Barford Camp, Barnard Castle 1970 to 1971

Are there any ARRSERs out there with memories of Barford Camp and Barny?

This was my first posting out of JLRRA in Jan 1970.

I was met at the gate by the Provo Sgt, Paddy Crosbie and ushered to RHQ to begin a great 11 years with 2nd Regt RA.

 

Obviously there are not too many old sweats from this era!

 

What happened to the barracks there? Where was it in the town?


GBTD

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"When the going gets tough, the tough hide under the table"

 

Twizzlelehope, I m not an old sweat as such, however I am a local to that area and was brought up there. Barford Camp one of several camps around, what only a dwindling group of people will know, the town of Barnard Castle, is the only camp that still stands to some extent. Deerbolt became a correctional facility for young offenders, outside it stands an FV432 in Berlin Colours the training area of deep dale with range and assault course to the side is long overgrown and only a few people will know what the strange brick work and butts actually is normally frequented by dog walkers, I played here as a child with mates looking for old bullets still to be found around the range in the early nineties.
Humbleton was completely knocked down and is now a wood by the side of the road leading to Darlington although the track of the camp is still there. Streatlam which I believe was the original Infantry Training Centre is now a farm owned by the family of an old friend who used to come with us on adventures to the old camps. Streatlam is used for Festivals such as a truck festival and Steam Traction Engine Rally. Stainton Camp is still military to some extent. It is owned by Durham ACF and is a county training centre where I used to be a cadet. The centre is new but the old assault course is partially still there as is the Romnet hut and many buildings around it that are either owned by the local council or traders for an industrial estate. There used to be a small TA unit there which was RAMC but it has long since gone.
There is various bits of hard standing and the old building in a field that is now owned by farmers, the hard standing for the fuelling area before Humbleton is still there as well
So to Barford, its now a banger racing track which loops around the old buildings. The gate guard which I never saw but was told about has long gone but when i went there in the nineties I recognise your Avatar as one that was still on the wall in the guard room. The little prison and jails were there. It had been used by reenactors and Northern Ireland training so there was lots of loose ammo and slogans on walls. we camped in the cinema projection room and mucked about in the old camp hospital which has now been bulldozed. So if you take a trip that way you can still see Barford and there maybe one or two women you may remember from pubs like the Beaconsfield (the Montalbo is now history).
My very good friend is a chap called Terry Walker who you may have served with at Barford as he was in 2 RA and at Barford Camp at the same time as you. He filled in the gaps in knowledge on Barford when I was a young cadet.

Hope that helps

 

We hold a reunion in Barnard Castle every august bank holiday weekend and up until a few years ago Barford Camp was part of the event with a nostalgic visit on the sunday morning, nursing the hangovers.

 

I joined the ta at Stainton, happy days.

 

I did Corps Training with 15/19H in 196O at Barnard Castle.GMT and Dvr AFV at Deerbolt,gunnery and radio ops up the road in Streatlam.Went back a few years ago,surprised to see how pleasant the town is,you don't appreciate that sort of thing at 18 yrs.old!Deerbolt is now a young offenders nick,as previously mentioned.

 

Thank you to the OP for possibly solving a puzzle. My long dead uncle was a Gunner and I was in his care in the late 50s to mid-60s. I have a memory of living in quarters in Barnard Castle but the only supporting evidence is the 1959 birth of my cousin in the Catterick Military Hospital.

I didn't realise that there was a Gunner training regiment in the vicinity.

I will undertake some research.

Thanks,

Litotes

 

I was there for a short time, stayed just a few months before discharge and remember Paddy Crosbie, a bit talkative.

 

I think that there was an RAF depot of some sort there as well and if it's still standing, there was also the remnants of an Italian POW camp on the outskirts which still had part of the chapel (complete with paintings) left. I seem to recall that there was concern a couple of years back when someone wanted to level it and build houses on the land. This may all very well be the same place just in different eras. Barnard Castle is a cracking little place, spoiled only by the visitors to those rightfully banged away, who 'case' the town looking for likely targets to hit when they are not visiting their scumbag relatives.

 

That would probably be RAF Bowes Moor, which was a WW2 chemical weapons storage depot.

 

I've settled in Barney, will quiz the in laws. There is definitely remains of a camp near Stainton Grove, the Nissan huts are still there.

Lovely town, but pikey's are a pain on the roadd around Appleby week.

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Was posted to barford camp in 1968 joined 2 field RA and was put into H Radar troop and our gararge was the one nearest to the HQ building and the guard room and yes I remember paddy crosbie small Irish man with a big pay stick and RSM Dobie The co was col Spencer oh happy days

 

Looking at google maps, I'm fairly certain we lived in the Stainton Grove married quarters in 1972 (it's the only oval road I can find in the area)... happy memories of scooters and primary 1, and my goodness the trees have grown up

 

My husband spent two years at Barford Camp from '69. Tony 'Dude' Doody. I remember Terry Walker, Paddie Crosby and Col. Spencer. Tony loved this posting. We went back many years later on a day trip and he was saddened by what he saw.