Dartmoor Training Area

Dartmoor Training Area (DTA)
Dartmoor National Park, Devon
Coordinates 50°39′12″N 3°59′41″W / 50.653347°N 3.994856°W / 50.653347; -3.994856
Type Training Area
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator  British Army
Controlled by Defence Infrastructure Organisation[1]
Site history
Built 1800
Built for War Office
In use 1800-Present

The Dartmoor Training Area (DTA) consists of approximately 13,000 hectares (50 square miles) of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England.[2]

History

The British army has been using Dartmoor since around 1800 and made extensive use of it during the Crimean War.[3] A permanent camp was built in 1895.[3] In 1906-07, seven miles of roads were built on the north moor to facilitate the movement of guns.

In 1963 the Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA) published a 24-page booklet entitled Misuse of a National Park which includes photographs of unexploded shells lying on the open moor, corrugated iron buildings, large craters, a derelict tank used as a target, bullet marks on standing stones, etc. It also contains details of a 1958 incident in which a young boy was killed by a mortar shell near Cranmere Pool.[4] Since the 1960s there has been much less military damage and litter mainly as a result of the DPA's campaigning.[5]

As of 2015 there are 120 conservation groups across the MOD, including Dartmoor Military Conservation Group.[6]

Training

Military training is carried out on the ranges by the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army, and Royal Air Force. The area is supported by two training camps, one at Okehampton and the other at Willsworthy,[2] and there are three established firing ranges at Okehampton, Willsworthy and Merrivale. The area taken up with live firing ranges is 9,187 hectares (22,664 acres) and they are used on average 120 days each year.[7] They are used for small arms, mortars and artillery smoke and illuminating shells.[8] The current leases run for many years, with Cramber Tor most recently being granted a further 40-year license.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Defence Training Estates - Dartmoor ranges (Website accessed: 26/08/10)
  2. 1 2 MoD Public Information Leaflet (website accessed: 26/08/10)
  3. 1 2 "Military on Dartmoor". Dartmoor National Park. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Misuse of a National Park. Widecombe-in-the-Moor: The Dartmoor Preservation Association. 1963.
  5. ↑ Eric Hemery (1983). High Dartmoor. London: Robert Hale. p. 854. ISBN 0-7091-8859-5.
  6. ↑ "Around the Regions - with the Conservation Groups" - MOD web site upload
  7. ↑ The Armed Forces on Dartmoor: A Brief History
  8. ↑ "The 6th Dartmoor Society Debate: The Military on Dartmoor"
  9. ↑ "MOD can use Dartmoor for Military Training until 2053" - Western Morning News website
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