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Monument Type(s):

• BOMBING RANGE (Modern - 1939 AD? to 1945 AD?)
• BOMBING RANGE MARKER (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)
• DIRECTION ARROW (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)
• TRACKWAY (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)
• QUADRANT TOWER (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)
• BOMBING RANGE OBSERVATION POST (20th Century - 1900 AD to 1999 AD)

Associated Finds: none recorded

Public Access Information

Full description

WWII bombing range adjacent to Three Parks Wood. May not have been in use for very long due to proximity of RAF bases at Silverstone and Turweston. At least one bombing quadrant tower (see :01) still in existence and bombing target can be seen as a soilmark in nearby field on 1980's APs (see :02) (B1).

A Second World War bombing range is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located across fields between Woodgreen Farm and Whitfield Wood, the bombing range is already established on aerial photographs taken in 1942. The command part of the bombing range is adjacent Woodgreen Farm and comprises a Range Target Indicator, which is a 10-metres-long direction arrow, probably constructed of concrete slabs and painted white that is pointing NNW. It is flanked on either side by 2 circular structures about 3 metres wide. These were likely reversible reflective signal discs that allowed a range of codes to be communicated to the aircraft using the range. Some 8 metres to the SSE of the base of the arrow is a white rectangular structure about 10 x 2.5 metres. Some 31 metres to the W of the direction arrow is a quadrant tower about 3.5 metres square, an enclosed structure probably made of brick or concrete and raised on four legs that acted as the bombing range observation post. About 7 metres N of the quadrant tower is a small 1.5 metres square structure of uncertain function. A further quadrant tower (HER MBC22338) is centred 600 metres to the NE of the target at SP 465364 239362 on the fringe of Three Parks Wood. Linear trackways lead from the direction markers and quadrant tower across the fields NNW for 600 metres to a triangular bombing target centred at SP 464797 239167 (HER No. MBC22340). The target triangle visible on aerial photographs taken in 1944 comprises three rectangular structures of uncertain construction, each about 11 x 2 metres. No other features except a possible bomb crater were visible near the bombing target triangle. By 1946, this triangular structure had been demolished or removed and, in its place, just to the NNW, is a large circular ditch or cut about 2 metres wide, such as seen at a similar bombing range near RAF Beaulieu in Hampshire. Within the circle is a triangle, with each side about 35 metres long. All of the features described have been demolished by 1973, except the quadrant tower at Three Parks Wood which remains extant (2-7).

Sources and further reading

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

• Aerial investigation and mapping project (Ref: 7768)

Related Monuments

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