Bordon Camp
Bordon Camp was a British Army camp close to the settlement of Bordon in Hampshire, England. The camp, which was latterly maintained by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, opened in 1863 and closed in 2015.
History
Early history
In 1863, the War Department had required additional training grounds for British Army troops. The decision was hence made to build two permanent camps close to Woolmer Forest. The proposal was to construct 140 wooden huts on each site, each long and wide, giving a combined accommodation for 5,000 men. The first site was laid out in 1899 by the Highland Light Infantry, under the command of the Royal Engineers. This became Bordon Camp, an area of approximately long by wide.The barracks at Bordon were to be named after successful battles and locations from the North American campaign, during the Seven Years' War against France. The first two camps were thus named St. Lucia and Quebec, starting a long association of the camps with Canada.
Having just returned from the Boer War, the first occupants of Quebec barracks at Bordon Camp were the Somersetshire Light Infantry in April 1903. In June, they were joined at Bordon by the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment. Both set a precedent for the site by marching from Bentley railway station, headed by a marching band.
In May 1903, the 1st Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment were the first to occupy Longmoor Camp. However it was built on boggy ground and the troops immediately began to complain of problems and the medical officers of ill health. A decision was immediately made by the War Department to move 68 of the Longmoor huts to the Bordon camp site, between and away. The first brick-built barracks were started in 1906, completed in 1907 and named Louisburg Barracks, built to house two regiments of artillery and a riding school, one in Louisburg East and one in Louisburg West. At the northern end of Louisburg Barracks Central Road was a veterinary hospital with 24 loose boxes and 20 stalls, to care for sick artillery horses. This was added to in 1911 by the building of the Royal Engineer lines and associated stables near Bordon crossroads, to accommodate 26th Field Company Royal Engineers. The movement of the huts was completed in May 1905. This move created Gaudaloupe and Martinique barracks on the west side of the A325, enabling the four barracks of Bordon to house a complete infantry brigade.
First World War
Bordon was used by the Canadian Army as a staging post for "under-fire" troop training in the First World War. Troops were shipped into Glasgow and Liverpool Docks, and then transported by train direct to. The Canadians under Commanding Officer William Mahlon Davis used tents in their first occupation, setting up camps named after the Great Lakes in the Bramshott Camp area: Erie, Huron, Superior and Ontario. The speciality Canadian Forestry Corps set up a steam-powered saw mill near the Deer's Hut Inn, Liphook.Interwar
In 1924, in Alexandra Park were purchased, added to in 1927 by of farmland and common land between Bordon and Oakhanger, for use as additional training areas. The 1930s started with the building of the RASC Lines on the edge of Louisburg Barracks. This brought about the demolition in 1937 of the old wooden huts at both Quebec and St Lucia barracks, with new brick built 100-man barracks in their place.The 1930s construction ended with the building of the wooden hutted training camp at Oxney Farm, named Martinique barracks.
Second World War
The British 3rd Infantry Brigade was resident in Bordon in 1939, but was dispatched in its entirety at the start of hostilities of World War II, as part of the British Expeditionary Force. The men left from railway station on specially chartered trains, direct to Southampton Docks.When the Canadian Army was looking for a European base, the British Army offered them Bordon and Longmoor Military Camps, which they took over entirely from September 1939 under a British officer commanding the local service and civilian personnel. The Canadians built two new sub-camps, using Canadian built and shipped prefabricated wooden huts:
- Oakhanger Camp: After the end of hostilities, taken over by the Ministry of Supply to sell surplus Army vehicles, which covered the whole of Slab Common. Dismantled in about 1950, to make way for present married officers' quarters on Bolley Avenue.
- Lower Oakhanger Camp: located below the level crossing in Station Road, it was used by the Canadians until D-Day, after which it became a German prisoner of war camp. After the end of hostilities and the return home of the Germans, it was used by European Volunteer Workers who left in the mid-1950s. The huts were dismantled, and the concrete bases became used for helicopter practice landing grounds by RAF Odiham. Havannah Officers' Mess was built on the site in 1979.
