Several remarkable chalk carvings in the Downs of Wiltshire at Fovant, which are clearly visible from the A30 Shaftesbury to Wilton road and in satellite images.
Coordinates are for designated viewing point on the A30.
Several remarkable chalk carvings in the Downs of Wiltshire at Fovant, which are clearly visible from the A30 Shaftesbury to Wilton road.
Coordinates are for designated viewing point on the A30."The Fovant Badges are a set of regimental badges cut into a chalk hill, Fovant Down, near Fovant, in southwest Wiltshire, England. They are located between Salisbury and Shaftesbury on the A30 road in the Nadder valley; or approximately 1/2 mile (800 m) southwest of Fovant. They were created by soldiers garrisoned nearby, and waiting to go to France, during the First World War; the first in 1916. They are clearly visible from the A30 road which runs through the village. Eight of the original twenty remain, and are scheduled ancient monuments and recognised by the Imperial War Museum as war memorials. Further badges have been added more recently.
The Fovant Badge Society holds an annual Drumhead Service which is attended by the Australian High Commissioner, local mayors and members of parliament. These services fund the upkeep of the badges.
After the outlines were cut into the grass-covered hillsides, they were refilled with chalk brought from a nearby slope, up to 50 tons per badge. The badges took an average fifty men six months to complete.
Current badgesReading left to right (north-east to south-west), the badges at Fovant are:
Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (only central part remaining)
RWY 6th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (City of London Rifles) (claimed to be the first of the badges cut here)
6CLR Australian Commonwealth Military Forces (the largest, 51m×32m)
Royal Corps of Signals (cut in 1970 to commemorate the Corps' 50th anniversary)
Certa Cito Wiltshire Regiment (added in 1950)
5th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade)
LRB 8th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Post Office Rifles)
Devonshire Regiment
Centenary badge -
To commemorate the centenary of the first badge, created in 1916, a badge in the shape of a poppy, to represent the poppies that grew in “Flanders Fields” has been created."
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