Family of last person to be buried at Imber pay emotional visit

The funeral service for Raymond Alfred Nash was held at the historic St Giles Church in Imber on January 5.

His family obtained special permission from the Ministry of Defence, which now own and manage the uninhabited village, and The Diocese of Salisbury for the service to be held there.

Relations of Raymond Alfred Nash who was buried at Imber in January visit his grave in St Giles Church Yard. Photo: Trevor Porter 69752-7 (Image: Trevor Porter)

Around 25 family members visited his grave on Easter Saturday for the first time since the funeral.

They are only allowed to pay their respects when Imber is opened to the general public on certain days of the year.

His grand-daughter Justine Stenning, 38, said she and her husband, Dave, 38, and their two daughters Ruby, 14, and Olivia, 10, had laid daffodils on his grave.

“The children and me also painted some pebbles which we left on his grave,” said Mrs Stenning, from Devizes.

"It was nice. The weather was bright and sunny and the atmosphere was nice and peaceful."

The family members who attended included Ray’s daughter Vicki David, and her husband Phil, as well as their son Riley and daughters Jenna and Jodi.

“It was mostly Ray’s 13 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren,” Mrs Stenning added.

The small; plaque on Ray Nash's grave at Imber. Photo: Trevor Porter 69752-8 (Image: Trevor Porter)

Mr Nash, 87, died on December 6 last year and lived in Devizes but had been born and christened in Imber.

Mr Nash left the village after his father died, relocating to his mother’s family home at Potterne Wick.

His dying wish was to be reunited with his father Jim, who is also buried there and died when Ray was just one year old.

The family also visited the house with no roof where Mr Nash had lived before the family moved away from the village.

The uninhabited 'ghost village' of Imber. Photo: Trevor Porter 69752-10 (Image: Trevor Porter)

All the residents of Imber were evacuated in December 1943 during the Second World War.

The village was used as a military training ground for American troops in the run-up to the D-Day Normandy landings in June 1944.

The villagers were given just six weeks to pack their belongings and leave. They were assured that once the war was over they would be allowed to return.

The historic St Giles Church at Imber. Photo: Trevor Porter 69752-9 (Image: Trevor Porter)

The military never gave Imber back to the residents, however, and more than 70 years later it remains in the heart of the MoD’s Salisbury Plain training area and off-limits to visitors except for a few weeks each year.