On top of Ashley Cross is a large mound, marked on maps as a 'Tumulus', all though, is not as it appears. The large mound is an antiquity, but not of the Bronze Age, it represents the buried remains of a World war Two construction; a mock up of a German submarine pen. German U boats had harried allied shipping throughout the war, and although the tide had begun to turn on them, they still represented a major threat, especially with the opening of a second European front being planned. The submarines, were only really vulnerable when on the surface for resupply or repair, the Germans had countered this by creating fortified pens along the Atlantic coast for the purposes. The Ashley build was designed to finding a solution to this problem; word is that post war the structure was so hard to demolish that it was merely buried. On visiting the site today I found some suspect activity had been perpetrated. There is evidence of some substantial digging on the Eastern side, a hole 2m + deep, 1.5m long and .5m+ wide, has been dug against the wall exposing the top of what appears to be an opening into the structure. It could be the work of children exploring or unscrupulous collectors; as an Archaeologist, the hole was certainly not dug by professionals. It poses a threat to wildlife, the hole is big enough to injure a pony or deer. Furthermore my concern is for the site itself, a unique archaeological monument which requires protection and preservation, part of our national finite archaeological resource. Part of a unique Second world War landscape, adjacent to the mound are several bomb craters, the whole range area contains 100's of craters, although a couple of these are particularly significant; one represents the very first trial of the 'Grand Slam' bomb, others are the first tests of the 'Tall Boys'. These mammoth bombs were 'earthquake' type bombs used to penetrate the ground or defences of targets, they were used against tactically important targets, including submarine pens, rail lines, missile sites and viaducts. The Ashley ranges are huge and featured many different types of target, an intrepid investigater can still find the fragments of these.
Sunday 3 January 2010
Sub zero
On top of Ashley Cross is a large mound, marked on maps as a 'Tumulus', all though, is not as it appears. The large mound is an antiquity, but not of the Bronze Age, it represents the buried remains of a World war Two construction; a mock up of a German submarine pen. German U boats had harried allied shipping throughout the war, and although the tide had begun to turn on them, they still represented a major threat, especially with the opening of a second European front being planned. The submarines, were only really vulnerable when on the surface for resupply or repair, the Germans had countered this by creating fortified pens along the Atlantic coast for the purposes. The Ashley build was designed to finding a solution to this problem; word is that post war the structure was so hard to demolish that it was merely buried. On visiting the site today I found some suspect activity had been perpetrated. There is evidence of some substantial digging on the Eastern side, a hole 2m + deep, 1.5m long and .5m+ wide, has been dug against the wall exposing the top of what appears to be an opening into the structure. It could be the work of children exploring or unscrupulous collectors; as an Archaeologist, the hole was certainly not dug by professionals. It poses a threat to wildlife, the hole is big enough to injure a pony or deer. Furthermore my concern is for the site itself, a unique archaeological monument which requires protection and preservation, part of our national finite archaeological resource. Part of a unique Second world War landscape, adjacent to the mound are several bomb craters, the whole range area contains 100's of craters, although a couple of these are particularly significant; one represents the very first trial of the 'Grand Slam' bomb, others are the first tests of the 'Tall Boys'. These mammoth bombs were 'earthquake' type bombs used to penetrate the ground or defences of targets, they were used against tactically important targets, including submarine pens, rail lines, missile sites and viaducts. The Ashley ranges are huge and featured many different types of target, an intrepid investigater can still find the fragments of these.
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