Monument record MBC44846 - A Second World War roadside ammunition dump, unnamed lane joining Radclive and Chackmore.

Summary

A Second World War roadside ammunition dump is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304).

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Map

Type and Period (3)

  • AMMUNITION DUMP (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)
  • ARMAMENT DEPOT (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)
  • MILITARY BUILDING (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)

Description

A Second World War roadside ammunition dump is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located on the WNW facing side of the unnamed lane joining Radclive and Chackmore and centred at SP 67577 35117, the ammunition storage area comprises 10 rectangular buildings, each about 5 x 3 metres set out in 5 pairs with long sides perpendicular the road, each pair spaced between 9-10 metres apart over a distance of about 75 metres. These portable corrugated iron shelters, or hutments, were usually camouflaged and covered stacks of artillery or small arms ammunition. Roadside storage not only made the ammunition easily accessible but dispersed the risk of a large loss of munitions in one event as a result of a German air raid. A contemporary account of a schoolboy at Stowe School recalls that there were stores of ammunition along the small local roads before D-Day. The munitions storage hutments are present on aerial photographs taken in 1946 but are not visible on aerial photographs taken in 1961, though they were likely to have been demolished by the mid-1950s (1-5).

Sources (5)

  • <1>SBC26084 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2023. RAF-106G-UK-1380 RP 3180 09-APR-1946.
  • <2>SBC26013 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2023. RAF-543-1426 2F42 0352 28-AUG-1961.
  • <3>SBC26004 Digital archive: Center of Military History United States Army Department Washington. 1991. Mayo, L. 1991. United States Army in World War II: The Technical Services: The Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront. Chapter 6: the Base in the British Isles (Pages 97-98).
  • <4>SBC26005 Digital archive: British Pathe. 2023. British Pathé. 1946. 1,500 Miles of Bombs Along Our Roads Aka Ammunition Dumps or Arms Dump.
  • <5>SBC26065 Digital archive: The Stowe Group. 2023. Turner, J. 2020. Wartime Memories of Stowe.

Location

Grid reference SP 6757 3511 (point)
Civil Parish RADCLIVE-CUM-CHACKMORE, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (1)

  • Event - Survey: Aerial investigation and mapping project (Ref: 7768) (EBC18304)

Record last edited

Jan 12 2024 6:41PM

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