The Nesscliffe Training Area is a military training facility located near Nesscliffe in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

History

The training area is located on and around the former Central Ammunition Depot at Nesscliffe. The CAD was fed from the

Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway The Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway was a railway running from Shrewsbury, England to Llanymynech, Wales, with a branch to Criggion. It was promoted by Holman Fred Stephens, better known as Colonel Stephens, proprietor of several u ...

which ran through the camp and the training area. The railway was taken over by the War Department in 1940. Since 1961, the of flat pastureland form the

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 Gur ...

's Nesscliffe training area (NTA), capable of accommodation up to 530 personnel. The bunkers once used to house ammunition are still used in training exercises. As well as

Regular The term regular can mean normal or in accordance with rules. It may refer to: People * Moses Regular (born 1971), America football player Arts, entertainment, and media Music * "Regular" (Badfinger song) * Regular tunings of stringed instrum ...

and Reserve troops, Nesscliffe is used extensively by local CCF and ACF units. The NTA is also used constantly through the year by helicopters from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at

RAF Shawbury Royal Air Force Shawbury, otherwise known as RAF Shawbury, is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Shawbury in Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. History The First World War The station at Shawbury was first used for militar ...

for training pilots and crew. Despite the name of the nearby village, officials at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

spell the camp and training area ''Nesscliff''.

References

{{reflist Training establishments of the British Army Buildings and structures in Shropshire