Stirling Lines 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 ...

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mili ...

Credenhill Credenhill is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 2,271. Near Credenhill is the site of the former Royal Air Force station, RAF Credenhill. It was redeveloped b ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouths ...

; the headquarters of the 22 Special Air Service Regiment (22 SAS). The site was formerly a

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) an ...

(RAF) non-flying station for training schools, known as

RAF Credenhill RAF Credenhill, also known as RAF Hereford, was a non-flying station of the Royal Air Force situated in the village of Credenhill near Hereford, United Kingdom. It was commissioned in 1940 and served as home for a range of training schools from ...

History

In 1958, the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-te ...

(SAS) was temporarily based at Merebrook Camp in Malvern,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, a former emergency military hospital that had remained largely unused since 1945. In 1960, the SAS moved to a former

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

boys' training unit, Bradbury Lines in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester, England, Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. ...

, which was renamed in 1984 to Stirling Lines in honour of the regiment's founder,

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

David Stirling Sir Archibald David Stirling (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British army, a mountaineer, and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). He saw active service during the Second World War. ...

. In 1994, the RAF ceased using RAF Credenhill; the Army then obtaining the site to redevelop as a new base for the SAS; works commenced in 1997. The SAS commenced relocation of staff and equipment to Credenhill from Hereford with the redevelopment of the site. The move was completed in May 1999. On 30 September 2000, the official opening ceremony was held for the new Stirling Lines with the clock tower re-erected on the new parade ground. The Hereford site was sold to a property developer in March 2001.

Based units

The following units are based at Stirling Lines: * 22 Special Air Service Regiment **A Squadron **B Squadron **D Squadron **G Squadron *

Special Reconnaissance Regiment The Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) is a special reconnaissance unit of the British Army. It was established on 6 April 2005 and is part of the United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF). The regiment conducts a wide range of classified activitie ...

* 18 Signal Regiment **264 (SAS) Signal Squadron **67 (SRR) Signal Squadron * 658 Squadron AAC – Eurocopter AS365N3 Dauphin II, Westland Gazelle AH1

References

{{Authority control Training establishments of the British Army Installations of the British Army