Summary

Ammunition Shelter

Full description

Standing in a meadow to the S of Widford Rectory are the remains of two Home Guard ammunition shelters from World War Two. Although the site has not been accessed they are clearly visible from the boundary with Highlands Park some 50 yards away, with perhaps two feet of the side walls still remaining. Some of the curved corrugated-iron roofing, almost certainly from these shelters, still survives in the hedgerow to the S.

The design is recorded by a local resident who recalls a brick-sided “ammunition shelter” with curved iron roof; the whole structure being half below ground level. An aerial photograph taken in June 1946 shows a tree-line here with nothing visible. However, by 1976 this had been cleared and an aerial photograph taken at that time shows them very clearly. By then, the roofs had gone but the walls still stood. The entrances faced each other, perhaps 15 yards apart. <1> <2> <3>

These ammunition shelters were, typically, erected to support a 29 mm spigot mortar emplacement and it appears highly possible that such an emplacement may lie beneath hedges and undergrowth somewhere along the boundary of this field/Hylands Park to the S.

Four photos of site. <4>

<1> local resident, 1995, Ammunition Shelter, S of Widford Rectory, Widford (Graphic material). SEX65552.

<2> RAF, 1946, 106G-UK 1565-3417, June 1946 (AP). SEX65528.

<3> NMR, 1976, TL6904/1/29, June 1976 (AP). SEX3191.

<4> Nash, Fred, 2005, Ammunition Shelter, S of Widford Rectory, Widford, 4 frames, Nov 2005 (Photograph). SEX65554.

Monument Types

• AMMUNITION SHELTER (WWII, Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Events

• Visit by Fred Nash - Nov 2005 (Ref: Nash CHL Nov 2005)

Protected Status

• Historic Environment Character Zone: Chelmsford 11.2
• Historic Environment Character Area: Chelmsford 11

Sources and further reading

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