PLANS for when The Rifles are given the Freedom of Wellington later this summer are beginning to take shape.

The Army’s largest infantry regiment, The Rifles, is to be granted the Freedom of the Town on June 17 in recognition of its links with Wellington dating back nearly 400 years.

And Wellington Town Council’s clerk Dave Farrow, speaking to the authority’s town centre committee, said: “The plans are moving forward with pace now.”

The Rifles will parade through the town from Wellington School from about 2pm and go down South Street and into Fore Street and stop outside the town council offices for the official Freedom ceremony before the parade continues down Fore Street and into Bulford and back to Wellington School via an entrance by Wellington Community Hospital.

Mr Farrow said: “The parade should only take between 20 and 25 minutes to complete.”

But he said there would be other activities going on during the day to mark the occasion with Wellington Recreation Ground provisionally booked to host re-enactment groups.

The local regiment of the Somerset (Prince Albert’s) Light Infantry 13th Foot was formed in 1685 in the aftermath of the Duke of Monmouth’s defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor.

The regiment then became part of the Somerset Light Infantry and was involved in the famous Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington – as part of the Peninsular Wars – and commemorated with the Wellington Monument.

The Somerset Light Infantry eventually became part of The Rifles – the Army’s largest infantry regiment – in 2007.