An incredible UK ghost village has remained uninhabited for 80 years following a chilling evacuation order. Some people in the little settlement left items in their cupboards in the hope that they might soon be back – but the day never came.
Now, the Wiltshire village of Imber doesn’t even have a postcode, after the House of Lords turned down a petition to let people back in, owing their decision to one ominous reason. It was home to 152 people before they were told to leave, and one person even died of heartbreak shortly after being forced out.
The original evacuation order came in November 1943, after the War Office had expanded their land in Wiltshire. The county was perfect for military operations practice – and with vast swathes of American soldiers reaching the UK to prepare for the D-Day landings, officials decided it was best to get the villagers out to prevent anyone getting caught in the crossfire, reports The Mirror.
The residents were given 47 days to leave, and went under the impression they would one day be back. Sadly for them though, that never materialised, and to this day Imber remains an active military training zone with no inhabitants. Nevertheless, people are allowed access to the ghost village for 50 days per year, although warnings of possible unexploded military debris keep people strictly on the public carriageway into the village.
Once the Nazis had been defeated, the villagers united in a “Forever Imber” campaign in an attempt to convince politicians to let them go back home. While the petition reached the House of Lords, it wasn’t enough to get them back.
At the time of evacuation there was a Baptist chapel, a post office and a pub called the Bell Inn. The pub still remains, as does the manor house, Imber Court, while other unscathed buildings include a farmhouse, cottages, a schoolroom and four ‘council’ house-style blocks which were built in 1938.
Since being used as a training site, many of the other buildings have suffered shell and explosion damage, and most of the village has fallen into disrepair. A public inquiry said Imber should continue to be used as a training site, but the church must be maintained and opened for worship on the Saturday closest to St Giles’s Day each year – a practice which still remains.
The village has since been used for urban environment training for soldiers going to Northern Ireland.
