Monument record 8630/1/13 - WWII dispersed site 3 (Communal), Silverstone Airfield

Part of the dispersed living quarters provided for workers at Silverstone Airfield during WWII. The camp is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project.

{4} Aerial photograph March 1946: RAF AP ref:- 3G/TUD/UK86 6044 26.3.46. (ident by P Markham). DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY: Shows airfield related buildings within and adjacent to the eastern part of Hazelborough Wood. Main areas of buildings area at SP65654240; SP66104235; SP65804220 and SP 66304255. The plan on p.272 of Gibson (1982) indicates these are part of Sites 3, 5, 9 and ?8.

{6-15} A Second World War Royal Air Force camp is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of Historic England’s North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project. Located within The Straights woodlands and centred at SP 66142 42361, Site 3 (Communal) was one of 10 satellite camps for military personnel serving at adjacent RAF Silverstone, an operational wartime military airfield. Aerial photographs taken in spring 1942 show the airfield under construction at that time. The camp had yet to be created. By 1943 the airfield was operational. Communal Site 3 comprised a sergeants mess, officers mess, the officer commanding’s quarters, airmens institute, ablution blocks and latrines, gymnasium and sports facilities, a barbers shop, storehouses, a 22,000 gallon emergency water supply tank, a brick and earth-bermed blast shelter, a fuel compound and transformer station, and a sentry post. Aerial photographs taken in 1963 suggest that most of the buildings have been demolished by that date. By 1973, the woodland has been felled and all of the remaining buildings and structures have been demolished, except for the road system, the stand by set house, the emergency water tank, and the Mechanical & Electrical (M&E) plinth, which acted as an electrical transformer/junction box. On aerial photographs taken in 2019, these features appear to remain extant. Recent remote sensing indicates that many rectangular concrete platforms laid for the camp buildings remain intact within the woodland

<1> Hall D.N., 2001, Northamptonshire Woodland Survey Archive, (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN109590.

<2> Hall D.N., 2000, Forest Enterprise Woodlands In Northamptonshire: Whittlewood Forest And Other Woods, Archaeological Survey, Part 3, p.10 (unchecked) (Report). SNN100485.

<3> Hall D.N., 2000, The Historic Landscape of Whittlewood Forest: Historic Landscape Mapping, (unchecked) (Report). SNN102634.

<4> 1946, Aerial Photographs, (unchecked) (Photographs). SNN51679.

<5> Gibson M.L., 1982, Aviation In Northamptonshire: An Illustrated History, p.272 (unchecked) (Book). SNN100276.

<6> RAF, 1945, RAF Silverstone Record Site Plan All Sites 1/2500 scale No. 1757/45, June 1945 (Plan). SNN116527.

<7> Royal Air Force, 1940s, RAF Vertical Aerial Photographs, RAF-HLA-544 RV 6104 20-MAY-1942 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN105266.

<8> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 PORT 13053 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<9> Royal Air Force, 1940s, RAF Vertical Aerial Photographs, RAF-3G-TUD-UK-86 RV 6045 26-MAR-1946 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN105266.

<10> Royal Air Force, 1940s, RAF Vertical Aerial Photographs, RAF-CPE-UK-1926 V 5230 16-JAN-1947 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN105266.

<11> Vertical Aerial Photograph, MAL-63617 V 117992 12-OCT-1963 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<12> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-73336 V 541 24-JUN-1973 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<13> Vertical Aerial Photograph, OS-91166 V 12 16-AUG-1991 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<14> Vertical Aerial Photograph, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery 14-SEP-2019 SP6642 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<15> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, LIDAR SP64SE Environment Agency National LIDAR Programme DTM 1 Metre dated 2019 SP6642 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

Record last edited

Nov 26 2024 12:47PM