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Summary

Six circular and v-shaped cropmarks are visible on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, and are tentatively interpreted as infilled slit trenches dating to the early part of the Second World War. It is possible that some buried remains survive, but a car park now covers the site of several of these features.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• MILITARY SITE (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• SLIT TRENCH? (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1501, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1501 3277-3278 13-MAY-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349927.

Six cropmarks or earthworks are visible as low flat pale areas.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1655, NMR RAF/106G/UK/1655 4023-4024 11-JUL-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV349996.

Two of the six cropmarks are visible, one appears to be a raised earthwork.

Royal Air Force, 1958, RAF 58/2555, NMR RAF/P58/2555 PSFO-P1 0367-0368 SS4643/3-SS4643/4 01-SEP-1958 (Aerial Photograph). SDV350309.

A car park is located on the site of three of the cropmarks, and the others are not visible.

British Broadcasting Corporation, 2006, WW2 People's War, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/94/a1969194.shtml (Website). SDV350519.

'Trenches were dug on the top of the dunes down to the Boathouse cafe and along the cliff tops, bordered with sand bags. Machine gun posts were set up in strategic positions in the village, one opposite The Red Barn {known then as The Bungalow Cafe}, one at the end of Springfield Road and the toilet above the beach were even pressed into service as the windows were blocked up and a seaward facing machine gun was installed !!' woolacombegirl, BBC People's War, 04-NOV-2003

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S., 2011 - 2012, North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV349018.

Four splayed v-shaped features and two roughly circular features are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s. They overlook the beach and some seem to have been obscured by vegetation between May and July 1946. The v-shaped features are 6 metres wide and 20 metres in length and the circular features circa 8 metres in diameter, but there is no evidence of any superstructure although one is visible as a low flat earthwork. It is likely that they were associated with defence of the Woolacombe area in the earlier part of the Second World War, having become disused but not completely removed during the US Army training focussed here in the later war years. A plausible explanation is that they were slit trenches that had been infilled and reseeded; trenches along the cliffs are mentioned in an oral history account gathered in 2003, and the cropmarks are similar in size and shape to open slit trenches visible just to the east (MDV103263). It is likely that below-ground remains of the two v-shaped cropmarks centred at SS4546644027, SS4552843928 and SS4576943597 survive, but a car park may have destroyed those closer to the beach.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV349018	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S.. 2011 - 2012. North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. ACD383/2/1. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV349927	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/106G/UK/1501. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR RAF/106G/UK/1501 3277-3278 13-MAY-1946. [Mapped feature: #62737 ]
SDV349996	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/106G/UK/1655. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR RAF/106G/UK/1655 4023-4024 11-JUL-1946.
SDV350309	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1958. RAF 58/2555. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR RAF/P58/2555 PSFO-P1 0367-0368 SS4643/3-SS4643/4 01-SEP-1958.
SDV350519	Website: British Broadcasting Corporation. 2006. WW2 People's War. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/. Website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/94/a1969194.shtml.

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6132 - North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty NMP Project

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