called the Bell Inn, which still stands; as do the manor house, Imber Court, and a farmhouse, farm cottages, a small school house and four "council house" type blocks built in 1938. Eviction and military use In the late 19th century the War Office began buying land on Salisbury Plain, primarily to the east of Imber, and using it for manœuvres. Beginning in the late 1920s, farms around Imber were bought, as well as the land on which the village sat. The pressures of agricultural depression, combined with the good prices offered by the military, encouraged the sale of land, with few being put off by the new conditions of their tenancy, which allowed the War Office to assume control and evict the residents if necessary. By the time of the Second World War, almost all of the land in and around Imber, except the church, vicarage, chapel, schoolroom and the Bell Inn, belonged to the War Office. On 1 November 1943, with preparations for the Allied invasion of mainland Europe under way, the people of Imber were called to a meeting in the village schoolroom and given 47 days' notice to leave their homes; Imber was to be used by US forces to practise street fighting. Richard Madigan's evidence to the Defence Lands Committee (DLC) stated that street fighting practice never took place and that his and others' duties were to keep the village in good repair for the villagers' eventual return. The reason for eviction was the village's proximity to shell impact areas. Although upset about being forced to leave, most villagers put up no resistance, even leaving canned provisions in their kitchens and taking the view that it was their duty to contribute to the war effort in this waymaking sacrifices on the Home Front for the greater good. Compensation for the move was limited and the occupants of one farm had to be forcibly evicted by the Army. Albert Nash, who had been the village blacksmith for over 40 years, is said to have been found sobbing over his anvil and later became the first resident to die and be brought back to Imber for burial. It was said that he died of a broken heart after being forced to leave the village. After the war, the village was used extensively for training, particularly preparing soldiers for service in the urban environments of Northern Ireland during