Arborfield Garrison

Arborfield Garrison was a British Army garrison in the English county of Berkshire, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south east of the village of Arborfield Cross. The army vacated the site in 2015 and it is now being redeveloped for housing, with a total of 3,500 homes planned. The Garrison and its associated housing estates are split between the civil parishes of Arborfield and Newland and Barkham. Both parishes are within the unitary authority of Wokingham. According to the Post Office the majority of the 2011 Census population was included in the civil parish of Barkham.

Arborfield Garrison

St Eligius, Arborfield
Arborfield Garrison
Location within Berkshire
OS grid referenceSU767656
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townREADING
Postcode districtRG2
Dialling code0118
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament

History

The garrison, which was initially operated by the Army Remount Service and supplied the military with horses for both operational and ceremonial purposes, was established as the Remount Depot in 1904. The depot operated throughout the First World War and most of the inter-war period before closing in 1937.[1]

During the Second World War, part of the garrison functioned as the Army Technical School[2] and the rest of the garrison was occupied by Royal Artillery units which moved out just prior to D-Day in June 1944.[3]

After the war the south-west part of the garrison, known as Poperinghe Barracks, became the depot of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers ('REME'). The barracks consisted of wooden huts mostly grouped in 'spiders', each spider being made up of six huts joined by corridors to central washing and utility rooms.[3] After the Army Apprentices College at Hadrian's Camp closed in 1969, all REME apprentice training was concentrated at Arborfield.[4] The School of Electronic Engineering ('SEE'), which was responsible for the training of aircraft and avionic technicians, also moved to Arborfield in 1995. The SAA became the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering ('DCAE') in April 2004 and was renamed the School of Army Aeronautical Engineering ('SAAE') in 2013.[5]

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 (DTTCP) centre.[6] This would coincide with the closures of Arborfield Garrison and the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (SEME) at Bordon, with all posts at both bases moving to Lyneham in 2015.[7][8]

In 2016 planning permission was given to demolish many of the buildings and build a housing estate.[8] The development will include 3,500 houses, retail units and a secondary school.[7]

Reading F.C.

In 2004, Reading F.C. moved their training facilities to Hogwood Park, located within the garrison.[9][10]

See also

References
  1. Hume, Colonel R. (June 1984). Arborfield and the Army Remount Service, 1904-1937. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. p. 4. JSTOR 20083177.
  2. "Memories - Army Technical School, 1939-45". Arborfield Local History Society. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  3. "1946 Aerial Photo of Poperinghe Barracks". Arborfield Local History Society. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  4. "Hadriani". Hadrian's Old Boys. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  5. "About REME". Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. British Army. 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  6. "RAF Lyneham to be defence training centre". BBC News. 18 July 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  7. "MoD confirms Arborfield Garrison closure". BBC News. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  8. Hyde, Nathan (7 March 2016). "Developers begin transforming army barracks into housing estate". getreading. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  9. Sugar, Mark (23 August 2004). "Royals to move into new training home". The Football Network. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  10. "Royals' training ground now looks even smarter". Reading Post. 29 June 2007. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
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