Hearson Camp

[jay dubaya]

Imagine to my surprise recently when I picked up a copy of our parish (Burton & Rosemarket) summer newsletter and read of Hearson Camp at Hearson Mountain.

During 1914 a battalion of the Welsh Regiment moved onto land at Hearson Mountain and set up a military camp.

The fields were divided up into smaller areas. The field next to the road (now known as Hill Mountain) was used for digging trenches and tunnels, then there was an area used for exercise and a sports field, next there was a small number of huts erected for officers quarters and recreation hall. The next area down towards the farm (Hearson Farm), there was a large number of wooden huts to accommodate the troops and provide wash rooms and baths. The next area down almost opposite the farm was where the stables were built to house the horses.

A lot of Cavalry and Artillery training was done close by at Newton Mountain (about half a mile away), which at the time was covered in furze and fern, trenches were also dug there, evidence of this showed up years later when the mountain was ploughed up during the 2WW years, different colour soil showed up where the trenches had been dug and later filled in.

When the training of the troops was complete, a large number of them moved onto other camps whilst others went to the front. As this was going on, Portuguese troops were moving into Hearson Camp, their duty was to dismantle the whole camp and prepare it for transporting it away, as it would no longer be required. Also the land which had been used for training was to be reinstated, which meant it had to be ploughed and cultivated before handing it back to the farmers concerned.

‘Burton Parish’ a local book written by H.J Dickman M.B.E contains the following...

One of the immediate results of the arrival in the parish of soldiers with their demands for Sunday newspapers and shopping facilities, was to signal the end of Traditional Sunday Observance.

I have since discovered that one of the huts mentioned found it’s way into Rosemarket as a humble abode for Grandad Brick and his chickens. The hut is still standing here today and used as our local village hall...

I have also discovered that it was the 1/5th Welsh who were at Portmadoc on their annual training camp in August 1914 when they were ordered to their War Station.

The battalion moved to Fort Scoveston (a local inland Palmeston Folley) for a few days before moving off to Hearson Camp a few miles away.

At Hearson Camp in anticipation of a possible German raid on the west coast, it was employed in conjunction with the rest of the South Wales Infantry Brigade in making a series of redoubts and in outpost work.

In October 1914 the battalion left Hearson and took over the Haven Forts (Palmeston Follies) from the Brecknock Battalion on their departure for Aden.

Does anyone have any further information on Hearson Camp or the Haven Forts most of which are no more than a couple of miles from where I live. Also looking for information on the 1/5th Welsh, anything as always is much appreciated...

cheers, Jon