Rifle Range And Targets

The Rifle Range and Targets in Upton upon Severn dates to around 1860 and is constructed of blue and red brick laid in English bond. The main wall, known as the stop wall, stands approximately 7 meters high and 30 meters long, with end sections that return at roughly 45 degrees, referred to as the screen walls. The structure is supported at the rear by three stepped buttresses. The front wall, which faces down the range, is primarily made of hard blue brick with some red brick patching, while the rear elevation is of red brick featuring limestone caps on the buttresses and moulded brick at the angles. The wall has brick coping.

Originally, the wall across the front included roofed cubicles or supported a wooden platform for raising targets, but this feature is now fragmentary, with remnants reaching up to the level of joist holes in the stop wall at about a third of its height. Targets, often made of paper and hung on frames, sometimes metal, were raised using pulleys. Later alterations and extensions, mostly in red brick, were made to the screen walls and front wall, creating a protected covered way for the operators.

The rifle range was established in response to the Crimean War and the formation of rifle volunteer units across the country in the late 1850s, as part of a broader effort to strengthen British defenses. In Worcestershire, 21 independent rifle companies were formed, with the Upton Company being the 19th. In 1860, these companies were organized into two administrative battalions. The range was built for target practice on an area of charity land known as the Upper Ham and was used by the County Territorial Army Association until 1925, and again during the Second World War by the Home Guard.