Tilshead Lodge
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51°13′34″N 1°57′54″W / 51.2261°N 1.965°W Tilshead Lodge (now demolished) was a large 18th-century country house, southwest of Tilshead in Wiltshire, England, and about 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Salisbury.
Tilshead Lodge was built in the early 18th century, probably as a sporting lodge. By 1760 there were formal gardens to the south of the house, which was rebuilt around 1800.[1]
For most of its life the estate was a training establishment which, until the 19th century, was known as Tilshead Buildings. It is said by local tradition that Charles II stabled his horses there. The Andrews and Dury maps of Wiltshire in 1773 and 1810 show a racing circuit called "Tylshead Race" a mile south of the house,[2] although this was probably built as a training circuit rather than for use in competitive races.
The estate was bought by the War Office in two lots, in 1911 and 1933, in order to extend the Salisbury Plain Training Area.[1] During World War II the house and grounds were used as an army base. An Ordnance Survey map published in 1958 shows the house and outbuildings, with extensive military buildings on the chalk downs immediately to its west.[3] The house was demolished in the 1950s[2] and the military buildings had gone by 1982.[1] Several trees remain near the site of the house, including a cedar and an avenue of limes.[2]