200 yard Moving Target Ranges

Ageree, thanks for the Walney photos. Here's one I took from a slightly different angle in 2005, looking inland from W1 (which is on its side as can be seen in Google, etc.) towards what's left of W2...

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Will add some of other range remains if this image works !

JohnG

Some more photos of remains:

Dumfries
W1 was all there and half of W2 was still extant in 2005. The circuit of track was built on a slope so part of it was in a shallow cutting and part on a small embankement.
Wall W1

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Wall W2

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Silloth
Very little remains but parts of W2 still ther in 2005. Trackbed visible in some parts with a bit of an embankment on the Southern side.
Seaward end of W2 looking at location of W1

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Southwestern corner of W2

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I'll post some shots of the Theddlethorpe Turret/Workshop building soon,
JohnG

Dumfries - the Bull was on holiday when I went !

Theddlethorpe

I've visited the site here 2-3 times and there's quite a few remains including walls W1-3 and the Turret building or workshop, possibly the best or only remaining example. I spoke to a local chap who was a child when the range was built (he thought in 1936-7) and then after the war he worked for the RAF as a general handyman on the site. He said that as a child the airmen used to give him rides on the target trolley and that it was "...a bit scary" !! I bet it was

Looking at GoogleMaps it shows the complete layout at Theddlethorpe. Roughly in a line along the centre, left to right, we have:

1. The barracks for trainees - the buildings just to the right of the red roofed building. The current grounds of the barracks (the green area between the yellow fields) also contain some WW2 looking relics. Barracks are now some form of hostel or sheltered accommodation.
2. The extant turret workshop is roughly in the middle of the view.
3. Then the 'normal' walls W3, 2 & 1 are still complete.

Photos are:

• W3 - note additional brick structure at northern end of wall - any ideas what it might have been used for ? It's on the sheltered side of W3 so would people have been in it observing or something ?
• W1 complete with earth bank
• W2 looking towards W1 and the sea

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My theory is that Theddlethorpe may have been the first 200yd MTR built and some, if not all, others were copies with minor variations, but I'm more than happy if others have alternative thoughts.

I'll post more stuff about the turret workshop next.
JohnG

Movingtarget;33930 wrote:

My theory is that Theddlethorpe may have been the first 200yd MTR built and some, if not all, others were copies with minor variations, but I'm more than happy if others have alternative thoughts.

John,

If the guy who gave you the dates s correct then it might have been the first. It might also explain the odd location and possible Manby connection.
I must admit I have never given much thought to dates so it would be great if some these could be given "used from xxxxxx to xxxxx" in the audits list or just a from date.

Well, when I spoke to him about 3-4 years ago he seemed pretty certain of the dates. Parts of the site were begun in 1935 and then the MTR a little later, 1936-7, he was quite clear about it being before the war. He said he used to come home from school and help out building up the earth banks using a horse and cart - the range being on his family's farm. He also said that other times when he got home from school it was his job to round up the sheep grazing on the range so that the airmen could start firing.

I also wondered why the MTR was located there when a lot of the others seemed to be more remote (from Europe), such as Hell's Mouth, Millom, Wigtown, etc., well, that's until the recent finds elsewhere on the East coast. Dates would be useful I feel, I'll see if I've got any others.