IMBER
Related Links
Watch Imber’s 1943 evacuation online
The ITN archive contains British Pathé newsreels that are viewable online. You can watch original footage of Imber’s 1943 evacuation and a 1948 newsreel showing how Imber changed after evacuation.
To see the deserted village as it is now, visit the BBC’s online Imber picture gallery .
Local history
For a history of Imber, read Rex Sawyer’s Little Imber on the Down: Salisbury Plain’s Ghost Village (Salisbury: Hobnob Press, 2001. ISBN 0-946418-06-3).
Sawyer has also compiled The Archive Photographs Series: Salisbury Plain with Peter Daniels
(Chalford, Glos: Chalford Publishing Company, 1996. ISBN 0-7524-0754-6).
Wiltshire County Council’s website provides useful information and links, such as local museums. The site’s Heritage page explains how to research local history in Wiltshire. Its Community History page provides useful links and a potted history of Imber illustrated with old maps sourced from the Local Studies Library.
Family history
Descendants of Imber families are dispersed from Liverpool (UK) to Utah (USA), Pattscheid (Germany) and Sydney (Australia) .
If you want to explore Imber ancestry, the GEN UKI (UK & Ireland Genealogy) website is a good place to start, along with Wiltshire County Council’s Family History web page. The Wiltshire Family History Society’s site includes archive photographs and an inventory of local dialect words from ‘flump’ to ‘mooned up’.
Other places to search include the Society of Genealogists and Rootsweb.
Military history
The Military Training Area on Salisbury Plain covers 37,000 hectares, with the former village of Imber at its centre. The Army’s website gives a history of military activity on Salisbury Plain including its investment in heritage and ecological conservation.
The Imperial War Museum’s exhibitions explore military and civilian experiences of wartime in the 20th Century. For those looking for specific references to Imber, the Museum’s collection contains military papers and photographs relating to Salisbury Plain.
Other evacuated sites
Imber was among a number of 20th Century British communities evacuated for military bases. One significant example is Tyneham in Dorset, also requisitioned by the Army in 1943. Its history is documented by cultural historian Patrick Wright in his acclaimed book, The Village that Died for England: The Strange Story of Tyneham (London: Faber & Faber, 1995; 2002. ISBN 057121441X). Journalist David McKie draws comparisons between Imber and Tyneham in his article, ‘Best Kept Villages’ (The Guardian, Thursday November 7, 2002).
Another important case is that of the population of the Chagos archipelago (a British Indian Ocean territory), evacuated when the islands were leased by the British government to the United States as a military base during the Cold War. In 2000 the British High Court ruled that the Chagossians could return after 30 years of exile.
Archaeology
The traditional rhyme, ‘Little Imber on the Downe/Seven miles from any towne’, suggests Salisbury Plain has always been scarcely populated. But there was a time when it was densely settled.
The Countryside Agency’s site describes how the landscape was shaped by Saxon, Bronze Age and Roman populations. Archaeologist David McOmish’s article, ‘Landscapes preserved by men of war’ (British Archeology, Issue no 34, May 1998), gives a more detailed account of the discovery of ancient villages on the Plain. He has collaborated with David Field and Graham Brown to produce a book on the subject, The Field Archaeology of the Salisbury Plain Training Area (English Heritage, 2002. ISBN 1-873592-49-3).
The Sites and Monuments Record holds an archive of archaeological finds in Wiltshire, including aerial photographs exposing prehistoric settlements. An account of the recent fate of ancient monuments on the Plain can be sought from English Heritage.
Little Imber on the Downe
Seven Miles from any towne.
Ship bleats the unly sounds,
Life twer sweet, with ne’er a vrown.
Oh let us abide on Imber Downe. [trad.]
Natural habitat
Salisbury Plain’s chalk grasslands are among Northern Europe’s most diverse natural habitats. English Nature’s Salisbury Plain LIFE Project is working to conserve the natural habitat of the Plain and protect rare species such as the stone curlew, juniper and the marsh fritillary butterfly.
Walking and cycling
Public footpaths and cycle routes skirt Imber from a distance. Imber itself is closed to the public for most of the year except on Imber Day when civilians tend graves and worship in the Church. (Imber Day is usually the Saturday closest to St Giles’ Day in September, but in 2003 it is on 30 August). Access to MOD land should always be checked in advance through The Ministry of Defence Estates.
Weird Wiltshire
The Weird Wiltshire website is for anyone who wants to know more about crop circles, UFOs, hauntings and other local mysteries.
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