Imber Village

Last year I finally managed to visit the lost village of Imber in Wiltshire. A (very) brief history of Imber:

In 1943 the inhabitants of the village of Imber were told they would have to evacuate their homes temporarily, so that the village could be used for military training. But even after the end of World War 2, they were never allowed back, and it has been uninhabited ever since.

For a more detailed history of the village, this website has loads more information.

The site is still owned by the MOD, who use it for training. Which means visiting it can be a little bit tricky. Public access is only permitted on a handful of dates per year.

If you are interested in visiting, I would reccomend going to the Church of Imber website and subscribing to their newsletter. They send out a few updates per year, with details of days that the village is open to the public.  

Walking around the village is a strange experience, all the old buildings are now empty shells, but it is clear the space is still being actively used, as all the grass is kept neatly trimmed, and all the buildings are fitted with new corrugated roofs. My dream would be to have access when the village is completely deserted, and just to wander around by myself at dusk (though that would be pretty spooky).

There are none of the other telltale signs I’ve seen in other abandoned forgotten space, no overgrown weeds blocking the entrances, no graffiti covering the old walls, or random pieces of junk and litter that have been left around.

If you are planning visiting, be warned it can be a bit of a tricky one to find, phone signal nearby is patchy at best, so I would recommend grabbing the coordinates of the church, and putting those in your sat nav ahead of time. There directions were helpful when I got a little bit lost.

Once you find the correct turning, there is a long road that takes you all the way down to the village. You can drive all the way down, but I would recommend parking up in a layby, and walking the down the road. As there is so much to photograph on the walk down (though stick to the designated path – they seem very strict about that)