Carver Barracks 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 ...

base on the former site of

RAF Debden Royal Air Force Debden or more simply RAF Debden is a former Royal Air Force station located southeast of Saffron Walden and approximately north of the village of Debden in North Essex, England History The airfield was opened in April 1937 ...

, approximately 1 mile north of the village of Debden, in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. The nearest town is

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

History

The

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

was built in 1935–37 and the runways laid in 1940. It was first occupied by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF), followed by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) in September 1942. It was returned to RAF control on 5 September 1945. After the RAF withdrew from the station in 1974, the site was handed to the British Army and re-established as Carver Barracks in 1975. The barracks were named after Field Marshal Lord Carver, a former

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

officer. In the 1980s, Carver Barracks was home to the

1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG) is a regiment in the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army. Nicknamed The Welsh Cavalry, the regiment recruits from Wales and the bordering English counties of Cheshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire, and ...

, the

13th/18th Royal Hussars The 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 13th Hussars and the 18th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated wit ...

, the

9th/12th Royal Lancers The 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1960 by the amalgamation of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and the 12th Royal Lancers. In the later years of its existence, the regiment served as ...

and the

16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers The 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 16th The Queen's Lancers and the 5th Royal Irish Lancers in 1922. The reason for the uniquely atypical regimental title (wit ...

– all armoured reconnaissance regiments. The site is now home to 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and 35 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal).

Based units

The following units are based at Carver Barracks. * 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD&S),

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

* 35 Engineer Regiment (EOD&S),

Future

In November 2016 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 states ...

announced that the site would close in 2031.

References

{{reflist Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Uttlesford