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West Amesbury
West Amesbury maps
Historic maps of West Amesbury and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all West Amesbury maps
West Amesbury photos
We have no photos of West Amesbury, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Wilsford| Amesbury| Stonehenge| Bulford| Figheldean| Netheravon| Old Sarum| Haxton| Fittleton| Stoford| Cholderton| Great Wishford| South Tidworth| North Tidworth
West Amesbury area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about West Amesbury and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of West Amesbury
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Wiltshire memories
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
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.
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
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.
Granny''s Home
I have never visited Druid's lodge, but have been brought up with stories of it.
It was for some years the home of my Grandmother. She was the daughter of Thomas lewis the Irish Race horse trainer.
Thomas was installed in Druids Lodge about 1907 by Lord Cunliffe who owned the 1913 Derby winner Aboyeur. Thomas was his trainer.
Granny went to school at the Gadolphin school for girls in Salisbury. She was about 16 at this time.
Stephen Donaghue was one of the young jockeys there at the time. According to my granny, she taught him to write his name so as to be able to sign cheques !
If anyone reading this small article has anymore information on Thomas Lewis, I should be grateful. Although he died in 1938, I do not know what or where he went after the start of the 1st world war.
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.
