# Army Camp North Devon - Feb 2011



## Incognito (Jul 11, 2011)

Well finally we managed to crack this site, a former army base in North Devon. I have been regulary visiting this site hoping to exploit a weakness, but with on site 24/7 security it has been near impossible.....that is until now lol. First visit was a solo splore then a revisit with Lectrician + 1 was definitely needed.

So a little bit of history.

This camp has a varied past, dating from around 1943 and used up until as recently as 2010. The camp is located where it is as was within an easy marching distance of the nearest railway station. 

Building at the camp started in 1943 by the Americans. The camp was used by the US Army's 313th Station Hospital for post-D-Day rehabilitation, with room for 2,000 patients. It started receiving casualties on 20 July 1944. The Americans did hang around long and left the camp in 1945.

1) One of the older huts on the camp






2) Some of the more modern, although still not upto todays standards





3) The dance hall





4) Being used as a GYM in later times. 





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8) The barracks





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In the late 1950s it became home to various Royal Army Service Corps/Royal Corps of Transport amphibious squadrons, until the 1970s when it became an Army training camp.

11) The Armoury





12) The helipad





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14) Training area





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The first DUKW Company to be formed after WW11 was 116 Amphibious Company at Cairnryan . The unit was Commanded by Major J A Abraham MC this consisted of Company HQ and 4 Platoons of 16 DUKWs each, the unit moved to this camp in March 1952. In June 1954 it was reduced to three officers and 37 other ranks, it was redesignated Amphibian Training Wing RASC in February 1960. The last remaining DUKWs in service are based at the Amphibious Training Unit Royal Marines Instow.

18 Company was formed at this camp in June 1958 under the Command of Major J F Heathcote. From February 1958 to March 1960 a detachment was sent to Christmas Island or Operation Grapple, the testing of the British nuclear bombs. Also a detachment was sent to Singapore in 1964 until 1968. 18 company left the camp in 1971 and moved to Marchwood where in 1974 the Squadron was finally Disbanded.

16) The Camp headquaters, internal offices.





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In recent times it was used to complement the Royal Marines and Royal Air Force presence at The Royal Marines Base Chivenor, and the Amphibious Trials and Training Unit of the Royal Marines at Arromanches Camp, Instow. In 2008 the Royal Chindits moved into the old camp site and rebuilt it, and it became the home of Chindits training and 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment.

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In 2009 the camp was closed due to its severely outdated nature. Although closed activity still remained rife at the camp, being used by various clubs as a base for various outdoor sports. 

The camp is now up for redevelopment, with a propsed 200 dwellings, light industry, offices and recreational areas on the 42 acre site.​


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## Janey68 (Jul 11, 2011)

Interesting place, shame it's going to disappear. 

Good photos


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## urban phantom (Jul 11, 2011)

Great love it well worth the many trys thanks for sharing


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## Incognito (Jul 11, 2011)

Janey68 said:


> Interesting place, shame it's going to disappear.
> 
> Good photos





urban phantom said:


> Great love it well worth the many trys thanks for sharing



yep its a shame it'll all be flattened to become another housing estate, it was used as a training camp and activity centre for the few years prior to closing.


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## fluffy5518 (Jul 12, 2011)

Excellent work, well worth the security dodgin'


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## Andymacg (Jul 12, 2011)

excellent work there matey


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## trunion (Jul 13, 2011)

great pics! many thanks for posting


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## imyimyimy (Jul 13, 2011)

wow, good to see the training area still intact as well as most things, epic exploring


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## armychef (Aug 17, 2011)

*Fremington Camp*

I had the fortune (or misfortune as some saw it at the time) to spend 2 weeks here at Fremington as a chef to a team of lads from 3 Royal Irish (Home Service) who came here for Adventerous Training, in 1996 I think. I remember the long mini bus journey down from Stranraer, all the way down the M6 etc, about 12 hours driving and ending up at what looked like a God forsaken place! I was handed the keys to the SGts Mess kitchen and told to get on with it! I had to scrub everything down before I thought about cooking any food!
It certainly felt like a WW2 camp then, even the NAAFI had that black and white war time movie feel about it, specifically the serving hatch! The only saving grace was thet it was so near Barnstaple, quite a few good long nights were had there dancing away to Bon Jovi and Abba tribute bands! I enjoyed the experience in the end and I have some fond memories, especially when the rations supplier only delivered half my order for the 2 weeks along with no bread or milk!! Aggghhhh!

Good times!

Chef


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## Foxylady (Aug 21, 2011)

Don't know how I managed to miss this one. Great site, Incognito. 

@ Armychef...loved your story.  Welcome to DP, btw.


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## Pincheck (Aug 21, 2011)

very Well done  some nice shots there congrats on being patient


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## Acebikerchick (Aug 21, 2011)

Really great pics there. Youve got a great eye for detail....


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## Patch1977 (Aug 28, 2011)

*Fremington*

I spent a fortnight there in 1994 as the adventure training part of my basic training in the Royal Artillery. A grim remote place where we were forced to jump in to the water dumps every morning at 5 am. It was February by the way.

Strange to see it looking like this, after an hour rummaging through my photos I found some pics of my time there.


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## Incognito (Aug 30, 2011)

Thanks for the comments everyone glad you have enjoyed looking. A little more has opened up including a sports hall which is in the same style of the dance hall and the kitchen area (chef will be pleased lol).


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## groundunder (Aug 31, 2011)

knew i recognised this place!
spent a couple of weeks there on annual camp about 11 years ago when i was in the Army Cadets!was the climbing/abseiling wall still there?


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## groundunder (Aug 31, 2011)

actually,is that what i can see in picture 12?


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## Incognito (Aug 31, 2011)

groundunder said:


> knew i recognised this place!
> spent a couple of weeks there on annual camp about 11 years ago when i was in the Army Cadets!was the climbing/abseiling wall still there?





groundunder said:


> actually,is that what i can see in picture 12?



yeah thats it at the back in picture 12, locked tight though was hoping to get some shots off the top but no chance. They have even removed some of the climbing points from the bottom few feet so you couldn't even climb it if you wanted to lol.


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## Nutstrangler (Sep 2, 2011)

Really interesting and good photos. I served with some of the 18 Sqn. blokes in Singapore 64 - 65. We used to go upcountry to Kluang and go parachuting with the "Sapper Skydivers, Singapore" club. Great memories !


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