Salisbury Plain selected as location for new military visitor attraction
8th January 2015
Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire has been selected as the preferred location for construction of a new military visitor attraction, museum and exhibition centre by the Royal Artillery Museum.
As well as helping grow Wiltshire^s visitor economy, and providing facilities for the local community to host exhibitions, meetings and events, it is expected the new attraction will generate over 50 new jobs on site.
Currently located at Woolwich, the historic home of the Royal Artillery Regiment since 1716, the Royal Artillery Museum traces the regiment^s history from that time onward with a comprehensive display of artillery weapons, archives and medals in a designated collection of international standing.
Recognised as one of the leading accredited military museums, The Royal Artillery Museum plans to develop a new Museum of Artillery and Salisbury Plain Heritage Centre near Stonehenge in Wiltshire.
This will not simply be a military museum, but a purpose-built visitor attraction, with diverse appeal for children and adults of all ages, with a panoramic restaurant overlooking 22 kilometres of the untouched beauty of Salisbury Plain.
Planned to open in Spring 2019, The Royal Artillery Museum has launched an ^25m appeal to support the new Heritage Centre and the development of a purpose built attraction and education facility, designed to attract the general public, enthusiasts and schools groups wanting to discover the combined stories of artillery, the military history of Salisbury Plain, the Archaeology and Ecology of the local area.
Construction of the attraction will be preceded by a full programme of consultation and engagement with local and military communities.
Above is "a pr^cis of the information released by the Museum and Visit Wiltshire". The museum is expected to attract a further visitor volume of 150,000 per annum from all over the
UK▸ . (adding to Stonehenge 1.25 million pa.). The new Stonehenge is already bursting at the seams with visitor numbers and looking to enhanced parking - there's an opportunity here for some joined up thinking, as referred to in my "looking forward" notes of a few days ago at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=15215.msg169460
