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Revision as of 19:13, 12 August 2023
Prees Health Camp was a training base for the British Army. It opened in 1915 and had a capacity for approximately 30,000 troops for the purpose of training in trench warfare.[1] During wartime the site developed to include a supplies store, a railway depot and one mile of branch line from Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway.[1] After the armistice the site was downgraded, however, the British Government maintained a presence for the continued purpose of training army personnel.[1]
The Lonsdale Battalion was located here for a short period of time. They left their home training ground at Blackhall Camp, Carlisle, on the 8 May. They joined the Glasgow men of the 15th, 16th and 17th Battalions of the Highland Light Infantry, forming the 97th Brigade under the command Brigadier-General Hacket Thompson.[2] The Borders and Highlanders remained here until 22 June when, owing to the unsuitability of the ground for Brigade training, they moved to Wensleydale in Yorkshire.
Second World War
- 1939 – Becomes an internment camp for screening Austrian and German refugees.
- 1941 – Closes 4 October.
- 1942 – Construction of airfield on site completed. Opened 1 August and named Whitchchurch Heath.
- 1943 – Site renamed RAF Tilstock, 1 July.
Newspaper articles
References / notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tilstock Airfield Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia. Accessed 26 August, 2016.
- ↑ Record of the XIth (Service) Battalion (Lonsdale) - In England.