From The West Wiltshire District Guide 1978:
Imber was once one of the loneliest and loveliest villages of the Plain. Surrounded by farmland where flocks of sheep wandered among prehistoric barrows, Imber was recorded in the Domesday Book, and in the reign of Edward I Robert de Immere held the manor by “rendering yearly one clove gillyflower”. Thatched cottages, their gardens bright with flowers, stood along the banks of a little stream. To the north was a fine old house, Imber Court, and on rising ground to the south stood the 13th century church of St. Giles. The stream was a winterbourne, dry in summer, but sometimes flooding in winter and the village was often cut off by storms.
Now the village is an uninhabited ruin within the army firing range. Only the church remains, but its 14th century effigies and other treasures have been removed to Edington for safety. An annual service is held in September, and it is possible to visit Imber on certain holiday weekends, but it is a sad pilgrimage for those who remember it as it once was.