ARMY REMOUNT DEPOT, ARBORFIELD.

Army Remount Service.	Army Service Corps.	Army Veterinary Corps

[Source: print media]

Farmland to army garrison

Until nearly 100 years ago the land now occupied by the sprawling garrison of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers at Arborfield was known as Bigg’s Farm, reputed for its abundant corn crops and owned, like most of the land at the time, by the Walter Family.

Then, in 1907, several farms were sold. The War Office bought one and, almost overnight, an army of workmen had moved in and transformed the great meadows into a vast camp of wooden huts and stables.

Within a short time hundreds of horses began to arrive and Arborfield Cross became a Remount Depot and one of the Army’s main training centres for chargers, cavalry and gun-carriage horses, the forerunner of today’s modern army base there.

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(above) AAS Arborfield site marked in red

Contributed by: anonymous deceased estate

“Bigg’s Farm” – site of the Army Remount Depot & from 1939 The Army Technical School (Boys)

Arborfield Cross is in the north-west corner of the map. “Old Biggs’s Farm” became part of Arborfield Garrison

The R.S.M.’s House 1930

Arborfield Army Remount Depot

and (below) another view

Army Remount Depot Stables.

To read an article on life at the Remount Depot, CLICK on the PHOTO above to visit the Arborfield Village History web site. Many more articles on the subject are available on the web site.

Army Remount Depot Stables (2018). Copyright © bbc.com/news.

To view a BBC Video clip on the refurbishment of the stables, CLICK on the PHOTO above.

A tribute to the many thousands of horses who passed through the remount depots.

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New material added 15th July 2020.

Sculptor Amy Goodman describes the thinking behind the concept of the Memorial to the many horses that passed through the Arborfield Army Remount Depot, and shows the many steps, and her outstanding skills, that go to constructing such a superb tribute to them. To view the Video (off site), just…

CLICK  ‘HERE’.

Video Credit; Copyright © Paul French.

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New material added 1st July 2021.

The Arborfield Horses Revealed. 11th June 2021.

After an unavoidable delay, due to the restrictions in place during the Covid-19 Pandemic, the eagerly awaited unveiling of the Memorial to the ‘Arborfield Horses’ took place on the 11th June 2021. The group of three sculptures, crafted by Sculptor Amy Goodman, give a dramatic demonstration of the the service that the thousands of horses, and mules, that passed through Arborfield, and other Army Remount Depots, gave to Kings and Country through two world wars. Although renamed as Arborfield Green, their location will ever be remembered as The Arborfield Garrison by those service men and women who spent time there. The stables In particular will be relevant to those boys and girls who served their apprenticeships in the garrison. When the Army Technical School, Arborfield, was built in 1939 the stables and hospital wing of the Remount Depot were incorporated into the grounds of the barracks and remained so through all the many changes of title of the school. In full view of passers-by, the Memorial will be a permanent reminder of Arborfield’s links to military history. The occasion was covered by BBC News (South).

To view a BBC Video clip of the ceremony, please CLICK HERE. (External web site).

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Below, some of the Army Remount Depot inmates

”Not familiar with “Puff Billiards” or “Billard Nicolas”?

To read a ‘Wiki’ explanation (External web site).

(Depending on your location, you may need to use the site ‘Translate’ button).

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Editor’s Note:

15th September 2016.

The ‘Remount Depot’ was the start of the ‘Arborfield Garrison’ and went on to see the construction of the Arborfield Army Technical School which opened in 1939. The stables, or sick bay, for the horses is the only remaining building from those very early days. Steve Bacon runs the Arborfield Village History site and very kindly reviewed our site and made some photos available to us (see Army Remount Depot Stables photo above). He has since produced an article ‘Stampede on Barkham Road’ which can be accessed by clicking on the title which leads to an external site. It contains a lot more detail and is published in the ‘Wokingham Remembers’ site.

A backup copy of the ‘Stampede on Barkham Road’ article is available on site in a pdf. format and can be accessed by using the link below. Please allow time for the download to complete.

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First Published: 15th March 2007.

Latest Update: 1st July 2021.

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Arborfield Garrison