Monument record 0660603002 - Westcott rocket test site K

Summary

Cold War rocket motor test stands K1 and K2 at Westcott.

Protected Status/Designation

  • Listed Building (II) 1403968: K1 test-stand, control room and ancillary buildings, former Royal Ordnance Establishment, Westcott
  • Listed Building (II*) 1403971: K2 test-stand, former Royal Ordnance Establishment, Westcott

Map

Type and Period (1)

  • ROCKET TEST FACILITY (Modern - 1958 AD to 1984 AD?)

Description

Rocket motor test stands survive in two principle groups; those associated with firing solid fuel rocket motors and those asociated with liquid propellants. The largest solid fuel firing points are at K site. K1 test stand was built in late 1950s to allow rockets to be fired in an inverted position with the flume of gasses observed through the open roof and is the only one of its type known in Britain, still in use until the late 1980s. K2 was built in the late 1950s for test firing rocket motors in a horizontal position, the exhaust gasses deflected by a wall of refractory concrete (B5).
K1 and K2 sites are towards the western end of the NE-SW aligned runway, K1 is built on the runway itself, K2 is adjacent on the north edge of the runway (B7).
K1 test stand listed grade II and K2 test stand listed grade II+ in May 2013. See detailed descriptions, history and reasons for designation (B16, B20).

Sources (6)

  • <3>SBC19273 Bibliographic reference: Wayne D Cocroft. 2000. Dangerous Energy. p251; Fig 8.29.
  • <4>SBC19274 Unpublished document: RCHME. Monument Details :Royal Ordnance Factory Westcott.
  • <5>SBC19422 Bibliographic reference: English Heritage. 2001. Cold War Monuments: an assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme.
  • <7>SBC23214 Unpublished document: David Radford (BCC). 2007. Map extracts annotated with brief notes and photographs taken during site visit in August 2007..
  • <16>SBC24342 Digital archive: English Heritage. 2013. National Heritage List for England: Listing Entry.
  • <20>SBC24346 Digital archive: English Heritage. 2013. National Heritage List for England: Listing Entry.

Location

Grid reference Centred SP 70469 16915 (2m by 58m)
Civil Parish WESTCOTT, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (0)

Record last edited

Oct 13 2017 2:51PM

Comments and Feedback

Do you have any questions or more information about this record? Please feel free to comment below with your name and email address. All comments are submitted to the Heritage Portal maintainers for moderation, and we aim to respond/publish as soon as possible. Comments, questions and answers that may be helpful to other users will be retained and displayed along with the name you supply. The email address you supply will never be displayed or shared.