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Summary

A concentration of earthwork pits and trenches of Second World War date are visible on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards, on Woodbury Common. A number of the earthwork pits appear to be visible on aerial photographs of 1954 and although the earthworks are not clearly visible after this date, subtle earthworks may well still survive.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BOMB CRATER (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))
• WEAPONS PIT (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1412, RAF/106G/UK/1412 RS 4270-71 13-APR-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352504.

The earthwork pits are visible.

Royal Air Force, 1954, RAF/82/1034, RAF/82/1034 F21 006-007 04-OCT-1954 (Aerial Photograph). SDV358441.

A number of earthwork pits are visible.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2014-2015, East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV356883.

A concentration of earthwork pits and trenches of Second World War date are visible on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards, on Woodbury Common. The linear arrangement of earthworks are northwest to southeast aligned and are dispersed across an area of approximately 1 hectare of moderate south facing slope, to the south of the B3180. The earthworks are dominated by small circular to irregular shaped pits and trenches generally between 1.5 to 4m in length/diameter. The earthworks likely represent either artillery shell craters or weapon pits, or combination of the two, associated with Dalditch infantry camp located further to the south. The earthworks are likely to be more extensive than has been transcribed here owing to the subtle nature of the features. Other concentrations of similar such earthwork features are visible across Woodbury Common to the west and southwest. A number of the earthwork pits appear to be visible on aerial photographs of 1954 and although the earthworks are not clearly visible after this date, subtle earthworks may well still survive.

Passmore, A., 2018, Woodbury Common, Devon: Archaeological Survey of Fire Damaged Heathland (Report - Survey). SDV363233.

This document sets out the results of an archaeological survey carried out by AC archaeology on 7 May 2017 and 23 June 2017 of part of Woodbury Common, Devon. The survey covered approximately 31ha of heathland that had been damaged by fire on 23 April 2017.

The currently mapped area of trenches (as recorded from the post-war RAF aerial photographs) is located on the very upper side of a steep west-facing eastern slope of a valley; they do not extend southwest onto the lower part of this slope. The fire has exposed an extensive continuation of these pits extending northeast onto the flatter plateau; the pits continue to the northeast beyond the limit of the fire (formed by existing paths and firebreaks). Within this newly-exposed area the foxholes are mainly the standard rectangular slit trenches (Plate 15), with some being T-shaped and V-shaped, as well as a few longer Z-shaped trenches (Plate 16). All are relatively shallow and may have silted up. The greatest concentration is to the southwest with fewer towards the hilltop to the northeast, where there are occasional outliers (e.g. AC1 and AC2).

Within this area, at SY 03861 87967, is a large pit, the largest single rectangular pit recorded during the survey, measuring 3.5 metres long (east-west) by 2.5 metres wide (north- south) with 2 metres wide, 0.50 metres high banks on all sides (Plate 17). It is located near the highest point of the ground occupied by MDV112543, and may have had a specific function, such as a mortar pit to fire over troops dug in to the south and southwest.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV352504	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/106G/UK/1412. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/106G/UK/1412 RS 4270-71 13-APR-1946. [Mapped feature: #71926 ]
SDV356883	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2014-2015. East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV358441	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1954. RAF/82/1034. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/82/1034 F21 006-007 04-OCT-1954.
SDV363233	Report - Survey: Passmore, A.. 2018. Woodbury Common, Devon: Archaeological Survey of Fire Damaged Heathland. AC Archaeology. ACD1605/1/0. Digital.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)
• EDV8192 - Archaeological Survey of Fire Damaged Heathland: Woodbury Common, Devon (Ref: ACD1605/1/0)

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