ABOUT
'ImberVillage.co.uk' pays tribute to the remarkable people who, until the evacuation, had lived in the 'lost' village of Imber, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, but who were never allowed to return, as well as to those who now run St Giles Church, and those who also continue to keep the story alive in print.
Given nowhere to go Imber's villagers were liberated of their homes in 1943, with just 47 days notice, to make way for American troops to train for the liberation of Europe during World War II. With foresight the Ministry of Defence, as it is now called, had before the war bought up the farms and even the village itself to make Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire the largest military training ground in the United Kingdom. Thus the villagers were 'just' tenants, so were easily made to go, but as they understood it only until the war ended. Salisbury Plain remains, even today, too useful a training ground, so the villagers were never allowed back.
Photographs here on ImberVillage.co.uk show what the village looked like, and how it looks now.
Given nowhere to go Imber's villagers were liberated of their homes in 1943, with just 47 days notice, to make way for American troops to train for the liberation of Europe during World War II. With foresight the Ministry of Defence, as it is now called, had before the war bought up the farms and even the village itself to make Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire the largest military training ground in the United Kingdom. Thus the villagers were 'just' tenants, so were easily made to go, but as they understood it only until the war ended. Salisbury Plain remains, even today, too useful a training ground, so the villagers were never allowed back.
Photographs here on ImberVillage.co.uk show what the village looked like, and how it looks now.
