Imber closed village, Salisbury Plain 1985.

Osbo · Mar 29, 2021

I took these pictures on Good Friday 5th April 1985. The site was open to the public. It has been owned by the Army since WW2, (for military training , laterly urban warfare practice). when the inhabitants were all evicted.

J_a_t_33 · Mar 29, 2021

That's awesome. Oldskool urbexing before I was even a thought! Love it!

What's the story with this place now? A housing estate now?

Osbo · Mar 29, 2021

J_a_t_33 said:
That's awesome. Oldskool urbexing before I was even a thought! Love it!

What's the story with this place now? A housing estate now?

No it's still in military use as far as I know

Foxylady · Mar 29, 2021

This has been on my wish list for a long time. It's really sad they promised the villagers that they could go back after the war but it never happened; I doubt any of them are alive now. Great to see these old photos, Osbo. Cheers.

night crawler · Mar 29, 2021

That is a place I have long wanted to visit, especially the church

FunkyMuffin · Mar 30, 2021

I'd love to visit this place. I hear they do open it to the public a few times a year but it would be a circus I imagine.

AngleseyGuy · Mar 30, 2021

One of my ex-colleagues was instrumental in establishing an Imber bus rally - which under normal circumstances still runs a fleet of antique Routemaster buses into the village. It's a bit of a niche event, so there aren't 1000s taking part.
If you are interested in going along, make a note of this website which publishes details when trips are arranged and has some interesting photos and clips from previous years. The date for 2021 seems to be 21/08/2021, though of course there is a certain question mark going to be loitering around the date. imberbus dot org (the forum doesn't like the link it seems)

FunkyMuffin · Mar 30, 2021

AngleseyGuy said:
One of my ex-colleagues was instrumental in establishing an Imber bus rally - which under normal circumstances still runs a fleet of antique Routemaster buses into the village. It's a bit of a niche event, so there aren't 1000s taking part.
If you are interested in going along, make a note of this website which publishes details when trips are arranged and has some interesting photos and clips from previous years. The date for 2021 seems to be 21/08/2021, though of course there is a certain question mark going to be loitering around the date. imberbus dot org (the forum doesn't like the link it seems)

Thanks I'll be checking it out!

subtilior · Mar 30, 2021

Here is a view of one of the houses from 2019, when access was granted by the MOD. It can get busy, and you can either drive around the area or get one of the vintage buses mentioned above.

Osbo · Mar 30, 2021

FunkyMuffin said:
I'd love to visit this place. I hear they do open it to the public a few times a year but it would be a circus I imagine.

It was ok Easter 1985 but that’s 26 years ago!

bodrick · Mar 30, 2021

Osbo said:
I took these pictures on Good Friday 5th April 1985. The site was open to the public. It has been owned by the Army since WW2, (for military training , laterly urban warfare practice). when the inhabitants were all evicted.

Great to see the old place again. Haven’t been there for years. Excellent photos, brings back happy memories of a long time ago in my youth. Thanks.

Stu_s · Mar 31, 2021

I did a FIBUA exercise here in 1992 - loved it. Returned last year on one of their ‘open to the public’ windows. The village evolves according to the situations being trained for. The church had a great chronological display of the changing times...Great to walk around (albeit the outskirts of) the village again. Roads in and out have tanks used for live firing target practice... explains the limited visiting windows. Check the local community for access...

Openfields · Apr 1, 2021

Stu_s said:
I did a FIBUA exercise here in 1992 - loved it. Returned last year on one of their ‘open to the public’ windows. The village evolves according to the situations being trained for. The church had a great chronological display of the changing times...Great to walk around (albeit the outskirts of) the village again. Roads in and out have tanks used for live firing target practice... explains the limited visiting windows. Check the local community for access...

FIBUA = Fighting In Built Up Areas

Imber closed village, Salisbury Plain 1985.

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