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Amesbury

Amesbury photos

Displaying the first of 48 old photos of Amesbury.   View all Amesbury photos

48
View all 48 photos of Amesbury

Amesbury maps

Historic maps of Amesbury and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Amesbury maps

Amesbury area books

Displaying 1 of 12 books about Amesbury and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Amesbury

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Wiltshire memories

Visiting History

My husband was stationed here in WWII, and married a girl from Bulford. They divorced but the family ties are strong.
We met the first wife's family and had a wonderful time. Also the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Vets had a great time revisiting and reminiscing.

Ratfyn Power Station

In the 1950s I was in the Royal Engineers and came over from Germany to our school of military engineering at Chatham where we did a course in electrical power stations. We were then posted to Bulford barracks, and did our practical training at an MOD power station at Ratfyn on the side of the River Avon. We generated power for Larkhill, Bulford, Tidworth and the chemical weapons establishment at Porton Down. I have been back a number times over the years to try to locate it, but never managed to. I would be very interested if anyone knows what happened to it.

Army Training on Salisbury Plain


The military owns more than 150 square miles of Salisbury Plain and great chunks of it are closed to the public. I have seen part of this area and "enjoyed" the isolation of camping in bivouacs with my Territorial Army unit.

The organisation of the trainng area is done so as to parcel up areas and allocate them to seperate training exercises. I served for almost five years with the Royal Signals and I remember setting up our "bivvy" tents when 39th Signal regiment was allocated part of the training area in 1970. We took just two vehicles with us - a three tonner and a Land Rover. Driving these over the rough terrain meant you really got to appreciate the soft and high suspension of the vehicles. One of our drivers was Pauline Kenchat - a WRAC Private who was learning to drive. Would you believe she managed to hit the three tonner with the Land Rover! We had miles of Salisbury Plain... Read more

My Grandfather

This is approximately the year when researching my family history that I became aware that there is a plaque in the church for my grandfather, George Reginald Mundy of the Wiltshire Regiment, who was killed in action on 23/7/1916 aged 40.  He left a widow and 5 children, the youngest being only 3 months old.
My grandmother died  in 1932, only 4 years before I was born, and yet I cannot remember any of my grandparents being talked about.
Kath Jones, nee Mundy


A Faked Photo!

This is a faked photo! Stone 56 is upright only because it has been drawn in on the negative - the clue is that Stones 21, 22 and their lintel 121 had collapsed before stone 56 was straightened in 1901. (If you are not a Stonehenge geek that probably was too much information!) The original photograph was also used as a postcard, but I guess that when stone 56 was straightened in a welter of publicity they decided to alter the print, not knowing about the other changes they should have made. Editor's note: Thank you for the information, you are quite right. We often find older images in the collection have been altered to 'update them'. This is all part of the history of the archive so we cannot alter the position of the stone. However, your information has been noted in our database.

The Mill Pool

I lived at Netheravon from 1968 - 1972 (my father was in the RAF based at Old Sarum) and went to school at St Michaels Figheldean.
I remember we used to go swimming in the mill pool by the weir. I remember nearly drowning there, showing off in deep water under the big tree (still there) near the weir. I was saved by a girl called Sharon Parsons and probably never thanked her and certainly never told my mum when I got home. Other than that experience it was a great place to hang out in the summer and learn how to fish too - starting off on minnows by the footbridge and moving on to greyling and trout (probably illegally). A lovely village and well overdue for a visit. I live in North Oxfordshire so not too far away.

Born And Bred

Ablington Road c1955
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Born in Ablington just after the war we moved to Avon Banks, where I lived until married in 1970. My mother's father, mother and brothers (Fenners) all lived in Figheldean. Having read other peoples memories it brought back probably the most enjoyable part of my youth.

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