Altcar Training Camp is located in Hightown,

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The estate is composed of beaches, marshland, fields and small woods. The range is run by the North West Reserve Forces & Cadets Association.

History

William Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton first made the site available for the Grand Lancashire Rifle Contest on 29 October 1860. He donated the land to the

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a Social movement, popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increa ...

s two years later. A

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

was established near the site in 1862 but closed in 1921. The site, which had been known as Altcar Rifle Range, was renamed Altcar Training Camp in 1970. In February 2016 a pavilion was burnt to the ground in a controlled fire to make way for new facilities.

Gallery

File:Altcar rifle range - geograph.org.uk - 96902.jpg, Altcar Rifle Range File:Altcar army camp 1981 - geograph.org.uk - 98387.jpg, Altcar camp 1981 File:Little Altcar - Rifle Club Huts.jpg, Little Altcar; the Club Huts File:Alt Pumping Station - geograph.org.uk - 1227336.jpg, Alt Pumping Station File:Entrance to "Training Area 6" - geograph.org.uk - 1226015.jpg, Entrance to "Training Area 6" File:Phragmites - geograph.org.uk - 1227337.jpg, Phragmites File:Nissen Huts - geograph.org.uk - 1225997.jpg,

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

s File:Range Control - geograph.org.uk - 1227356.jpg, Range Control File:Firing range danger flag by Alt estuary - geograph.org.uk - 420396.jpg, Range danger flag at Alt Estuary

References

{{Authority control Shooting ranges in the United Kingdom Rifle ranges Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Military history of Merseyside Shooting sports in England Barracks in England