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Summary

The Arborfield Remount Depot was established in 1904. The function of the depot was to receive newly-purchased remounts and prepare them for service with the Army. The Depot was officially closed in 1937. The Scheduled Infirmary Stables are the only significant surviving built element of the Depot.

Monument Type(s):

• REMOUNT DEPOT (Edwardian to Mid 20th Century - 1904 AD to 1937 AD)
• REMOUNT DEPOT (First World War - 1914 AD to 1918 AD)

Description

In 1904 the War Office decided to set up two additional Remount Depots, one at Melton Mowbray and the other at Arborfield. The officer first appointed to the Arborfield Remount Depot was Captain Quartermaster J. Barry of the 1st (Kings) Dragoon Guards. He established the Depot and remained in charge until the spring of 1914. The purpose of the remount depots was to supply and care for horses for the military following the Boer War.

In 1904 a parcel of land for the Depot was leased and then later purchased in 1911. The land acquired for the Arborfield Remount Depot was part of the Bearwood Estate and comprised an area of 250 acres. In later years the eastern boundary was marked by a strip plantation of fir trees, which offered horses at grass some protection from extreme weather. Only a vestige of this plantation now remains and its place has been taken by the Sandhurst-style barracks.

At the time of leasing by the War Office in 1904, the land was worked by three farms: Bigg’s Farm, Old Bigg’s Farm and Ellis’s Farm (all three have since been demolished). Since the whole of the land was devoted to agriculture it offered all the facilities needed by a remount depot; pasture for grazing, land under plough to raise forage and outbuildings for stabling. The stables could accommodate around 150 horses but many more could be run at grass as the Remount Depot was largely open grassland with few trees and buildings.

The function of the depot would be to receive newly-purchased remounts and prepare them for service with the Army. Remounts were not trained at depots, but instead were already broken-in when purchased as 5 year olds. However they still had to be schooled in military manoeuvres both tactical and ceremonial, and become accustomed to sights and sounds peculiar to the Service, such as gunfire. This training was undertaken after a remount had joined its regiment.

It was also a normal practice for the depots to take in from neighbouring regiments any horses in need of a period of rest, as many were, after long annual manoeuvres. Being close to the garrisons at Aldershot and Southern Commands, Arborfield probably shouldered quite a heavy commitment in this respect.

The headquarters of the Depot was Bigg’s Farm, with its main gate on the old Reading Road. The outbuildings located at the depot included a quadrangle of wooden stabling and sheds which became the ‘Main Yard’. Ellis’s Farm provided the isolation lines where animals with contagious diseases could be segregated from the rest of the stock. The only additional stabling that appears to have been constructed in the early days of the depot was a small block of wooden ‘Reception Stables’ where newly purchased remounts were housed until they were seen to be free from infectious illness.

At a later date – probably around 1912 – two blocks of loose boxes were built to the east of the Main Yard to provide ‘Sick Lines’ for animals in need of veterinary treatment. These two blocks were officially described as ‘East Infirmary’ and ‘West Infirmary’. These Infirmary Stables are extant today, and are the only significant surviving built element of the original remount depots (see monument record 01008.00.000). They remain virtually unaltered from their original construction <4>.

The quartermaster, veterinary officer and farrier-major were apparently the only serving soldiers at the Depot. The rest of the staff, probably no more than 50, was all civilians. In 1906 Moat house was built as the residence for the officer in command and at a later date Old Bigg’s farm was demolished.

The principal problem addressed by the Remount Service in the years preceding the First World War (WWI) was that of providing the Army with the additional animals it would require as soon as mobilization was ordered. Countrywide 115,000 animals were impressed for military service in twelve days following the outbreak of WWI under the horse Requisition Scheme.

In the spring of 1914, the Remount Service was expanded in anticipation of a greatly increased commitment on the outbreak of war. The acreage of Arborfield was increased, and a strip of farmland was purchased beyond the eastern boundary of the Depot; it stretched from Langley Common Road to Common Field Lane and it included Langley Common Farm. Temporary stabling was constructed to accommodate a further 600 horses. In order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases the horse lines were dispersed throughout the depot. They were sited beyond the Main Yard opposite the area on which the Garrison Hall now stands; to the south-east of the Infirmary Stables; and to the east of Biggs Lane, in an area known then as ‘Bigg’s Land’. The design of this stabling was like a Dutch barn; two open-sided rows of stalls protected by a roof. Quartering was also erected near the Main Yard to house the military staff who would arrive at the Depot on mobilization. Much of this temporary accommodation was still in use at the end of the Second World War (WWII).

