Welcome to The Fovant Badges

The Fovant Badges Society is a voluntary organisation, which has the objective of maintaining the regimental badges that were carved into the chalk downs above the village of Fovant by the soldiers of those regiments. The Society is determined that the Badges shall remain an historic, fitting and truly visible memorial to the soldiers who passed through Fovant and its neighbouring villages on their way to the Great War, many never to return. We hope this website provides you a background to the history of the Badges from their creation to the present day. Please remember we are a registered charity relying entirely on voluntary contributions to undertake our work.

The Diary of Henry Peerless

Henry Peerless was a Brighton based timber merchant who liked to travel round the UK between 1891 and 1920 by motor car. An entry in his diary for 15th July 1916 reads as follows:

“Feeling much refreshed, we get going again and pave our way to Shaftesbury. From thence we shape a course for Salisbury. On the way we ran into a huge camp. I think there were at least twelve camps in one long line – thousands of soldiers were about – we drew up, and I asked some soldiers the name of the place - as far as I can understand, they said it was Sutton Mandeville, Fovant Camps.

“On our right hand side, behind the camps, was a range of hills, and we were attracted by a series of regimental crests on the side of these hills, most beautifully executed in, I think, white chalk. They varied considerably in size, and it is difficult to judge at a distance what their dimensions might be, but some were of enormous proportions and must have been quite a big job to execute. They were works of art, and produced a fine effect, and I imagine will be preserved in the future as a memento of the Great War.”

That is the objective of the Fovant Badges Society, Mr Peerless!

(By permission of Edward Fenton, author of ‘Great Diaries from Around the World’ , Day Books)