Monument record MBC44914 - A Second World War roadside ammunition dump, Snowball Farm

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 A422 Brackley Road between Snowball Farm and Doctor’s Spinney and centred at SP 62860 36050, the ammunition storage area comprises 18 rectangular buildings, each about 5 x 3 metres and laid out in 9 pairs, each pair spaced about 8-11 metres apart over about 162 metres on the north side of the road. 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 not present on aerial photographs taken in 1942 but are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1944 and 1946. All have been demolished by 1961 (1-7).