Copehill Down

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Copehill Down
Part of Salisbury Plain Training Area
Near Warminster, Wiltshire in  England
Major's Battle Exercise. MOD 45157683.jpg
Armoured vehicles during a training exercise at Copehill Down
Wiltshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Copehill Down
Location in Wiltshire
Coordinates 51°12′25″N1°58′37″W / 51.2069°N 1.9770°W / 51.2069; -1.9770
Type Urban warfare training facility
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Defence Infrastructure Organisation
Controlled by Defence Training Estate
ConditionOperational
Site history
Built1987 (1987)
In use1987 – present

Copehill Down is a Ministry of Defence training facility near Chitterne on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It is a 'FIBUA' (Fighting In Built Up Areas) urban warfare and close quarters battle training centre, where exercises and tests are conducted. [1] The site lies in open ground in the northeast of Chitterne parish, between Chitterne and Tilshead, at Ordnance Survey grid reference SU017453 .

Contents

Soldiers training at Copehill Down Soldier Jumping Out of Window MOD 45154897.jpg
Soldiers training at Copehill Down

History

The facility was built to resemble a German village in Bavaria, to provide troops with a simulated backdrop when training for operations in European theatres including the Cold War, the Balkans and Northern Ireland, and was completed in 1987. [2]

The facility includes a shanty town stacked and laid out in rows of tightly packed streets, to provide an additional training area that more closely resembles the Army's operational theatres in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is also some rolling stock. [3]

The Copehill Down training area is open for public access. Non-combat access to the FIBUA village is restricted, but has been used for airsoft wargaming and by historical reenactment societies, which take part in private reenactments of battles. [4]

Related Research Articles

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Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon, and Trowbridge is the county town.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tidworth</span> Human settlement in England

Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about 3+12 miles (5.6 km) north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately 8 miles (13 km) west of Andover, 12 miles (19 km) south of Marlborough, and 13 miles (21 km) north by north-east of Salisbury. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was approximately 10,600.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imber</span> Human settlement in England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Barrow</span> Long barrow in Wiltshire, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilshead</span> Village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knook Castle</span> Iron Age hillfort in Wiltshire, England

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References

  1. "Wiltshire – In Pictures" BBC News, October 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2010
  2. "£500k investment for Salisbury Plain training village". Salisbury Journal. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  3. "Copehill Down". Landmarc. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  4. Kaushik. "The Mock Village of Copehill Down". Amusing Planet. Retrieved 30 July 2019.