Thorney Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

(effectively a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

) that juts into

Chichester Harbour Chichester Harbour is a large natural harbour in West Sussex and Hampshire. It is situated to the south-west of the city of Chichester and to the north of the Solent. The harbour and surrounding land has been designated as an Area of Outstandin ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

. It is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel called the Great Deep.

Geography

The village of West Thorney lies on the east coast of the island and has been incorporated into 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 ...

military base which occupies the southern part of the island, south of Great Deep. A coastal public footpath, part of the

Sussex Border Path The Sussex Border Path is a long-distance footpath around the borders of Sussex, a historic county and former medieval kingdom in southern England. The main path is long and stays close to Sussex's borders with Hampshire, Surrey and Kent, co ...

encircles the island, but public access to the south of the island is limited to the footpath and the church of St Nicholas at West Thorney. Walkers using the footpath may be asked by intercom to provide their contact details (name, address and mobile phone number) at the security gates to access the southern part of the island. Walkers must keep to the footpath marked with the yellow posts. During the winter months, fortnightly shoots are held on Thorney for partridge, pheasant and snipe. To the south of the island is Pilsey Island, now joined to Thorney Island by a sandbank, which is an

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

nature reserve. The 2001 census showed the island to have a resident population of 1,079.

Climate

The climate of Thorney Island is generally milder than elsewhere in the UK, but slightly cooler than other areas locally due to being quite rural. The record high temperature is on 6 August 2003 and the record low is on 13 January 1987. The

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...

has an official

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

situated at Baker Barracks, the

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 ...

base on Thorney Island.

RAF Thorney Island and Baker Barracks

In 1938, the RAF airfield on Thorney Island was built. Subsequently the

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 F ...

expressed an interest in using the base. In 1980 West Thorney became host to many hundreds of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

ese families, accepted by the United Kingdom for settlement in the United Kingdom. In 1985, a series of experiments referred to as the "Thorney Island Heavy Gas Dispersion Trials" investigating atmospheric dispersion of gases was carried out on the island. 1984 saw the base renamed Baker Barracks to house a

unit, the 26th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, armed with the

FH70 The FH70 (field howitzer for the 1970s) is a towed howitzer in use with several nations. History In 1963, NATO agreed a NATO Basic Military Requirement 39 for close support artillery, either towed or tracked. Subsequently, Germany and UK st ...

. Later, the 26th Field Regiment Royal Artillery was replaced on the island by the

47th Regiment Royal Artillery 47 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Artillery in the British Army. It is equipped with the Thales Watchkeeper WK450. It is located at Horne Barracks, Larkhill in Wiltshire. It falls under command of 1st Aviation Brigade. Hi ...

, armed with the

Starstreak HVM Starstreak is a British short-range surface to air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defence system Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS or MPADS) are portable surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons and are a threa ...

. In January 2008, the 12th Regiment Royal Artillery moved to the island on their return from Germany. 47 Regiment subsequently relocated from Thorney Island to

Larkhill Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, under restructuring of the

as part of the Army 2020 programme. In 2009, the airfield was used as a test track for a British-built

steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...

hoping to break the longest standing land speed record. The

British Steam Car Challenge Inspiration is a British-designed and -built steam-propelled car designed by Glynne Bowsher and developed by the British Steam Car Challenge team. Inspiration holds the World Land Speed Record for a steam-powered vehicle on 25 August 2009, driv ...

team included test driver Don Wales, nephew of the late

Donald Campbell Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

and grandson of

Sir Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

References

External links

Detailed historical record about Thorney Island Airfield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorney Island Islands of England Landforms of West Sussex