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Clouds of War
 Military Manoeuvres
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Clouds of War
Military Manoeuvres
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The lonely road across Greenham |
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Many people think of Greenham Common as the site of the massive air base of the second half of the 20th century. In fact, the open spaces of Greenham and Crookham Commons have been used by the military for hundreds of years.
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The first record we have is associated with the first Battle of Newbury, in 1643. One of the decisive battles of the English Civil War, it culminated in a victory for the Parliamentary forces commanded by the Earl of Essex. Emboldened by his victory, on 22 September Essex ordered his army to march towards Reading. Colonel Middleton with four regiments, and with four hundred musketeers under Colonel Barclay protecting the rear, left the battlefield at Enborne and set off towards Reading.
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Sketch map |
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Civil War Soldier |
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The army marched unhindered across Greenham and Crookham Commons but as they left the high ground to join the Reading road at Padworth, they were attacked in the rear by Royalist forces. This caused fear and confusion but did not deter the Roundheads' advance; they arrived in London on 28 November 1643.
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The military advantages of Greenham Common appear to have been recognised by the middle of the 18th century: A map called 'Ten Miles Around Newbury' published by John Willis in 1768 shows a "Camp in 1740" on "Greenham Heath". Five rows of tiny tents are visible, but there is no further information.
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A camp in 1740 |
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A few years later, as the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland grew threatening, Greenham Common was selected to be a depot for despatching troops to the north. A permanent camp was established for some time, with between five and six thousand troops billeted there. It is probable that the Hanoverian King George II's redcoats marched from Greenham to fight in the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, which effectively ended the claims of the Stuart 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' to the British throne.
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Wally Clinch at the Volunteer Inn, Greenham |
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The threat of invasion from France was ever present during the first half of the 19th century; this gave rise to the volunteer movement of 1859, when the Newbury district contributed a company to the Berkshire county battalion. It was probably at this time that the firing ranges known as The Butts were constructed on Greenham Common. Some thirty feet high, they were situated across the road from the Volunteer Inn (originally called the Rifle Volunteer). There were flags and targets, with a brushwood and timber bund behind the targets. The ranges were between two and three hundred yards, which soon became inadequate as rifles improved. Both these reminders of Greenham's early military history were destroyed in 1951 with the post-war enlargement of the airfield.
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It is possible that the butts were used in 1862, when 16,000 troops camped on the Common en route for manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. The Newbury Weekly News reported that a company of sappers and miners had moved into the area in early August with the intention of digging artesian wells on the Common and preparing the ground for the camp. Ten years later, an even greater number of soldiers – about 20,000 – camped on the Common. This became a major event for the people of Newbury, who visited the camp to listen to the regimental bands and to cheer the troops, led by the Duke of Connaught, as they marched through Newbury on their way to Wiltshire.
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But there was a more serious side to the festivities: the annals of Newbury parish church record that the townspeople suffered from a severe attack of scarlet fever brought on by the encampment and that a soldier was buried in Newbury Cemetery, his coffin being covered with a Union Jack taken down from the church tower. The camps appeared to have been a regular occurrence: others are recorded in 1890 and 1893, when the local Royal Berkshire Regiment camped on the Common for the first time.
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During the First World War (1914 to 1918), the Commons were once again used for infantry training, but like the previous military occupations, they left very little trace. That was to change on the outbreak of the Second World War (1939 to 1945).
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The sale of the Greenham Lodge and Crookham estates in 1939 gave Newbury Council the opportunity to purchase the Lordships of the Manors; this paved the way for the Commons to be requisitioned by the Government as part of the preparations for war.
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