The United States Army built a camp in Ogwell and shooting range in Denbury in the run up to the invasion of Europe in 1944. The site was taken over by the Royal Corps of Signals junior training Regiment. The construction of Channings Wood Prison began on the former Ministry of Defence site in 1973, by a combination of contract and prison labour. The prison officially opened in July 1974,although some of the wooden huts remained in use whilst building and landscaping continued into the eighties.