Wyke Regis Army Training Area

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Following regular losses of equipment through storms at annual bridging camps up to 1927 at Mudeford, near Christchurch, the Royal Engineers (RE) established a bridging camp at the Fleet narrows at Chesil Beach, Wyke Regis, on 1 May 1928. In succeeding years the camp was erected by the first unit in and struck by the last unit out. Used by the Militia in 1938, it continued as a training area during the Second World War – including a period by the RAF as a base for some of their ‘Dambusters’ trials for the bouncing bomb.

Based at the Verne, 9 Trg Bn RE used Wyke from 1945 to 1949, then Barrow Rise Camp became the HQ while POWs redeveloped the site. TA units used the site in 1947 and then each summer from 1950 onwards. When the first permanent Camp Commandant took over in 1954, Southern Command Bridging Camp RE was one of four such units in the UK. From 1960 to 1963 facilities were much improved with more permanent buildings.

The mid-1960s saw more use by ‘swimming’ amphibious vehicles, and less floating bridges. Soon the RE Bridging Camp, Wyke Regis was the only one left in the UK. In 1973 Chickerell Camp and Range were taken over, thus providing extra hutted accommodation for use summer and winter. On the Camp’s 50th Anniversary in 1978, to celebrate the broadening of the training facilities to include other Combat Engineer subjects besides bridging, the unit was renamed The RE Training Camp.

To mark the 55-year association, in 1983 the Freedom of the Borough of Weymouth and Portland was granted to the Corps of Royal Engineers. The event was marked with a parade and, ten years later, in September 1993, 22 Engineer Regiment again exercised their right to march through the town with ‘ bayonets fixed and drums beating’ to celebrate this singular honour.

In 1999 Wyke Regis Training Area came under command of Army Training Estates as part of ATE SW.