Monument record MDO45123 - World War Two auxiliary unit base, Conegar Hill, Wootton Fitzpaine

Site of a World War II auxiliary unit base on Conegar Hill. The base was subterranean with access by means of two wooden trap doors set in the surface, hidden with a thick covering of pine needles and branches. The base comprised semi-circular walls and a roof, all made of galvanised iron. It was constructed in 1940-41. By 1969 the site had been partially demolished. The felling of trees and altering the path layout during the 1960s has meant that the site had become unlocatable.

Auxiliary Unit base, first found by the recorder (as a boy) in 1946. Access was by either of two wooden trap doors set in the surface from which you went down a vertical wooden ladder. Ventilation was by two or three wooden shafts about 12insx12ins cross section which came out just above ground level at the base of mature trees. All vents and trap doors were hidden on the surface with a thick covering of pine needles and branches and were not easy to detect. There were two double bunk beds, metal with metal springs. The recorder remembers finding stubs of candles in the bunker but no signs of chairs, tables, toilet facilities, or cooking facilities. There was also a small board on one wall with screw terminals which was probably part of a telephone link. The floor was probably hard earth rather than concrete. The semi-circular walls and roof were of galvanised iron, cold, damp, and going rusty.

The bunker was still there in the 1950s. By the 1960s the site had been fenced around, and there was a depression in the ground as if the structure had collapsed. In the late 1960s trees on Conegar Hill were felled and replanting altered the layout of paths. The recorder states that he would be unlikely to able to refind the exact site.On Conegar Hill. <1-3>

<1> Council for British Archaeology, 1995, Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SWX5.

<2> Council for British Archaeology, 2003, Defence of Britain Project Database (Machine readable data file). SDO128.

<3> Council for British Archaeology, 2006, Defence of Britain Project Archive DEB01 (Excavation archive). SDO17227.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1420958 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 18 2022 1:45PM