Monument record MBC44995 - A Second World War roadside ammunition dump, Cowley 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 both sides of the Chetwode to Calvert road about 405 metres NE of Cowley Farm and centred at SP 66692 28336, the ammunition storage area comprises 10 rectangular buildings, each about 5 x 3 metres and laid out in 5 pairs, with long sides parallel with the road extending over about 120 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 in the area 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, but all have been demolished by 1949 (1-6).