Swinton Barracks is a military installation accommodating two engineer regiments and two signals regiments at Perham Down in Wiltshire, England. The site is on the east edge of

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...

, about east of the garrison at

Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, sout ...

. The camp forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison.

History

After 2nd London Division held their annual camp at Perham Down in 1914, a hutted army camp was built in the village to provide proper accommodation for the training of large military units. During the Second World War the barracks were used as a training camp by the 99th Infantry Battalion of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. The barracks were rebuilt between 1972 and 1974 and renamed Swinton Barracks at that time. 22 Engineer Regiment arrived at the barracks in January 1975 and were joined by 26 Engineer Regiment. The barracks became a specialist centre for armoured engineering, and its name was chosen to commemorate Major-General Sir Ernest Swinton, who was an early advocate of armoured vehicles and responsible for the recruitment and training of the Tank Detachment in 1916, and, later, Colonel Commandant of the Tank Corps. Extensive reconstruction at the barracks involving new or refurbished buildings was carried out under

Project Allenby Connaught Project Allenby Connaught is a scheme begun in 2006 to redevelop the military garrisons of Aldershot and Salisbury Plain in the United Kingdom. The project is named after Lord Allenby who served as a cavalry commander on Salisbury Plain, and the ...

between 2006 and 2014.

Units

The units currently based at the barracks are: * 1st Signal Regiment * 15th Signal Regiment,

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

* 22 Engineer Regiment * 26 Engineer Regiment

References

Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Military history of Wiltshire Tidworth {{Wiltshire-struct-stub

History

Units

See also

References