IF You Go Down to the Woods Today.......

(The following paper was written by myself and NJR for Hallam Environmental Consultants/South Yorkshire Biodiverity Group Woodland Archaeology Conference in 2006 as a poster presentation. It was written for an audience not familiar with the subject and was very constrained to word limit, scope and to be within a contextual remit, etc., so please forgive its generalisation!)

IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY – YOU MIGHT FIND AN AIRFIELD!

The 'monuments' of war are self-evident throughout the landscape, with the British Isles having witnessed invasion and counter-invasion over the past two thousand years or more of recorded history. Many of these extant monuments are well known and consequently, well recorded: the Roman forts and roadside camps, Hadrian's Wall, Offa's Dyke and the great Mediaeval and post-Mediaeval castles; they are all very familiar. They have become embedded not only as 'permanent' features of the landscape but have also passed into the culture of our heritage and part of this fabric. More recently, recognition has started to be given to some of the existing visible landscape elements of a more recent conflict, World War 2 and to a certain extent, the air war which was conducted not only over the British Isles but the offensive strikes made from these shores by air. This brief paper concentrates upon aspects of that legacy left by that campaign and its relevance to woodland archaeology.

Prior to World War 2, in what is termed the RAF Expansion Period, the peak of which was roughly between 1934 and 1937, the Air Ministry Aerodromes Board was formed, working closely with the Air Ministry Land Branch, who had the authority of land requisition. Under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act (1939), permission was granted to take immediate possession of suitable land and buildings and approved by a 'competent authority' – i.e., requisitioning. During World War 2, the considerable expansion of the Royal Air Force as an offensive device entailed the building of a great number of airfields. The construction programme during the War years, peaking in early 1941, with 132 airfields being opened (by the end of 1943 a further 290 had been completed), witnessed dramatic landscape changes: the requisitioning of land, the removal of sometimes ancient hedgerows and the mechanical levelling of fields, modifications to existing roads, land drainage and so on; these areas also included woodland.

Official documentation is unclear as to the doctrines surrounding the dispersal of domestic and other accommodation facilities in woodland. However, it becomes clear from map evidence, both pre-War, contemporary Record Site Plans and current Ordnance Survey maps, that woodlands were considered to be an integral part of the overall layout of airfields as part of the efforts to conceal them. Clearly it was impossible to hide, totally, such a landscape feature as an airfield but efforts could be made to disrupt their outlines. The runways and technical site layouts could not really be altered but attempts were made using a number of surfaces to 'dull' their appearance including covering the concrete with tarmac and wood chip, 55 000 tons of wood being used for the purpose in 1942 alone. The dispersal of associated domestic sites could also reduce conspicuousness.

Initial inspection of official Record Site Plans, produced by the Air Ministry, reveal intimate details of airfield layout and how they fit into the landscape. The following examples discuss how existing woodlands were employed in not only the camouflage of an airfield site, but just how 'dispersed' some of these sites were. These observations are based upon the bomber airfields of the East Midlands and Yorkshire constructed between 1941 and 1944. Much of the woodland archaeological interest lies within the surrounding countryside, away from the airfield site itself. As bomber airfields, the delivery of ordnance was the raison d'etre for these sizeable sites. Located away from the dispersed domestic and technical sites, it is not unusual to find the existing roads, structures and earthworks at bomb storage areas.

RAF BARDNEY, LINCOLNSHIRE
Bardney airfield was opened in 1943. The dispersed areas were located to the south-east of the airfield over eleven sites. Some of these were constructed in open country but two accommodation sites were located in existing woodland. The first sites which deserve investigation are the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) site, site plan nos. 10 and 11, the WAAF Quarters Site and the WAAF Communal Site. Whilst some, more exposed sites, had trees planted around them to break up their outlines and help them blend in with the landscape these two particular sites (10 and 11) at Bardney were built into existing woodland, formerly called North Spring Wood. The name itself gives away the previous management (most likely coppice), of the woodland. Likewise, Site No. 2, the Administration Site housing the Station's Operations Block, is located in a small corner of a larger tract of woodland, New Park Wood, which itself forms the east and south-eastern boundary of the airfield site. Indeed, it lies directly underneath the flight path of the main runway!

