Wiltshire Tourist Guide

Accommodation near Bulford - Wiltshire

On business, holiday or just visiting friends accommodation near Bulford is available at towns Salisbury and Amesbury as well as nearby villages.

Accommodation at Amesbury | Salisbury

There is a range of accommodation both good quality hotel accommodation, B&B; and several campsites in the vicinity and even campervan hiring facilities near Stonehenge and at Mere

Bulford village is close to the A303 main trunk route to the West of England and 3 miles from Amesbury. The village is on the east banks of the River Avon and although Durrington is close and to the west of the river the two villages are quite separate with a bridge between. Bulford and Durrington are regarded today as the same population centre they grew up independently and have their own historic identity and both are mentioned in the Domesday.

Both Bulford and Durrington have very ancient origins. The name Bulfore is thought to be a corruption of the word Bultesford, the Saxon word for the ford where the ‘ragged robins grow’, a plant common in the UK until recently. The parish boundaries of the village have remained unchanged for more than a thousand years.



The river Avon meanders south past Durrington, Bulford and Amesbury into Salisbury where it joins other rivers then to the open sea at Christchurch in Hampshire.



This large area around Amesbury, Bulford, Durrington and Stonehenge is steeped in ancient history and has been occupied since Neolithic times. Burial mounds and artefacts abound and more recently the Stonehenge Riverside Project, a programme of regular summer archaeological excavations involving five English universities, has been carried out on the west side of the river. This project has uncovered evidence that indicates this whole area around Stonehenge was once one of the most important if not the most important ceremonial centres of the UK. At nearby Beacon Hill overlooking Bulford camp artefacts from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Romano-British and Pagan Saxon periods have also been found.

At the end of the 17th Century three main roads crossed the parish and the main A303 to the West Country is still an important trunk route.

The population of the village has remained pretty static, between 120 and 150 since first mentioned in Domesday and it was not until the end of the 18th century that there was any significant increase. It rose further in the mid-19th century to over 400 but fell shortly after but rose rapidly again with the arrival of the British Army.



The War Office purchased large tracts of land in 1897. Initially with the establishment of rifle ranges tented accommodation and huts were used but along with Larkhill and Tidworth there followed a rapid expansion of building and construction of barracks and administrative buildings prior to the First World War. Permanent brick barracks were built after 1910 and the population in and around Bulford village escalated dramatically. The population today is around 5000.

In 1906 the Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway was extended through Bulford and railway stations built. This railway was still in use up until 1963 when it was removed. Presumably this was part of ‘Doctor Beechings Axe’ or more mildly ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’ and even the British Army did not go unscathed.

From 1905 to 1977 Bulford was the principle base of the Royal Artillery and was the base for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force from 1914-1918. The Kiwi carved into the chalk of Beacon Hill that we see today was cut to commemorate them. From 1977 it has been the HQ if South Western District Command. Bulford Camp today is part of the Tidworth Netheravon and Larkhill Garrison and in recent years there has been a steady expansion of the Army’s presence on Salisbury Plain where the main training areas are.

Whether you are on holiday, visiting family, on business or passing through there is a wide choice of accommodation near Bulford for both visitors and holiday makers. Not only in the numerous Avon valley villages but also in the population centres of Amesbury, Shrewton and Durrington that surround the famous World Heritage site of Stonehenge.

Accommodation near Bulford