Aldershot Military Town is the area between Aldershot and North Camp near Farnborough. It is a garrison town that serves as the location for the military presence in the area. It houses Aldershot Garrison's married quarters, barracks, Army playing fields and other sporting facilities. It is mostly centered around the junction of Queen's Avenue and Alisons Road. The military town includes some local landmarks, such as the Aldershot Observatory, Aldershot Military Cemetery, the Royal Garrison Church and other churches. The town used to be the corps headquarters for the Royal Corps of Transport and the Army Catering Corps, these were merged into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993 and the corps headquarters moved to Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert showed a keen interest in the establishment and development of Aldershot as a garrison town in the 1850s, at the time of the Crimean War. They had a wooden Royal Pavilion built which they would often stay in when attending reviews of the army. In 1860 Albert established and endowed the Prince Consort's Library, which still exists today.
Aldershot Military Town is separate from the town of Aldershot and comes under its own military jurisdiction. It was home to the The Parachute Regiment from its formation in 1940 until it moved to Colchester Garrison in 2003. Many famous people have been associated with the Military Town, including Charlie Chaplin who made his first stage appearance in The Canteen theatre aged 5 in 1894, and Winston Churchill, who was based there in the 19th century during his stint in the Army.
The area also houses various military and regimental museums, including the Aldershot Military Museum, housed in a red-brick Victorian barracks. Until December 2007 the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum was in Aldershot Military Town. It has since moved to the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
In recent years plans have been unveiled for local government and planners to redevelop some of the Military Town according to Aldershot's urban extension 'AUE'. In August 2007 a request was made by Hampshire County Council to Aldershot magistrates to extinguish Highway rights from Defence estates of Pennefathers Road (the site of the bombing) as a public road. Although the road has been closed with controlled access since the tragedy, it was recently decided that with impending redevelopment it would be necessary to 'formalise the closure'.
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Famous quotes containing the words aldershot, military and/or town:
“Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn,
Furnish’d and burnish’d by Aldershot sun,
What strenuous singles we played after tea,
We in the tournament—you against me!”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“My faith is the grand drama of my life. I’m a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith. I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colours for those who see none.”
—Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
“Close to the academy in this town they have erected a sort of gallows for the pupils to practice on. I thought that they might as well hang at once all who need to go through such exercises in so new a country, where there is nothing to hinder their living an outdoor life. Better omit Blair, and take the air.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)