Norton Manor Camp

Norton Manor Camp
Near Norton Fitzwarren in England
Current entrance to Norton Manor Camp, home of 40 Commando, Royal Marines
Norton Manor Camp Shown within Somerset
Coordinates	51°02′13″N 003°09′17″W / 51.03694°N 3.15472°W / 51.03694; -3.15472Coordinates: 51°02′13″N 003°09′17″W / 51.03694°N 3.15472°W / 51.03694; -3.15472
Type	Royal Marines Base
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Navy
Site history
Built	1940 (1940)
Built for	War Office
Built by	Royal Army Service Corps/US Army
In use	1940-present
Garrison information
Occupants	40 Commando, Royal Marines
Airfield information
Elevation	33 metres (108 ft) AMSL
Helipads Number Length and surface 01 15 x 15m Concrete

Norton Manor Camp is a Royal Marines military camp located in the civil parish of Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north west of Taunton.

Norton Camp is a large hillfort, and shows evidence of occupation from neolithic times. Thought to have been on the boundary between two tribes, it is one of the earliest sites of permanent human occupation within the Taunton area. It was later occupied through the Bronze Age to the Roman occupation of the local area.

By the early 18th century, the land around the hill was owned by Norton Manor. Silk mills had occupied the Taunton side of the brook that marked the parish boundary, while in the early 20th century the Norton side had been developed as parkland, or left as farmland.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Army were in desperate need of modern logistics facilities, positioned with easy access to the major port and transport facilities, yet away from the major Nazi-Luftwaffe targets.

Norton Fitzwarren is on the former Bristol and Exeter Railway mainline, which was operated and then taken over by the GWR in 1890. The station became an important junction station, with access within an hour to:

Resultantly, the station for a relatively small village was quite extensive, having two island platforms creating four platforms. Thanks also to the extensive local silk mills, there were also extensive existing freight handling facilities within the Fairwater Yard, a large regional freight yard located south of the mainline.