The character of the Arborfield Remount Depot changed sharply on the outbreak of war. The staff that were of an age were enlisted in the Army and overnight a military hierarchy emerged. The influx of requisitioned animals was such that additional grazing had to be taken at Arborfield Court, Carters Hill, Swallowfield Court and elsewhere. During the war, several thousand animals passed through the Depot. The Depot was also a source of local employment during the First World War, and the Reading Mercury advertised for grooms.

Post-war as the disposal of the surplus animals diminished in intensity many depots and remount squadrons that had been raised during the course of the war were disbanded. Only the permanent remount depots such as at Arborfield survived the run down. There was also a realisation that the use of unprecedented levels of mechanisation in WWI meant that the British armed forces would never need to use horses in conflict in the numbers that were previously required.

Arborfield became responsible for the purchase, holding and distribution of draught animals. As the demand for these animals was high, Arborfield became a larger depot than Melton Mowbray. In the 1920’s, the Depot at Arborfield was largely rebuilt in keeping with its enhanced status within the Remount Service. Bigg’s Farm remained the Headquarters and ‘Main Yard’ with stabling for around 100 horses. Willis’s Farm became the home of the remount farm. Langley Common Farm was developed as the animal infirmary. Langley House was refurbished to provide a more elegant residence for the veterinary officer. An open courtyard of loose boxes was constructed to the rear of Langley House where over 50 horses in need of minor veterinary treatment could be accommodated.

With the construction of Langley Sick Lines, the old Infirmary Stables at Biggs Farm were no longer required for accommodation of sick animals. The stables were re-appropriated to house horses which had been selected for issue to units. To the rear of the stables a cinder exercising ring was laid where remounts could be shown to the prospective owners and a Riding School was built.

Elsewhere in the Depot, many of the wooden horse shelters that had been erected prior to the First World War were replaced by permanent brick stabling. In the ‘Highlands’ to the east of Biggs Lane, four blocks of stabling were built. A further four blocks were constructed beyond the ‘Main Yard’ and were known as Kingsclere Lines. These were demolished in 1960. A block of reception stabling was erected opposite Kingsclere Lines to house newly arrived animals until they were seen to be free of infectious diseases.

In its heyday in the 1930’s the Arborfield Remount Depot was a sizeable establishment with a civilian staff of over 150 men (all of which were old soldiers with previous service in the army). The Depot occupied an area of over 300 acres, of which most was pasture and more than 500 horses and mules were normally to be found there. The various services needed to supply and administer the Depot were grouped around the Main Yard; fuel stores and forage barns, a pay office and medical room. The Depot also had an engine shed.

By the mid 1930’s, the mechanisation of the Army was rapidly proceeding at such a pace that the days of the horse unit were numbered. A War Office committee was set up in 1936 to review the organisation of the Remount Service. It recommended that a small establishment could satisfy future operational plans, and that the Depots at Arborfield and Melton Mowbray should be replaced by a ‘Remount Wing’ in the School of Equitation in Weedon. The Depot at Arborfield was finally closed in June 1937. By 1939 the site had been transformed into the Army Technical School (Boys) and became the ‘Arborfield Garrison’ <1>.

The Scheduled Infirmary Stables (NHLE list entry number 1006949) <6> are the only significant surviving built element of the Depot, comprising two ranges of stables built c.1911-12 for sick horses in the Arborfield REME Depot. See HER Record 01008.00.000.

<1> Colonel Bob Hume, 1984, Arborfield and the Army Remount Service 1904-1937 (Bibliographic reference). SRM14646.

<2> Colonel Bob Hume, 1979, Arborfield and the Army Remount Service (Unpublished document). SRM14645.

<3> AMEC Environmental & Infrastructure UK Limited, 2013, Arborfield Garrison Landowners' Consortium Heritage Statement and Significance Evaluation (Unpublished document). SRM14556.

<4> Oxford Archaeology, 2007, Infirmary Stables Arborfield Garrison, Wokingham, Berkshire - Buildings Risk II Survey (Unpublished document). SRM14555.

<5> ADAS UK Ltd, 2016, Historic Environment Desk-Based Assessment Hogwood Park, Finchampstead (Unpublished document). SRM15292.

<6> Historic England, The National Heritage List for England, List entry number: 1006949 (Index). SRD12029.

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