Early history Settlement in the area began before the period of
Roman rule, in the
British Iron Age or earlier. Several ancient trackways lead to and from the village. The first documentary evidence of Imber's existence comes from
Saxon times, with a mention of the village in 967. A small settlement called
Imembrie with seven households was recorded in the 1086
Domesday Book. The village's
church of St Giles dates from the 13th century and has notable wall-paintings from the 15th. By the 14th century the population of the village had risen to around 250, where it is believed to have remained until the 19th century. Population peaked at 440 as recorded in the
census of 1851, declining to around 150 by the time of Imber's evacuation. map of Imber, 1902 Imber was always an isolated community,
Salisbury Plain being relatively sparsely populated. Most of its residents were employed in agriculture or work that directly depended on it. The village had the elongated form of a
linear village and its main street followed the course of a stream known as Imber Dock. The only building to survive in a reasonable condition is the church; the rest became derelict or were demolished by the Army. In 1943 there was also a
Baptist chapel (built in 1839, demolished in the late 1970s), a post office and a
pub called the
Bell Inn, which still stands; as do the manor house, Imber Court, and a farmhouse, farm cottages, a small school house and four "council house"-type blocks built in 1938.
Eviction and military use In the late 19th century the
War Office began buying land on Salisbury Plain, primarily to the east of Imber, and using it for manoeuvres. Beginning in the late 1920s, farms around Imber were bought, as well as the land on which the village sat. The pressures of agricultural
depression, combined with the good prices offered by the military, encouraged the sale of land, with few being put off by the new conditions of their tenancy, which allowed the War Office to assume control and evict the residents if necessary. By the time of the
Second World War, almost all of the land in and around Imber, except the church, vicarage, chapel, schoolroom and the Bell Inn, belonged to the War Office. On 1 November 1943, with preparations for the
Allied invasion of mainland Europe under way, the people of Imber were called to a meeting in the village schoolroom and given 47 days' notice to leave their homes; Imber was to be used by US forces to practise street fighting. Richard Madigan's evidence to the Defence Lands Committee (DLC) stated that street fighting practice never took place and that his and others' duties were to keep the village in good repair for the villagers' eventual return. The reason for eviction was the village's proximity to shell impact areas. Although upset about being forced to leave, most villagers put up no resistance, even leaving canned provisions in their kitchens and taking the view that it was their duty to contribute to the
war effort in this waymaking sacrifices on the
Home Front for the greater good. Compensation for the move was limited and the occupants of one farm had to be forcibly evicted by the Army. Albert Nash, who had been the village blacksmith for over 40 years, is said to have been found sobbing over his anvil and later became the first resident to die and be brought back to Imber for burial. It was said that he died of a broken heart after being forced to leave the village. After the war, the village was used extensively for training, particularly preparing soldiers for service in the urban environments of
Northern Ireland during
The Troubles, and several empty house-like buildings were constructed in the 1970s to aid training. Since 1988,
urban warfare training has been centred at a purpose-built complex at
Copehill Down, about 3 miles to the southeast. The Bell Inn was sold to the MoD in the mid-1950s and the Baptist Chapel in the late 1970s. The
civil parish of Imber was eventually incorporated into neighbouring
Heytesbury, to the south, while for
Church of England purposes the
ecclesiastical parish of Imber was incorporated into the parish of
Edington, to the north.
Restoration attempts Many of the village's buildings suffered
shell and explosion damage after the war when UK military operations began and were additionally eroded by the weather, quickly falling into disrepair. Although the villagers had been told they could return in six months, this was never allowed. At the end of the war, efforts were made to restore Imber to its pre-war conditionalthough there was very little damagebut the decision was taken not to relinquish control. Documentary evidence of a return agreement was only discovered in the 1970s. In 1961, a rally in the village was organised to demand that the villagers be allowed to move back and over 2,000 people attended, including many former residents. A
public inquiry was held and found in favour of Imber's continued military use. The matter was also raised in the
House of Lords and it was decided that the church would be maintained and would be open for worship on the Saturday closest to
St Giles' Day each year, a practice that continues. A further attempt to restore Imber took place in the early 1970s, when the Defence Lands Committee (DLC) was given the task of looking into the need for the retention of Ministry of Defence lands. The Imber case was represented before the DLC by David J. Johnson, an Imber researcher; Richard Madigan, a former soldier who helped to evacuate the villageand testified to the promise of return after the warand Rex Mutters, a wartime fighter pilot. They were assisted by Austin Underwood, who had led the campaign in the early 1960s, and backed-up with written evidence from former villagers. In spite of all the additional evidence, including the first re-appearance since 1943 of the original eviction letter (which indicated return), the DLC recommended that the village be retained for military use. ==Present day==