The Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA) is a landscape deeply marked by over a century of military history. Spanning 390 sq km of chalk grassland in south-west England, this vast training ground has been under military control since its acquisition by the War Office in 1897. Used for training exercises throughout both the 20th and 21st centuries, the SPTA is now the largest military training area in the UK, its fields and hills carved by decades of artillery fire, vehicle tracks, and the rhythms of soldiers preparing for conflict.
This photographic project, SPTA: A Landscape in Service, aims to explore the profound and lasting impact of military occupation on the land. Through the lens of both historical and contemporary military use, the project documents the landscape as it exists today—marked by the dual legacies of conflict and training, but also shaped by the practical requirements of national defence. The images reflect the scars of military infrastructure: camouflaged bunkers, firing ranges, and tank tracks etched into the earth. But they also reveal the quieter moments of this active training ground—vast empty spaces, remote and untouched, offering a sense of isolation and endurance.
The project delves into how the landscape has been transformed and, in many ways, preserved by its military use. The absence of modern agricultural activity has allowed unique ecosystems to thrive in parts of the Plain, and rare species of flora and fauna have adapted to the challenging terrain. Yet, this land is not just defined by its natural beauty, but by its role in preparing for conflict. Each image captures the tension between military necessity and ecological preservation, between a place designed for action and one that also serves as a rare ecological haven.
The SPTA: A Landscape in Service serves as both a visual documentation and a meditation on the complex relationship between land, conflict, and preservation. By focusing on the enduring marks of military occupation and the slow, quiet processes of nature, the series offers a nuanced portrait of a landscape shaped by both human conflict and natural resilience. Through this ongoing investigation, I aim to reveal how the echoes of conflict and the forces of nature coexist, creating a landscape that is as much about history and memory as it is about the land itself. Wayne Ford
The Photographs
SPTA West: Imber and Warminster Ranges; SPTA Centre: Larkhill and Westdown Artillery Ranges; SPTA East: Bulford and Tidworth Ranges; and DSTL Porton Down & MOD Boscombe Down.
Ordnance Survey Map, Large Sheet Series, Salisbury Plain, T. Fisher Unwin Limited, London, 1912.
The War Office, the predecessor to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), began acquiring land on Salisbury Plain in 1897. The first military exercises took place the following year. The main acquisition programme was completed by 1920, with major garrisons built over the next three decades.
This 1912 map shows the Centre and Eastern sections of the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA), while the land for the Western section had yet to be acquired. Today, the SPTA is the largest military training area in the UK.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me in my little project, or shared their knowledge of the Plain. With a special thank you to Melanie May.
Footnote
Throughout this site, I have used the term "Salisbury Plain Training Area" or the abbreviation "SPTA." As this is the widely used name. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), which manages the UK training estate, also refers to the area as the Defence Training Estate Salisbury Plain or DTE SP.
Reference reading
Plain Soldiering: History of the Armed Forces on Salisbury Plain, N.D.G James, Hobnob Press, 1987.
In Defence of Landscape: An Archaeology of Porton Down, David John Ride, NPI Media Group, 2006.
Wessex Before the Celts, J.F.S Stone, Thames & Hudson, 1958.
A Brief History Of The Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment Porton, C.D.E.E, 1961.
An Iron Age Settlement outside Battlesbury Hillfort, Warminster, and Sites along the Southern Range Road, Chris Ellis and Andrew B. Powell with John Hawkes, Wessex Archaeology and Defence Estates, 2008.
Salisbury Plain Training Area: A report for the National Mapping Programme, Historic England, 2017.
Droving in Wiltshire: The Trade and its Routes, K. G. Watts, Wiltshire Life Society, 1990.
Salisbury Plain Arborglyphs, Dr. Chantel Summerfield, British Archaeology, 2012.
Salisbury Plain: Home of Britain's Military Training, Henry Buckton, Phillimore & Co Ltd (The History Press), 2015.
Boscombe Down 1939-45: A Most Secret Place, Brian Johnson & Terry Heffernan, Janes, 1984.
Militarized Landscapes: From Gettysburg to Salisbury Plain, Chris Pearson, Peter Coates, and Tim Cole, Bloomsbury, 2010.
The Field Archaeology of the Salisbury Plain Training Area, David McOmish, David Field, and Graham Brown, Historic England, 2002.