The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I was looking up the history of the army camps around Ripon in North Yorkshire during WW1. Ripon was one of the biggest training camps with around 30,000 soldiers in training at any one time. I found the details of the range that was built in 1915 for musketry training. It was a large 600 yard range, well over twice the size of the Century range at Bisley, with a total of 240 targets. It lasted for only 6 years or so, closing in 1921. The butts were demolished at the end of WW2 and now nothing remains of one of the largest ranges built in the UK. The site is now just farmland. A club member who is in his 70s and has lived in Ripon all his life had no knowledge of the range but knows the locations of the camps and the rail line to them. I suppose, due to the need to close a road in the danger area when the range was in use, it didn't have a future use in civilian ownership. There won't be anyone left alive today who saw the range in use. All on the verge of being forgotten about.
Regards
Peter.
https://bishopmonktontoday.chessck.co.u ... riflerange

Thank you for that, Peter. The link was interesting. My Grandfather was part of the 31st Division that built the ranges and it is mentioned in Jon Cooksey's book about the Barnsley Pals.