Monument record MDO45230 - Second World War military camp Tarrant Monkton, Tarrant Monkton

A Second World War military camp is visible on the south side of Ash Plantation, Tarrant Monkton, on 1940s aerial photographs. The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM project.

A Second World War military camp is visible on the south side of Ash Plantation, Tarrant Monkton, on 1940s aerial photographs [1, 2, 3]. The features comprise a semi-circular track or road which accesses the main road to the south, off which are several pathways to groups of huts or rows of temporary tent bases. The huts are visible as extant structures on a 1945 Google Earth aerial image [1], although the resolution is poor and detail is low. The tent bases are visible as square soilmarks. The camp extends over an area of approximately 400m by 200m.

Central to the southeast edge of the semi-circular track/road, extending from the south side of the main road, is a narrow path or track, which runs northwest to southeast towards a vehicle trackway that lead towards Tarrant Rushton Airfield. It seems likely the encampment is associated with the airfield in some way. Aerial photographs of 1946 and 1947 show just a few of the huts still extant by this time, and the semicircular trackway/road, plus some of the pads for removed huts [2, 3].

The features were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM project.

<1> Royal Air Force, 18-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1845 FS 2055 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19154.

<2> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 RP 3151 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19155.

<3> Google Earth, 01-JAN-1945, Google Earth 1945 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19202.

Record last edited

Jan 17 2023 4:48PM