MoD Bicester is a large military storage and distribution centre just outside

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cherwell (district), Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an Eco-towns, eco town at North Wes ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

History

Preparations For Operation Overlord (the Normandy Landings)- D-day 6 June 1944 H37362

The site dates back to September 1942 when a depot was constructed near

to provide logistical support for operations in Europe during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is serviced by the

Bicester Military Railway The Bicester Military Railway (BMR) is a railway in Oxfordshire, England belonging to the Ministry of Defence. It links military depots at Piddington, Arncott and Graven Hill with the Oxford to Bicester Line. History The Bicester Military R ...

. In 1961 the ordnance depots at

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Di ...

and Branston were closed and a Central Ordnance Depot was created at Bicester. Between 1980 and 1982 the ordnance depots at

Chilwell Chilwell is a village and residential suburb of Nottingham, in the borough of Broxtowe of Nottinghamshire, west of Nottingham city. Until 1974 it was part of Beeston and Stapleford Urban District, having been in Stapleford Rural District until ...

and

Ruddington Ruddington is a large village in the Borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England. The village is south of Nottingham and northwest of Loughborough. It had a population of 6,441 at the 2001 Census, increasing to 7,216 at the 2011 Censu ...

were also closed resulting in an increased role for the remaining central ordnance depots at Bicester and Donnington. The depot became known as the Defence Storage and Distribution Centre in April 1999. A bomb disposal training base, built at a cost of circa £100 million and including a cave complex, a dive pool and roadways was established at St George's Barracks on the site in March 2013. Then in September 2014, 23 Pioneer Regiment, which had been based at St David's Barracks on the site since the 1940s, was disbanded. 1 Regiment RLC moved from

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...

in Germany to St David's Barracks at Bicester in 2016.

Future

The St David's Barracks portion is earmarked for disposal, with a closure date of 2028.

References

{{reflist Installations of the British Army Barracks in England

History

Future

See also

References