Bramley Camp

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Bramley Camp is a British Army training camp, located south of the village of Bramley, Hampshire. Opened during World War One as a ammunition depot, the camp now serves wholly as a training facility.

1 Bramley Ordnance Depot
2 Bramley Camp
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Bramley Ordnance Depot

Opened on the large areas of scrub land in north Hampshire, the depot was opened during World War 1 for the manufacture and storage of ammunition. To enable both safe manufacture and storage of munitions, well spaced railway tracks racks were built both sides of the Great Western Railway line connecting Basingstoke and Reading. The tracks were connected with each other at their northern and southern ends, and the tracks on either side of the running line were connected with each other by means of two tunnels under the GWR running lines. The tracks in the depot served various factories and stores, and the scale of the depot can be gauged that in a site measuring only 1¼ miles from north to south, there were over 30 miles of track - enough to cover the distance from Basingstoke to Reading and back.

A spur northwards from the military yard reached the south side of Bramley railway station, which allowed through running services for depot workers. These started in 1922, but suspended during World War Two, and restarted after the war using stock from London Transport's Piccadilly line. The passenger services ceased in 1970, railway services to the depot ceased completely on 1 March 1987 with a special for rail enthusiasts.^[1]

[edit] Bramley Camp

Following closure of the ammunitions depot, the facility was renamed Bramley Camp. Digging is banned in the training area due to nerve gases and other explosives that were buried by the US Army during World War Two. The facility is mainly used by 21 SAS (reserves) and the Berkshire Army Cadet Force. The training area is also used by civilian groups for Pheasant shooting, but military units have priority over these groups. Due to civilian houses close to the boundaries of the training area there are time limits for specific activities such as live firing. but this is widely dismissed by the units who use the training area because the ground is ideal for all types of operations 24 hours a day.

Sub divided into three areas as training facility. AreaA is the smallest, where parts of the ITV1 series Midsumer Murders has been filmed. AreaB, located near to the camps main base there is a mock helicopter. Adjacent to this there is a respirator test chamber. In AreaC the Channel 4 television series Scrapheap Challenge was filmed, but thishas now been removed and the site is undergoing soil treatment. this area also used to contain a mock train. opposite to common belief, the train and helicopter were not installed to fit requirments from the 21 regiment, and the resprator test chambr is available for use by any unit o the ground with permision from 4 division.