Swinton Barracks is a military installation accommodating two engineer regiments at

Perham Down Perham Down is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Tidworth parish on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. It lies on a minor road about east of the town of Tidworth and southwest of the town of Ludgershall. The county border with Hampshire is ...

in Wiltshire, England. The site is on the east edge of Salisbury Plain, about east of the garrison at

Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, south ...

. The camp forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison.

History

After

2nd London Division The 47th (1/2nd London) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force. Formation The Territorial Force (TF) was formed on 1 April 1908 following the enactment of the Territorial and Re ...

held their annual camp at Perham Down in 1914, a hutted army camp was built in the village to provide proper accommodation for the training of large military units. 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 opposi ...

the barracks were used as a training camp by the 99th Infantry Battalion of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. The barracks were rebuilt between 1972 and 1974 and renamed Swinton Barracks at that time. 22 Engineer Regiment arrived at the barracks in January 1975 and were joined by 26 Engineer Regiment. The barracks became a specialist centre for armoured engineering, and its name was chosen to commemorate Major-General Sir Ernest Swinton, who was an early advocate of armoured vehicles and responsible for the recruitment and training of the Tank Detachment in 1916, and, later, Colonel Commandant of the

Tank Corps An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other armo ...

. Extensive reconstruction at the barracks involving new or refurbished buildings was carried out under

Project Allenby Connaught Project Allenby Connaught is a scheme begun in 2006 to redevelop the military garrisons of Aldershot and Salisbury Plain in the United Kingdom. The project is named after Lord Allenby who served as a cavalry commander on Salisbury Plain, and the ...

between 2006 and 2014.

Units

The units currently based at the barracks are: * 15th Signal Regiment, Royal Corps of Signals * 22 Engineer Regiment * 26 Engineer Regiment

References

Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Military history of Wiltshire Tidworth {{Wiltshire-struct-stub