Norton Manor Camp, or RM Norton Manor, is a Royal Marines base located near Norton Fitzwarren, north west of Taunton, Somerset, in England. It is home to 40 Commando.
In 2016, the government announced that Norton Manor Camp would be closed by 2028. However, this decision was reversed in February 2019 following a successful local campaign.
History
Norton Camp
Norton Camp is a large hillfort, and shows evidence of occupation from neolithic times. Thought to have been on the boundary between two tribes, it is one of the earliest sites of permanent human occupation within the Taunton area. It was later occupied through the Bronze Age to the Roman occupation of the local area.
By the early 18th century, the land around the hill was owned by Norton Manor. Silk mills had occupied the Taunton side of the brook that marked the parish boundary, while in the early 20th century the Norton side had been developed as parkland, or left as farmland.
Second World War
Logistics depot
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Army were in desperate need of modern logistics facilities: Norton Fitzwarren is on the former Bristol and Exeter Railway ('B&ER') mainline, which was operated by the B&ER until 1 January 1876 when it was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway.
The station became an important junction station, with access within an hour to:
North: Bristol, Cardiff and Gloucester, then onwards to the industrial Midlands
South: Exeter, and hence to HMNB Devonport
East: Yeovil and the LSWR mainline, onwards to all of the major south coast ports, including Portsmouth and Southampton West: branch lines to and
Resultantly, the station for a relatively small village was quite extensive, having two island platforms creating four platforms. Thanks also to the extensive local silk mills, there were also extensive existing freight handling facilities within the Fairwater Yard, a large regional freight yard located south of the mainline.
US Army G50 depot
Commissioned by the Royal Army Service Corps after completion as a logistics and distribution depot for them in early 1941, the United States Army took over Norton Manor Camp as part of Operation Bolero in 1942, one of their 18 supplies depots within the United Kingdom. Redesignated Quartermaster General Depot G-50, they equipped it with extensive railway sidings to the north-east of the railway station. Part of the reasoning behind the choice of the depot was that it was one of five within the 18 designated as a US Army Medical Corps supplies depot. Medical supplies were allocated of under cover storage, and a further outside. The US Army also locally developed the 67th General Hospital at Musgrove Park. Both facilities under the control of the US Army Medical Corps came into operation on 1 September 1942.
Prisoner of War Camp: No. 665 Cross Keys
In 1941, the British Army established a 300-person Prisoner of War (POW) camp on a northern part of the site at Burnshill, designated POW Camp No.665 Cross Keys. Initially housing Italian Army prisoners from the Western Desert Campaign, it later housed German prisoners post the Battle of Normandy.
Post War Ordnance Depot (1945–1978) After the end of hostilities, the US Army handed the base back to the British Army. Re-designated No.3 Supply Reserve Depot, the Army equipped it with a civil workforce, who were charged with sourcing, buying and then packing various supplies packs, mainly ration food but also other supplies, for British Army units stationed around the world.
Despite extensive lobbying by local Member of Parliament Edward du Cann on the Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Army Merlyn Rees, the decision was made to close the depot in 1966. With the branch-line to also closing under the Beeching Axe, the station at Norton Fitzwarren was closed by British Railways in October 1966.
British Army training base (1950–1983) The northern part of the camp was separated from the ordnance depot after the war and took the name Norton Manor Camp. From 1950 until 1961, it was home to 8 (Basic Trades) Training Battalion of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).
From the early 1960s to the late 1970s, the base was the main camp of the Junior Leaders Regiment of the Royal Army Service Corps, later Royal Corps of Transport from 1965.
Royal Marines operational base (1983–present) In 1983, 40 Royal Marines Commando moved from Seaton Barracks, Plymouth, where they had been based since their return from Singapore in 1971, into Norton Manor Camp, which became the base for an operational unit for the first time in its history.