savernake forest a report for the national mapping ... - English Heritage

occurred between 1894 and 1911, and the woodland was leased and managed by the
Forestry Commission from 1939. Since then there have been programmes of replanting
and management of the woodlands both with deciduous and some (20% of the forest in
1995) coniferous trees (Crowley 1999).
In 1723 the 3 rd Earl of Aylesbury redesigned the parkland of Tottenham House under
guidance from Capability Brown (Day 2007). This included the planning of the two
straight rides – Column Ride extending WNW from the house to the Marlborough-
Andover road, and Grand Avenue aligned NW following close to the course of the
Roman road. Where the avenue met at the London road, two great gate piers were
erected. Between 1764 and 1786 this redesigning shaped the woodland around
Tottenham House establishing parkland clearings, paths, drives and the nodal point called
the Eight Ways – the meeting point of eight rides corresponding to the points of the
compass (Crowley 1999). These rides are in actual fact slightly skewed from the true
compass points to align Great Lodge Drive on the two former lodges to the east and
west.
World War II
The onset of the Second World War set in motion events which were to alter the lives
of the people of Britain. In particular, quiet rural areas frequently found themselves
suddenly exposed to fundamental changes with the establishment of the numerous
military installations. Marlborough and surrounding villages and the woods of Savernake
Forest were all to play their part in the nationwide war effort. At nearby Ramsbury an
airfield was established, which for most of the war was manned by American forces of the
USAAF, and Savernake Forest was designated as a military ammunition dump, again
serviced by American soldiers for much of its life. The arrival of the huge numbers of
American servicemen in this sleepy English backwater must have had a massive impact on
the lives and outlooks of the local population. Surprisingly, despite the intensity of the
wartime activity in the area, very few traces survive in the landscape today.
Marlborough Landing Ground
Prior to the war a small private airfield known as Marlborough Landing Ground had been
established to the south of Marlborough just west of the A346 close to Postern Hill in
fields adjacent to Brown’s Farm. From 1936 the airfield was being used regularly by
Chilton Aircraft Ltd and by the RAF Central Flying School (CFS) based at RAF Upavon for
forced-landing tuition. All private flying ceased with the outbreak of World War II, but the
CFS continued to use the site until 1942 when operations moved to Overton Heath
(Day 2007). No trace of the airfield could be seen on wartime photographs, presumably
because the grass landing strip was never consolidated. The site of the airfield
encompasses that of the 2 nd -4 th century AD villa and possible late prehistoric temple
enclosure described in the Villa Estates section above and it would seem that no extant
trace of the villa or the metalled road leading to the site survived to cause obstruction to
landing aircraft.
Ramsbury Airfield
The major part of this section is derived from the work of Berryman 2004.
Located on a plateau above the River Kennet at the northern edge of the survey area, the
©ENGLISH HERITAGE 38 29-2009