Fovant Badges
The Fovant Badges are a set of regimental badges cut into a chalk hill, Fovant Down, near Fovant, in southwest Wiltshire, England. They are located between Salisbury and Shaftesbury on the A30 road in the Nadder valley; or approximately 1⁄2 mile (800 m) southwest of Fovant. They were created by soldiers garrisoned nearby, and waiting to go to France, during the First World War; the first in 1916. They are clearly visible from the A30 road which runs through the village. Eight of the original twenty remain, and are scheduled ancient monuments and recognised by the Imperial War Museum as war memorials. 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.
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.
Reading left to right (north-east to south-west), the badges at Fovant are:
To commemorate the centenary of the first badge, created in 1916, a badge in the shape of a poppy, to represent the poppies that grew in “Flanders Fields” has been created.
Except for the YMCA badge, which resided on the hillside for a long time, several of the other lost badges were short lived, small and crudely constructed.
Two as-yet unrestored military badges at Sutton Down (Royal Warwickshire Regiment and the 7th Battalion, The London Regiment) and an outline map of Australia on Compton Down are also looked after by the Society. Along with YMCA's badge at Fovant, these three figures were allowed to grass over in 2005. The Australian map and 7th Battalion badge faded soon after, but the shape of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment badge could still be made out in the trees around it as of 2008.
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