Wyke Regis Training Area is an army training area primarily located in the parish and town of

Chickerell Chickerell is a town and parish in Dorset, England. In the 2011 census the parish and the electoral ward had a population of 5,515. History Although Roman remains have been found, indicating that there has been settlement in the area for m ...

, but near to the parish of

Wyke Regis Wyke Regis is a village in the civil parish of Weymouth, in south Dorset, England. The village is part of the south western suburbs of Weymouth, on the northern shore of Portland Harbour and the south-eastern end of Chesil Beach. Wyke is sou ...

in neighbouring Weymouth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

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 training area is located at three different sites. It is part of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Training Estate (DTE), which covers 240,000 hectares of land across the country, used to train armed forces. Although mainly used by the army, the training area has allowed an increasing amount of public use of both the climbing facilities and adventure training over the last few years.Topic paper
dorsetforyou.com When the firing range is in use, signs, restriction gates and red flags are used to require walkers to divert inland around the back of the range before returning to the Coastal Path.

Sites

Consisting of the three sites, the main location is found to the west of the Wyke Regis village, where it lies on the north side of the Fleet tidal lagoon with

Chesil Beach Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England, is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain.A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associ ...

on the south side. This site, a bridging camp, was constructed in 1928 by Royal Engineers. Since then, the site has been in continuous use for Royal Engineers' (regular and reserve) training in the construction of both bridges and ferries, along with other types of military training. The Bridging Camp's inner training area allows

Sapper A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...

s to hone their skills on everything from

raft building A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

to familiarisation with modern weaponry. Due to the close proximity of the lagoon, water based training is held there. A second site, a camp and rifle range, is located within the town and parish

which is located further up the Fleet Lagoon, and like the main bridging camp, it sites alongside the lagoon and beach. The site features an 8-lane small-arms rifle range, and is used for basic fieldcraft and patrolling exercises, along with marksmanship training. It also offers unique facilities for cadets. The range is typically used for 150 days per year and once held active sentries that were posted during live use to police the footpaths and offshore. The third site of the Wyke Regis Training Area is located at Verne Yeates on the

Isle of Portland The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...

, close to the

Verne Citadel Verne Citadel is a 19th-century citadel on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. Located on the highest point of Portland, Verne Hill, it sits in a commanding position overlooking Portland Harbour, which it was built to defend. In 1949, it beca ...

, and is used for bridging and signals training.

History

The bridging camp was established at the Fleet narrows of Chesil Beach on 1 May 1928, losses of equipment through storms at annual bridging camps up to 1927 at

Mudeford Mudeford ( ) is a harbourside and beachside parish based on a former fishing village in the east of Christchurch, Dorset, England ( historically in Hampshire), fronting water on two sides: Christchurch Harbour and the sands of Avon Beach. The R ...

, near

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. In the following years the camp was erected by the first unit in and struck by the last unit out. In 1938 the site was used by the

Militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

, and it continued as a training area during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, which included a period of use by the RAF as a base for some of their 'Dambusters' trials for the

Bouncing bomb A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be predeterm ...

. During 1945-49, the 9 Trg Bn Royal Engineers, who were based at the Verne Citadel on Portland, used the camp for some time before moving to the nearby Barrow Rise Camp as their headquarters after POWs redeveloped the Wyke Regis site. Territorial Army units used the site during 1947 and then each summer from 1950 onwards. After the first permanent Camp Commandant took over in 1954, Southern Command Bridging Camp Royal Engineers was one of four such units in the UK. In October 1956 the 37 Armoured Engineer Squadron used the site as part of their continued training, partaking in atomic simulation, HGB builds and a 288 ft class 30 EWBPS build, bridge demolitions and work on the Kings Ferry. One month later and the squadron deployed to Malta and then took part in the Suez operations in 1956.37 Armoured Engineer Squadron History 1861-2010 by Lt CL Curle The camp was upgraded from 1960 to 1963, and as a result facilities were much improved with more permanent buildings. By the mid-1960s, the camp saw more use of amphibious vehicles and less of floating bridges. Shortly after the Royal Engineers Bridging Camp of Wyke Regis was the only one left in the UK. In 1973 the Chickerell Camp and Range were taken over, and this providing extra hutted accommodation for use in both summer and winter. As a celebration of the broadening of the training facilities to include other Combat Engineer subjects besides bridging, the unit was renamed The Royal Engineers Training Camp on the camp's 50th anniversary in 1978. In 1983, to mark the 55-year association, the Freedom of the Borough of Weymouth and Portland was granted to the Corps of Royal Engineers. The event was marked with a parade and, ten years later, in September 1993, 22 Engineer Regiment again exercised their right to march through the town with 'bayonets fixed and drums beating' to celebrate this singular honour. In 1999 Wyke Regis Training Area came under command of Army Training Estates as part of ATE SW, before command transferred to Defence in April 2006. In August 2011, the bridging camp was opened to the public for one day as visitors were given a tour, and various presentations and demonstrations.

References

{{coord, 50.5952, N, 2.4946, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1928 establishments in England Geography of Weymouth, Dorset Installations of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) Jurassic Coast Training establishments of the British Army