TOURISM could get a welcome boost if the Royal Artillery’s museum moves to Wiltshire.

The RA wants to build a museum in Larkhill, to replace its existing one, Firepower, in Woolwich, which is currently up for sale.

Firepower is selling its south-east London home and talking to the Ministry of Defence to obtain land on Salisbury Plain. It is due to leave in 2017, because of low visitor numbers, says Greenwich Council.

The new museum would also be a heritage centre and could be built within the next five years.

Artifacts from the museum will be put into storage, with some being restored with the help of the Arts Council.

The Royal Artillery, with regiments at Tidworth and Larkhill, has been working with a number of key partners in developing the project, including Wiltshire Council, Visit Wiltshire, the South West Local Enterprise Partnership and parish councils.

Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott said: “I think it’s a really exciting project. Wiltshire is well known for its Army links. The fact that the Royal Artillery Museum is thinking of coming here is fantastic.

“It will be really good for tourism, because it is such a well-known and fantastic attraction and it will be close to Salisbury and Stonehenge, so it will give people who are visiting a reason to stay.”

The attraction will let visitors be immersed in the 300-year story of the Royal Artillery with one of the UK’s largest military collections. It is expected to create more than 50 jobs.

Peter Wragg, the chairman of Visit Wiltshire, said: “One of our advantages is the amount of tourism that Wiltshire already gets and Stonehenge obviously pays a big part in that.

“What is needed is a secondary attraction in the area, to get visitors to stay overnight and we are hopeful that this could be it.

“This new attraction will be a fantastic boost in growing Wiltshire’s visitor economy and will have a significant impact in encouraging visitors to stay longer and spend more throughout the county.”

“We are looking at sites because it needs to be sympathetic in terms of ecology and history.”

Regimental fact file:

  • Commonly known as the Gunners, the Royal Artillery provides firepower to the British Army.
  • The introduction of artillery into the English army came around the time of the Battle of Crécy in 1346, but the recognition of the need for a permanent body of artillery did not happen until 1716.
  • The title Royal Artillery was first used in 1720.
  • By 1757, the regiment had 24 companies divided into two battalions, as well as a cadet company formed in 1741.
  • The regiment was under control of the Board of Ordnance until it was abolished in 1855, when it came under the War Office with the rest of the army.
  • On July 1, 1899, the Royal Artillery was divided into three groups: the Royal Horse Artillery, the Royal Field Artillery and the Royal Garrison Artillery.  This lasted until 1924, when the three amalgamated again as one regiment, but the Royal Horse Artillery, with its own traditions, uniforms and insignia, still retains a separate identity.
  • The Royal Artillery was based at Woolwich until 2003 when it was decided to move to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. The last troops left Woolwich in 2007.