The Fovant Badges are a set of regimental badges cut into a chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 hill, Fovant Down, near Fovant

Fovant

Fovant is a medium-sized village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England. It is located between Salisbury and Shaftesbury on the A30 road in the Nadder valley. Its name is derived from the Old English Fobbefunta, meaning "spring of a man called Fobbe"...

, Wiltshire, England. They were created by soldiers garrisoned nearby, and waiting to go to France, during the First World War, the first in 1916, and are clearly visible from the A30 road

A30 road

The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...

 which runs through the village. Eight of the original twenty remain, and are scheduled ancient monument

Scheduled Ancient Monument

In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...

s and recognised by the Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...

 as war memorial

War memorial

A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...

s. Further badges have been added more recently.

The Fovant Badge Society holds an annual Drumhead Service which is attended by the Australian High Commissioner, local mayors and members of parliament. These services fund the upkeep of the badges.

Construction

After the outlines were cut into the grass-covered hillsides, they were refilled with chalk brought from a nearby slope, up to 50 tons per badge. The badges took an average fifty men six months to complete.

The badges

Reading left to right (north-east to south-west), the badges at Fovant are:

1. Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
   Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
   The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom established in 1794. It was disbanded as an independent Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when the strength of the TA was greatly reduced...
   
    (only central part remaining)
2. YMCA
   YMCA
   The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
   
    it is intended to allow this non-military badge to fade away.
3. 6th (City of London) Battalion, the London Regiment
   London Regiment
   The London Regiment is a Territorial Army regiment in the British Army. It was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform. The Volunteer Force was merged with the Yeomanry in 1908...
   
    (Rifles)
4. Australian Commonwealth Military Forces
   History of the Australian Army
   The history of the Australian Army dates back to colonial forces, prior to the Federation of Australia in 1901. Some of colonial forces, which served the states of Australia at the time, were gradual united into federal units between 1899 to 1903; thus forming the beginning of the Australian Army...
   
    (the largest, 51m×32m)
5. Royal Corps of Signals
   Royal Corps of Signals
   The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the British Army...
   
    (cut in 1970 to commemorate the Corps' 50th anniversary)
6. Wiltshire Regiment
   Wiltshire Regiment
   The Wiltshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 62nd Regiment of Foot and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's Regiment of Foot....
   
    (added in 1950)
7. London Rifle Brigade
   Royal Green Jackets
   The Royal Green Jackets was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division .-History:...
   
   
8. Post Office Rifles
   Post Office Rifles
   The Post Office Rifles was a unit of the British Army, first formed in 1868 from volunteers. The unit evolved several times until 1921, after which the name was lost during one of many reorganisations.-Beginnings:...
   
   
9. Devonshire Regiment

Two as-yet unrestored military badges at Sutton Down (Royal Warwickshire Regiment and the 7th Battalion, The City of London Regiment) and an outline map of Australia on Compton Down

Compton Chamberlayne

Compton Chamberlayne is a small village in south Wiltshire, straddling the A30 road some 8 miles from Salisbury. It is bounded by the villages of Dinton and Baverstock to the north, Barford St Martin to the east, Fovant to the west and Broad Chalke to the south. On its southern border there is high...

are also looked after by the Society.

External links

• Fovant Badge Society