大象传媒

Drivers using the A30, west out of Salisbury, are often taken by surprise by the remarkable sight of huge insignia carved into the hillside, just as they drive into Fovant.

Luckily, there鈥檚 a layby that quick witted drivers can pull into, thereby securing themselves a more leisurely appreciation of the view.

And it鈥檚 impressive. Even though the badges are just under half a mile away, they stand out clearly; the pure white of their chalk form contrasting with the verdant green of the hillside.

There are eight of them now but there used to be 20 according to Richard Bullard from the Fovant Badges Society.

鈥淭he first badge was cut in 1916 with the last one appearing in 1970鈥�, says Richard. 鈥淭hey were started by troops stationed here in the First World War, and carried on after World War Two. As such, they span the major conflicts of the 20th Century.鈥�

Of the eight badges visible, five date from WW1. The badge for the 6th City of London Regiment dates from 1916; the Australian Imperial Forces crest recognises that country鈥檚 connection with Wiltshire; the London Rifle Brigade鈥檚 badge is thought to be the oldest on the hill. The Post Office Rifles and the Devonshire Regiment badges insignia up the WW1 badges of Fovant.

Of the remaining badges, The Wiltshire Yeomanry and Wiltshire Regiment crests were cut in the 1950s by former members of the Fovant Home Guard. The Royal Corps of Signals badge is much later, cut in 1970.

Richard says he鈥檚 impressed by the ingenuity of transferring the designs from page to hillside: 鈥淭he soldiers would have drawn up the image on paper, and used grids to break down the design, transferring that to the hillside using a larger grid, made from sand, probably. But it鈥檚 the angle of the hillside which presents the challenge. To get the perspective right from the camp in the valley, you鈥檇 have to make the top of the crest larger than it should be. I think they were very clever.鈥�

Fovant鈥檚 camp saw around 20,000 soldiers go through its doors during the war. The soldiers took three months to cut a badger, using early hours to do the work, before target practice took place on the butts at the bottom of the hill.

Soldiers would muster at 5am with diaries of the time saying that finding volunteers was 鈥榥o difficulty鈥�. The soldiers dug trenches to the required design and then filled them with chalk, mined from nearby. When coming down off the hillside, the soldiers used their spades and shovels as toboggans to slide back down to camp.

The question of why the badges were cut isn鈥檛 known, according to Richard: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very good question and we don鈥檛 really know the answer. Certainly boredom might play a part in it, enabling soldiers to escape the confines of the camp. Also, there鈥檚 regimental rivalry to consider. We know that the badge for 6 CLR, or City of London Regiment, is only as big as it is because another battalion in the same regiment cut one bigger than the original 6 CLR badge!鈥�

There is a suggestion that the badges are also a form of legacy, left by soldiers who knew what awaited them on the battlefields of France and Belgium.

鈥淲e know that soldiers came here to be treated in the Fovant Camp hospital and these patients cut some of the earlier badges,鈥� says Richard. 鈥淚t could be that there was certain knowledge within the camp of the horrors of the Front and so to leave their mark above Fovant was their way of saying they were here.鈥�

Men like Rifleman Henry Snow, of the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Post Office Rifles cut the badges. He鈥檚 photographed standing on the badge with the valley behind him. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a wonderful picture,鈥� says Margaret McKenzie of the Fovant History Interest Group. 鈥淏ecause the badges are so huge, he looks quite small, standing there in his neat uniform. He wouldn鈥檛 have worked in that; they worked in singlets and trousers, of course. But he does look quite proud.鈥� Henry Snow survived the war.

Richard says the badges are a poignant reminder of sacrifice and service: 鈥淚鈥檇 like to say that in recent years, the badges have become important to a lot of army families, so their relevance to Britain 鈥� and to Australia 鈥� continues because unfortunately we still get involved in conflict. They鈥檙e a very important memorial.鈥�

Location: Fovant, Wiltshire SP3
Photograph of an aerial view of the Fovant badges, courtesy of Fovant Badges Society
Presented by Margaret McKenzie and Richard Bullard

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