Monument record MBC47803 - Practice trenches south west of Wellonhead Bridge, Aston Clinton

Practice trenches of World War I date are visible on remote sensing data as extant earthworks and were mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located south west of Wellonhead Bridge, Aston Clinton, and centred at SP 88709 11337. These practice trenches are approximately 230m outside the northern edge of North Camp at RAF Halton. They are not shown on a plan of the Camp from 1918 but are mentioned in the background information about the camp which describes the construction of ‘a series of trenches’. They were ‘on an elaborate scale and an exact imitation of those at the front’ and were dug by ‘miners from Yorkshire and Durham’ (Francis 2022, p27). They are relatively short lengths of trench and do not link in to the largest area 1000m to the east of this site (see MBC22239). They have survived as low earthworks in a pasture field/paddock and a large garden and measure between 22-48m in length. They may extend further but any earthworks were very slight and not clear enough to be mapped as part of this project.(1-4)