Spirit of Place: Imber

Today a post about a place I have never been to, and am never likely to go to, because it is now owned by the Ministry of Defence and is used to train soldiers in combat in various terrains, including urban. The village of Imber in Wiltshire was inhabited until 1943, when the population were ordered out so that it could be used for training initially American soldiers. I love the idea of an actual abandoned village, and Imber is one among many. I think for me it is the fantasy of being there alone, or waking up there alone. I realise that this is not a fantasy for the ex-inhabitants of Imber, who still campaign to be allowed to move back there.

Personally I don't feel there would be much point, since it is barely recognisable from its pre-requisition pictures, with the exception of the church which has been left alone as it is an ancient monument. Perhaps part of the fascination (I am quite seriously in love with Imber) is precisely with the sense of loss, of requisition, of combat, love for a place which is surrounded by signs saying you must keep out because it is dangerous. The remains of the village are actually open to the public a few days a year, but other than that it doesn't even get urbexed because if you go to Imber there is actually a very real possibility you will die.
Perhaps it's also a love of the anomalous: below is the census data for Imber (the Wiltshire website characterises it as an extreme anomaly):

Imber Census Information

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Year	Imber	Wiltshire
1801	331	185,107
1811	379	193,828
1821	414	222,157
1831	404	240,156
1841	405	258,733
1851	440	254,221
1861	382	249,311
1871	344	257,177
1881	339	258,965
1891	292	264,997
1901	261	271,394
1911	252	286,822
1921	188	292,208
1931	152	303,373
1951	0	386,692
1961	0	422,950
1971	0	486,747
1981	0	518,545
1991	0	564,471
2001	0	613,024

Source
And it's also Imber's remoteness:

Imber on Google maps