Monument record MBC45007 - A Second World War roadside ammunition dump, Casemore 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 E facing side of the road leading south out of Preston Bissett village about 220 metres N of Casemore Farm and centred at SP 65552 28766, the ammunition storage area comprises 13 rectangular buildings, 12 of which are about 5 x 3 metres an 1 about 8.5 x 2 metres extending over about 92 metres. 6 buildings are laid out on the roadside verge with long sides parallel with the road: the remaining 7, including the longer building, are laid in the field out behind the road hedgeline with long sides perpendicular to the road, contained within what appears to be a barbed wire entanglement. These portable corrugated iron shelters, or hutments, were usually camouflaged and covered stacks of artillery or small arms ammunition. A Steeple Claydon 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 and 1947, but all buildings and barbed wire have been demolished by 1949 (1-6).