Monument record MBC44910 - A Second World War roadside ammunition dump, Shalstone

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 road junction between the A422 Brackley Road and the lane leading to Huntsmill Farm and centred at SP 63989 36023, the ammunition storage area comprises 7 rectangular buildings about 5 x 3 metres spaced out in 3 pairs and a single over about 135 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. The munitions storage hutments are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946, but all have been demolished by 1961 (1-4).