Around the airfield, to the north, is situated the bomb dump. Apart from the main airfield and technical site, this area singularly takes up the most ground and again is built into a pre-existing woodland – Austacre Wood. Construction of the airfield too a bite from the wood's north-western side but the remainder is extent today, albeit largely in plantation form although there are some veteran trees to be seen and some ancient woodland indicator species. It is also the home to a population of one of the Country's most elusive little – but non-native - deer, the Muntjac. Contained in this area, one cans till see the service roads and earthworks of the bomb dump and fuzing points.

RAF RICCALL, YORKSHIRE
This former airfield, opened in late 1942, is situated approximately one mile east of the current A19, near the village from which it takes its name. It can sometimes be questioned as to how the Air Ministry came to select airfield locations, as Riccall is built on boggy heath but build it they did, across Riccall and Skipwith Commons. The fourteen dispersed sites were built to the south and south-east of the airfield at the very edge of pre-existing parcels of woodland: Site No. 2 and Communal Site No. 1, for example, are build next to and partly in Ling Plantation and Osgodby Common, alongside the former Market Weighton turnpike road.

Unusually, RAF Riccall retained fragments of woodland upon the the airfield site itself and today, parts of the airfield remain within a tract of secondary or plantation woodland to the northern side of the airfield. This has resulted in some farm tracks and the like having near motorway-width roads – the former runways and perimeter track. Amongst the encroaching trees and understorey can be found a number of Stanton air raid shelters, pre-fabricated concrete modular structures to accommodate between 25 – 50 people, plus a number of other visible remains.

At Riccall, perhaps one of the most striking features of the airfield site is the bomb dump, now incorporated into Skipwith Common Nature Reserve (Yorkshire Wildlife Trust). Located to the north-east of the airfield site, visible remains are very evident. Perhaps the most obvious earthworks are the earthen structures designed to deflect blast should an 'incident' occur. Also extant are the low brick walls and concrete loading ramps, a common feature at many surviving bomb dumps, where the ordnance in its un-fuzed condition would be rolled into the compounds. To mitigate against damage from blast, wooded areas, where possible, were chosen to cushion any shock from explosion. To complement the natural canopy of any tree cover afforded, camouflage netting was draped over these enclosures.

RAF ASHBOURNE, DERBYSHIRE
The airfield of Ashbourne is unusual in being constructed so near to the high ground of the Peak District. And the surrounding hill claimed of often fatal aircraft write-offs between 1942 and 1945. Opened in July 1942, the airfield site itself was built on open land, requisitioned by the Air Ministry earlier that year. As with many other airfields, Ashbourne was largely built on arable land but again used existing features such as roads, trackways and hedgerows to help minimise conspicuousness. However, in the years since the end of the War these areas have become quite dense parcels of woodland, although they contain many landscape archaeological artefacts such as hut bases, blast shelters and air raid shelter.

Whilst the airfield building programme had a hug and occasionally devastating impact upon the requisitioned land, they have left and indelible mark upon the environment in which they appeared. This huge amount of almost constant construction has left us with an archaeological legacy which cannot be underestimated and some is secreted in the small parcels of either relict or secondary woodland which is dotted around the countryside. It would seem that, to an extent, the circle is being closed, as woodland which once used is now to hide these buildings and the people who lived and work there, is now reclaiming these areas. As time erodes the physical fabric of the airfields themselves these woodlands will be, along with the memorials which accompany them, if interpreted correctly, a more constant reminder of what was there before.

Only yesterday I took my car for its MOT test at Saxondale village near Bingham, Notts., and the test station was in former farm buildings, up a semi-surfaced road on the west side of the village. The road/track continued past the test station, so while the car was being tested I took a stroll along the road, going over a railway bridge labelled 'Lammins Bridge'. From the raised bridge I could see over the next field, and on the skyline was a sizeable wood. On the edge of the trees I could see a pillbox, and I realised that it must be on the eastern edge of what was Newton Airfield. Were there buildings within the wood during WW2 ?

Yes. Dawsons Plantation, the wood, was the site of the bomb stores. See the Newton thread for photos and info.

To be precise, it was the site of the SAA (Small Arms Ammunition) stores (now demolished). The bomb store was over the far side of the airfield, near where Oatfield Lane and Shelford Hill meet.

That's correct Ossie. Dawsons Wood had three Danger Buildings and what I am pretty sure was a Grenade Store.