Post-war
With troop training moved to Aldershot, the camps became home to various units of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, which were eventually consolidated under one unit based at the Bordon barracks from the 1960s onwards. Various motor transport divisions consolidated to the base during the 1960s, only to leave for Shrewsbury in the 1980s. This brought about the consolidation of the camps' facilities, with tracts of land occupied by old buildings and structures sold to the district council for civilian redevelopment, such as that at Pinewood Village.After the buildings at the RASC Lines were demolished in 1973, the site was redeveloped as married quarters. Then came the building of the new Havannah barracks, built to what was a standard design known as the "Sandhurst Block", laid out to house a battalion or regiment in one barracks unit. The old wooden hut Martinique barracks were renamed the San Domingo barracks. These were dismantled in 1983 by contractors for erection elsewhere.
Bordon became home to 10 Training Battalion the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, providing trade training, both basic and supplementary, supported by the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. In July 2011 the then Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, announced that RAF Lyneham would be the new site of the Defence Technical Training Change Programme centre. This would coincide with the closures of Arborfield Garrison and the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at Bordon, with all posts at both bases moving to Lyneham in 2015.
Bordon Camp facilities
Bordon Post Office
Post was essential for the morale of all troops, and so a post office was set up in Quebec barracks for the entire Bordon and Longmoor complex. This was moved from the wooden huts to a new brick building in 1908 on the far side of Camp Road, being renamed Bordon Post Office. The site today is still the location of the local Royal Mail depot, and unified army and civilian post office.Church of England Soldiers Institute
In August 1904, Princess Alexander of Teck opened the Church of England Soldiers Institute. Built close to Luisburg barracks of corrugated iron structure at a cost of £1,500, it was "open to all soldiers and sailors wearing the King's uniform regardless of religion."A new large hall was added in September 1906, capable of seating 500. At one end was a stage, while at the other was a chancel: both could be covered by roller shutters, depending on the hall's usage. In 1908 the Brownlow Hall was added and named after Major General Brownlow, who was president of the C. of E. Institutes. Used solely for entertainment, it was used as a cinema until the opening of the [|Empire Club] in 1938.
The building was closed in 1960, and demolished. The site is now occupied by a Tesco, One Stop convenience store.
Wesleyan Soldiers Home
Opened in 1905, it was located behind the C. of E. Institute. Its wooden structure covered with a dark green painted corrugated iron roof cost £2,500 to build. Surrounded by a garden, the building enclosed: a games room, a billiard room, a reading and writing room, a devotional room, and a lecture hall seating 300. There were ten bedrooms and three bedrooms, plus a suite for the chaplain. Together with the C. of E. Institute, the building was closed and demolished in 1960.Bordon Officers' Sports Club
In 1910, a cricket ground and associated pavilion were placed north of Gibbs Lane. The club house construction in 1922 was paid for by the local officers club, being constructed of wooden frame with wooden sheeting siding, plus concrete tiles, to fit in with the village green feel. The building housed: a smoking room, dining room, gentlemen's cloakroom, ladies' room, ladies cloakroom and a steward's quarters. In 1928 a 21-year rotating lease was drawn up, and the old cricket pavilion became the groundsman's storeroom. The facility was now invested in from 1930 onwards, with: two squash courts, a badminton court, card room and a kitchen was added to the indoors clubhouse facilities. Outside were added: eight grass and two hard tennis courts, a polo field, a hockey pitch and rugby grounds. The result was that the lease was transferred to the United Services Trustees in 1937.After a lease renewal in 1959 for an additional 21 years, in 1977 after the Army School of Transport left the garrison, the number of serving officers making use of the club dwindled rapidly. With new sporting facilities being built at Havannah barracks, the decision was taken to hand over the management and the lease to a civilian committee, completed in 1980. From this date, it became Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club.