’ area for logistic exercises, and driver training for non-tracked vehicles.

Conservation

The Camp follows the MoD conservation policies, and works together with the Forestry Commission to enhance the area. There is also a good relationship with the Mendip Warden (National Trust).

Access

There is no public access to the camp or range, although farmers with leaseholds may have access when there is no live firing. The range and training area are situated in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, between the villages of Charterhouse and Priddy, about five miles (8 km) north-east of Cheddar Gorge on the B3371, and marked by a perimeter of red and white poles. Contact may be made through Yoxter Training Camp and Range, Near Priddy, Wells, Somerset, BA5 3BS, 01749 870254.

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Training Areas

WYKE REGIS TRAINING AREA

History

Following regular losses of equipment through storms at annual bridging camps up to 1927 at Mudeford, near Christchurch, the Royal Engineers (RE) established a bridging camp at the Fleet narrows at Chesil Beach, Wyke Regis, on 1 May 1928. In succeeding years the camp was erected by the first unit in and struck by the last unit out. Used by the Militia in 1938, it continued as a training area during the Second World War – including a period by the RAF as a base for some of their ‘Dambusters’ trials for the bouncing bomb.

Based at the Verne, 9 Trg Bn RE used Wyke from 1945 to 1949, then Barrow Rise Camp became the HQ while POWs redeveloped the site. TA units used the site in 1947 and then each summer from 1950 onwards. When the first permanent Camp Commandant took over in 1954, Southern Command Bridging Camp RE was one of four such units in the UK. From 1960 to 1963 facilities were much improved with more permanent buildings.

The mid-1960s saw more use by ‘swimming’ amphibious vehicles, and less floating bridges. Soon the RE Bridging Camp, Wyke Regis was the only one left in the UK. In 1973 Chickerell Camp and Range were taken over, thus providing extra hutted accommodation for use summer and winter. On the Camp’s 50th Anniversary in 1978, to celebrate the broadening of the training facilities to include other Combat Engineer subjects besides bridging, the unit was renamed The RE Training Camp.

To mark the 55-year association, in 1983 the Freedom of the Borough of Weymouth and Portland was granted to the Corps of Royal Engineers. The event was marked with a parade and, ten years later, in September 1993, 22 Engineer Regiment again exercised their right to march through the town with ‘ bayonets fixed and drums beating’ to celebrate this singular honour.

In 1999 Wyke Regis Training Area came under command of Army Training Estates as part of ATE SW.

Training facilities and activities

Wyke Regis is now an all-arms facility and continues to provide essential mobility, counter-mobility and sustainability training for RE and other arms (both Regular and TA). It also offers unique facilities for cadets. The many facilities nearby also lend themselves to all-arms training in a variety of forms and regimental cadres base themselves on the site for their training periods. Hutted accommodation allows all-year-round training and is located immediately adjacent to an 8-lane small-arms range. This range area is also used for basic fieldcraft and patrolling exercises, particularly for cadets. ‘Dry’ (i.e. without explosives) bridge demolition training takes place and the Fleet, a tidal lagoon, is an ideal safety location for water points, basic watermanship, improvised raft construction, and training on assault boats.

Being a purpose-built facility for specific engineer training, Wyke Regis bridging hard is used for training on all existing bridge types, and will also progressively be accommodating the new range of bridging equipments coming into service over the next few years.

Conservation

Chesil Bank is a classic example of shingle beach and lagoon landform, and is very important for wildlife. It is a SSSI, and is also being considered as a possible European Special Area of Conservation (SAC) because it contains habitat types and/or species which are rare or threatened. Its main rarity is as a lagoon with coastal shingle vegetation outside the reach of waves, which is considered to be amongst the UK’s, as well as Europe’s, best. The third habitat under the possible SAC is the annual vegetation of drift lines for which this area is one of only four outstanding localities in the UK.

Chesil Bank, largest of Britain’s three major shingle structures, is of exceptional interest due to its size, its history of well-recorded changes and the varied composition of its pebbles, with their size steadily increasing west-to-east. The Bank extends to join with the Isle of Portland and thus encloses the Fleet. The SSSI also has important exposures of a range of rocks and clays on the landward side of the lagoon, some of which are excellent for fossils. It has populations of a number of rare or scarce plants of shingle, and is also very important for insects, being the only known site in Britain for two species of beetle and one of cricket. It is the south-west of England’s only site with breeding little terns, and is considered the best site for breeding ringed plovers.

