Monument Type(s):

• VEHICLE SHED (Second World War - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Summary

Maintenance sheds, built to serve the engineering requirements of RAF Atcham.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA8484 - 2015 Management survey of Second World War structures at RAF Atcham by Paul Francis and Paul Bellamy
• ESA9919 - 2020 Building survey of Motor Transport Vehicle Sheds, former RAF Atcham, Attingham Park Estate by CPAT

Description

WW II maintenance sheds the photograph of 2014 shows three bays the central bay being modern and it is possible the orignal description is incorrect with a modern shed added betweent the two rather than demolition as in following original description. Pair of WW II maintenance sheds, northern of the pair replaced in c.1980".Pair of long brick built sheds 63 x 9m; 4" machine brick with butresses, steel framed windows, shallow pitched roof with corrugated asbestos covering. Constructed to serve the engineering requirements of Atcham aerodrome 1941-2. The northern of the two was demolished and replaced with a steel framed building c.1980 for agricultural use. <1>

Visited in management/condition survey in 2015. The motor vehicle sheds and yard at Atcham is a first generation austerity design that was constructed on aerodromes between 1940 and 1941. The architect is Frank Lambert, ARIBA (Lambert was the most prolific of all wartime AM architects) who has based it on the pre-war MT section scale and design, but instead of being a permanent building, they are temporary brick structures. It is assumed that because Atcham airfield is based on complete dispersal, the 32-bay vehicle shed layout was one of the last to be constructed to this pattern. Photographic record. <2>

Photographs taken 12th September 2019. <3>

A detailed building survey was undertaken in December 2020 to record two Motor Transport Vehicle Sheds associated with the former RAF Atcham, in Shropshire. The sheds now form part of the Attingham Park Estate and the work was undertaken on behalf of the National Trust. The sheds were constructed in 1941 and intended to be temporary structures which, along with the airfield, were intended for use for the duration of the Second World War. The northern shed has become unsafe at its western end and the survey was conducted to provide a full drawn, photographic and descriptive record of both buildings. ->

-> The sheds each comprised 16 bays, most of which were open-fronted onto an enclosed and gated concrete yard. While the construction of a steel-framed agricultural shed covering the entire yard has removed a number of original features, particular in the western six bays, what survives provides a good indication of how the buildings would have appeared and functioned during wartime. The buildings are of at least regional significance owing to the rarity of this once common type of wartime structure. <4>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.