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Summary

Former location of a Second World War 20mm cannon Pressure and Velocity Range demolished in the early 21st century

Monument Type(s):

• PROOF RANGE (Second World War to Early 21st century - 1941 AD? to 2018 AD?)

Full Description

Building recording was carried out in 2015 ahead of the demolition of a group of buildings known as Building Group 11R within the south-east corner of AWE Burghfield, south of a diverted brook, and behind a spoil bank (bund) and a fence <1>. Some of the buildings dated from the Second World War and they were centred around the site of a 20mm cannon Pressure and Velocity Range.

The main building, 11R1, was built to a standard Royal Ordnance design, drawing number CW/18/79 of 1941, and used for batch testing for proof and velocity of filled shells. At the time of the building recording, only the shooting house, and a small part of the shooting range walls and stop butt remained; the bulk of the shooting range and stop butt had been removed in c. 2009, and surrounded by other buildings, such as 11R1A and 11R8A, constructed in the 1980s. 11R1A was a Compressor House or plant room, 11R8 was an enclosure for plant (a cell, a generator, lifting beam, hoist and storage) and 11R8A was a control room.

What 11R3 was originally built for was unknown, but in the 1950s-60s it became known as the Shock Sensitivity Building. To its west was a Schott Process Chlorine Scrubbing tower built in c. 1987 and to the tower's west was a steel-framed enclosure with a concrete floor, known as Dunking Facility 11R7, built in c. 1988. Building 11R4 was a Consumables Building of unknown original origin that had been converted into a firing cubicle in 1960. Building 11R4A was a Flammable Store of unknown date.

Building 11R5 was presumed to be a Chronograph House possibly used to measure the velocity of shells. It was extended in c. 1961 and the main room, where the chronographs were previously installed, became a mess hall.

The buildings had been demolished by 2018 <2>, but the bund is still visible on aerial photos <3> and LiDAR <4>.

The GIS point marks the location of the main building, 11R1 <5>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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