The Fleet lagoon is the largest in Britain (the next-largest being only one tenth of the size), and of international importance as Europe’s largest lagoon. With its relative lack of pollution compared to other British lagoons, it also has varying salinity and tidal flow along its huge length. The resultant diversity of conditions has produced outstanding communities of aquatic plants and organisms – for example, the Fleet has at least 150 species of algae, including several rarities: red and brown algae dominate the aquatic vegetation between the Narrows and Smallmouth. There are also extensive underwater meadows of tassel-weeds and eel-grasses, including three scarce species. Invertebrates include a number of species rare enough to be in the British Red Data Book. The area is also important for fish: a goby found here is known from only one other area of Britain. It provides a spawning area for open-sea fish, and is a designated nursery for bass; and finally, the area around the Fleet is so important for birds that it has been designated as a Special Protection Area under the European Community’s Birds Directive.

The SSSI also has a diversity of surrounding habitats: important areas of saltmarsh and reed bed are found around the edge of the Fleet; scrub and woodland on its fringes are used by insects and birds; and it also includes grasslands which are rich in plants, including scarce species. A wide range, and some rare and scarce species, of land-dwelling insects is found on Chesil Beach; it also has two very unusual communities of semi-aquatic molluscs – one group, occurring in the shingle about 15–30 cm deep around the high water mark, includes the rare looping snail; another group, also including uncommon species, is found within the shingle bank – but only where water issues through the shingle into the Fleet.

The ATE’s part of the Fleet includes the Narrows, and some of the area between the Narrows and Smallmouth, where the Fleet has its outlet to Portland Harbour and the sea. The tidal range at Smallmouth is around two metres, and there is significant tidal flow over the rest of this area – the scouring action encouraging an interesting marine community, the water being at marine or near-marine salinity in contrast to the Fleet’s less saline western part.

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Public Access

Access to training areas in ATE SW is possible, and is described for each of the training areas in this leaflet. As with all UK Army training regions, it is necessarily restricted because of their primary purpose. Where public access restrictions have been imposed, wildlife has found sanctuary: many rare or uncommon species of plants, insects and birds manage to co-exist with the ‘bangs and flashes’ associated with military training activity.

Training areas in the South West are also of considerable landscape and archaeological value, which the Army’s stewardship over many years has helped to conserve, and even enhance. Therefore where, and when, public access is permitted, care should be exercised. When on a public footpath that crosses a training area:

Follow the Country Code

• Enjoy the countryside and respect its life and work
• Guard against all risk of fire
• Use gates and stiles to cross fences, hedges and walls
• Leave livestock, crops and machinery alone
• Take your litter home
• Take special care on country roads
• Make no unnecessary noise
• Keep to the public paths across moor and farmland
• Fasten all gates
• Keep dogs under close control
• Protect wildlife, plants and trees
• Help to keep all water clean

Great care is taken to ensure the safety of these walks, although areas used by the armed forces for training can obviously be dangerous – and this applies throughout ATE Scotland. Anyone walking on MoD land must obey all signs and byelaws relevant to the area being visited.

Remember! Unexploded Ordnance: do not touch any unidentified object.

Always comply with the following:

Safety

Do not enter areas where there is an obvious military presence:

• Do not approach, touch, or pick up any objects lying on the ground
• Keep to the footpaths and do not deviate from them
• The use of metal detectors is prohibited
• Keep away from all buildings, bunkers and military installations except
  where it is clearly shown that public access is permitted
• No camping or fires are permitted
• All cliffs are dangerous

Part of our local communities Each of the major training areas is run by a Commandant, based on-site, with a small clerical and administrative staff for support. Every effort is made by ATE SW to minimise the impact of military training on people’s lives. Commandants regularly attend local council meetings, and are the point of contact should a dispute arise. A brief description of each training area, together with its typical usage, follows.

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Additional Information

In addition to this Public Information Leaflet for the South West, the ATE, and its sister land-agency organisation, Defence Estates (DE), each produces other literature. The ATE Annual Report summarises yearly progress by the ATE organisation; DE’s Walks on MoD Land details a number of walks on 10 ATE estates including Salisbury Plain, Castlemartin, Catterick, Dartmoor and Otterburn. ATE also produces In the Field magazine, published each autumn, which contains news from some of the smaller training areas around the country, as well as updates on developments in management techniques. Finally, DE’s annual publication Sanctuary contains articles about the Defence Estate across the whole country. All these publications are free and can be obtained from the respective addresses below.

Useful Addresses

Headquarters ATE South West
Building 7, Wyvern Barracks, Exeter, Devon EX2 6AE
Telephone: 01342 492 482

Headquarters Army Training Estate
Land Warfare Centre, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 ODJ
Telephone: 01985 222856

Defence Estates
Blakemore Drive, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B75 7RL
Telephone: 0121 311 2000
www.defence-estates.mod.uk