Monument record MBC44905 - A Second World War roadside ammunition dump, Welsh Lane

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 along Welsh Lane and centred at SP 65041 37750, the ammunition storage area comprises 6 rectangular buildings about 5 x 3 metres spaced about 10 metres apart and set out in a line in along the both sides of the road over about 45 metres, with 3 on the north side and 3 on the south side. 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. The munitions storage hutments are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1944, 1946 and 1947, but all have been demolished by 1961 (1-6).