The Tank Museum

Bovington, Dorset BH20 6JG

Tel: 01929 405096  Fax: 01929 405360

e-mail: info@tankmuseum.co.uk

website: www.tankmuseum.co.uk

The Tank Museum, defined by the Government as a Designated Collection, houses the world's finest and most extensive indoor collection of armoured fighting vehicles. It tells the story of tanks and armoured warfare illustrated through scientific and technological developments, woven together with the stirring story of human endeavours on the battlefield.

In 1919 the tanks came back from France and hundreds of them, awaiting scrap, filled the fields around Bovington, where tank training had started in 1916. A few were rescued from the scrapman and fenced off from the rest. The plan was to provide young Tank Corps soldiers with an idea of their heritage and tank designers with historical references. When Rudyard Kipling visited Bovington in 1923 he suggested that a proper tank museum be established, and the museum, its stock much expanded after the Second World War, opened to the public in 1947. The Museum has a large model, book and gift shop, fully licensed restaurant, grass picnic area, outdoor play area and ample car and coach parking. Bovington still trains all branches of the Army in tracked vehicle driving and its tank repair workshops are one of the largest employers in the county.