Monument record MBC44987 - A Second World War roadside ammunition dump, Poplar Farm, Preston Bissett.

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 leading south out of Preston Bissett village about 320 metres S of Poplar Farm and centred at SP 65659 29255, the ammunition storage area comprises 18 rectangular buildings, each about 5 x 3 metres and laid out with long sides parallel with the road. 16 buildings are set out in 8 pairs: with 6 pairs and a single building on the W side of the road and 2 pairs and a single building on the E facing side. Each pair of buildings is separated by about 7-8 metres and the ammunition dump extends SSW-NNE over about 126 metres. These portable corrugated iron shelters, or hutments, were usually camouflaged and covered stacks of artillery or small arms ammunition. A local eyewitness recalls stockpiles of ammunition that were kept by the roadside in small Nissen-type huts with tarpaulins on the ends. Roadside storage not only made the ammunition easily accessible but dispersed the risk of a large loss of munitions in the event of an explosion, whether accidental or the result of a German air raid. The munitions storage hutments are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946 and 1947, but all have been demolished by 1949 (1-6).