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

ammunition such as 12 bore and revolver rounds, and pyrotechnics for the shells were
stored in more secure Nissen-type ammunition stores. These were constructed from
corrugated steel plates, had a concrete floor, brick ends with doors protected by an outer
brick traverse, and covered in earth to aid concealment (Day 2007). Thirteen of these
brick-built stores were seen on aerial photographs at intervals along the length of the
Grand Avenue, appearing as an elongated mound between 11m and 14m in length, and
approximately 6.5m across. These were surrounded on three sides by a substantial
banked enclosure (between 24m and 26m in length) open on the road-ward side. A
single isolated Nissen shelter was also seen mid-way along Charcoal Burners’ Road. A
number of these shelters can still be seen overgrown with vegetation and in varying states
of ruin within the woodland along the Grand Avenue.
Chemical weapons such as gas were stored in a separate area away from the explosive
ammunition stores. The main site was outside Savernake Forest in the woods of Cobham
Frith. Known as ‘G’ Site, this was kept secret and secured with a 24 hour road block. The
chemical weapons were stored in trenches with sandbag walls and corrugated iron roofs.
A second site, ‘Y’ Site, was located within Savernake between Sawpit Drive and Charcoal
Burners’ Road (Day 2007). The chemical stores at ‘G’ Site in Cobham Frith were visible
on the aerial photographs taken by the USAAF in September 1943 and March 1944.
These stores could be seen to take two different forms. Those on the eastern side of the
road through the woods were relatively small and could clearly be seen to be placed in
excavated pits spaced between 8m and 10m apart in two parallel rows. Two further areas
of stores of more conventional covered shelters were only seen later in 1944 spaced
along two woodland tracks to the east. The location of ‘G’ Site could not specifically be
differentiated from the clusters of storage piles within Savernake Forest.
The lidar derived imagery revealed a number of irregular linear banks enclosing areas of
flat ground on either side of Sawpit Drive, Column Ride and Twelve o'clock Drive
forming a triangular block in the core of the forest. The enclosed areas averaged between
80-90m by 50-55m in size and were evenly spaced on either side of the track. When
their location was combined with that of the storage areas visible on the WWII
photography a strong correlation between clusters of storage arcs and these earthworks
could be seen. Examination on the ground revealed that the banks had no associated
ditch and had the appearance of having been piled up, possibly the result of bulldozing an
area to clear it. In ’Savernake at War‘, Day 2007 mentions levelling ground in preparation
for storage in the woods, so it is possible that these earthworks are the remains of
levelling. However, these features do not appear on the wartime photographs which
clearly show the actual storage shelters. Perhaps these structures post date the storage,
possibly representing clearance of the storage sites after the removal of the ammunition.
These earthworks were recorded in a triangular arrangement of rides roughly
corresponding to the area (described by Day 2007) occupied by the chemical weapons
‘Y’ Site, and may represent clearance of the soil where the toxic weapons had been
stored (Figure 18).
©ENGLISH HERITAGE 42 29-2009