Pontrilas Army Training Area is a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

training camp, located just north of the village of

Ewyas Harold Ewyas Harold () is a village and civil parish in the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, England, near the Wales-England border about halfway between Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, and Hereford. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 cens ...

near to

Pontrilas Pontrilas ('' en, Bridge over Three Rivers'') is a village in south Herefordshire, England, half a mile from the border with Wales. It is in the parish of Kentchurch and lies midway between Hereford and Abergavenny. In 2011 the main village conta ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Originally developed pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as an

ammunition dump An ammunition dump, ammunition supply point (ASP), ammunition handling area (AHA) or ammunition depot is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives. The storage of live ammunition and explosives is inherently hazardous. The ...

, it was served by the

Golden Valley Railway The Golden Valley Railway was a railway company which constructed a branch line from Pontrilas in Herefordshire, England, to Hay on Wye. Pontrilas was on the Great Western Railway main line between Newport, Wales, Newport and Hereford. The Golde ...

History

During the 1930s, there was a recognition of a need to provide secure storage for munitions within the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The proposal was to create three central ammunition depots (CAD): one in the south (

Monkton Farleigh Monkton Farleigh is a village and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, on high ground northwest of Bradford-on-Avon, and a similar distance east of the city of Bath. The parish includes the hamlets of Farleigh Wick and Pinckney Green. In the ...

); one in the north of England (

Longtown, Cumbria Longtown is a market town in Cumbria, England, just south of the Scottish Border. It has a sheep market which was at the centre of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis. Just south-west of Longtown is Arthuret Church, dedicated to St Mi ...

); and one in the Midlands (

Nesscliffe Nesscliffe is a village in Shropshire, England, located north of the River Severn. The village comes under the Great Ness parish. The A5 road, which previously ran through the village, now runs around the village on a dual-carriageway by-pass. ...

). Beyond these, a series of sub-depots was created by the MoD in the area, to allow further distribution. Each was connected to the national rail network, and was laid out over an extensive area to avoid total destruction should an accidental explosion occur, or the site be attacked by an enemy. Named Elm Bridge, the servicing railway branch line was just before

Abbeydore railway station Abbeydore railway station was a station in Abbey Dore, Herefordshire, England. It was located on the Great Western Railway branch line linking Pontrilas and Hay-on-Wye. The area is known as the Golden Valley. History Opened by the Golden Val ...

and the level crossing. Unlike the main CAD's, the initial war-time onsite batch of locomotives and train drivers was provided by the Great Western Railway, which also maintained the extensive onsite network. Always guarded by the

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

and serviced by regular troops, it was only after the war from 1948 that the Royal Engineers provided the onsite logistics. After the closure and lifting of the Golden Valley Railway to Dorstone in 1953 and cessation of passenger services, the line was maintained as a freight-only facility to service the depot until its closure in 1957.

Present

Retained as an MoD facility, its remote location and closeness to the Special Air Service headquarters at Hereford meant that it has been utilised as a training base in some form since closure of the depot. Although never confirmed officially, the training facility has been used by various special forces, including "The Det". Presently managed by QinetiQ on behalf of the MoD, they have installed various facilities which are used in

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

(CT) and assault training. In September 2006, Lance Corporal Gordon Campbell of the 1 Assault Group Royal Marines, aged 28 and originally from Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, while

fast-roping Fast-roping is a technique for descending a thick rope, allowing troops to deploy from a helicopter in places where the aircraft cannot touch down. The person holds onto the rope with gloved hands (with or without using their feet) and slides do ...

from a helicopter whilst on a training exercise at PATA, fell to the ground and died.

References

{{reflist Training establishments of the British Army Ammunition dumps in England Special Air Service