Bovington Camp () 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 Gurkha ...

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England. Together with

Lulworth Camp Lulworth Camp is a British Army base that is home to the Armoured Fighting Vehicle Gunnery School and runs the Lulworth Ranges on the southern coast of Dorset, England. It is part of Bovington Garrison and is located on the Purbeck Ridge between ...

it forms part of Bovington Garrison. The garrison is home to The Armour Centre and contains two barracks complexes and two forest and

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

training areas that support Phase Two training for soldiers of the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the ...

and trade training for the

Household Cavalry Regiment The Household Cavalry Regiment (HCR) is an Armoured Cavalry regiment of the British Army based in Bulford Camp in Wiltshire. It is the brother regiment of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR) based at Hyde Park Barracks in London - bo ...

as well as other armoured units. It also houses

The Tank Museum The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collection ...

on its property. It is run by the resident RSM W01 Joshua Wisdom

History

British Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles TR113

The camps at Bovington and

Lulworth Lulworth is the popular name for an area on the coast of Dorset, South West England notable for its castle and cove. However, there is no actual place or feature called simply "Lulworth", the villages are East and West Lulworth and the coastal f ...

were originally established in 1899 as an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

training area and ranges. In 1916, they became training camps for the Heavy Branch of the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

which relocated from Norfolk. The Heavy Branch was responsible for the operation of the

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

in the

. In 1917 the Heavy Branch split from the Machine Gun Corps to become the Tank Corps, with the Depot and Central Schools being based at Bovington. In 1937 the Central Schools became the Armoured Fighting Vehicles School, with driving and maintenance training at Bovington and gunnery at

. The School became known as the Royal Armoured Corps Centre in 1947, now renamed The Armour Centre.

Resident units

The camp is home to: Ministry of Defence * Defence Support Group British Army *Headquarters,

*Regimental Headquarters, Royal Wessex Yeomanry, at Allenby Barracks *Regimental Headquarters,

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 t ...

, at Stanley Barracks *Armoured Trials and Development Unit * The Armour Centre **Combat Communication Information Systems (CIS) School **Armoured Fighting Vehicle Training Group *** Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment, at Allenby Barracks ***Armoured Fighting Vehicle Schools Regiment ****Armoured Fighting Vehicle School of Communications, Driving & Maintenance ****Armoured Fighting Vehicle School of Gunnery, at

Royal Navy *

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

Centre of Recruiting **Royal Navy School of Recruiting * Royal Marines Armoured Support Group, at Stanley Barracks

Training

Soldiers and Officers attend stage 2 training at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle Training Group following initial training and undertake courses in gunnery, signals, driving, vehicle maintenance and tactics. The centre also provides through career, and promotion, training for soldiers and officers. The group delivers course through three operating sections; Communications, Gunnery and Driving & Maintenance. The majority of this training is delivered at Bovington Camp with live gunnery activities taking place at nearby

Lulworth Ranges The Lulworth Ranges are military firing ranges located between Wareham and Lulworth in Dorset, England. They cover an area of more than , are leased in a rolling contract from the Weld Estate by the Ministry of Defence and are part of the Armoure ...

References

External links

Armour Centre, Bovington
{{authority control Villages in Dorset Training establishments of the British Army Installations of the British Army Barracks in England Military training areas in the United Kingdom