A pit stop at the Sherwood Forest visitor centre for some exercise. Instead of yet another photograph of the Major Oak – that 1,000-year-old tree allegedly used by Robin Hood, of which the internet is already saturated – I have chosen something more original: a pair of ditches.
These ditches, grandly named ‘Military Bunker Pits’ by archaeologists, are believed to be the remains of ammunition storage bunkers.
During the Second World War, The Royal Army Ordnance (R.A.O.C.) 24 Ammunition Sub-Depot (ASD) sprawled over approximately 100 square miles, covering Clumber Park, The Dukeries, and Sherwood Forest. By the early 1950s, it had been rebranded as Central Ammunition Depot Warsop (CAD Warsop), only to be shut down in 1954.
The earthworks mark where a rectangular pit was dug so that the floor of a corrugated iron building could sit slightly below ground level. The excavated soil was then piled up into banks along the sides – a design choice presumably intended to direct the force of any explosion upwards rather than outwards, thus minimising damage to surrounding structures and stockpiles. The pits appear in groups of three along a narrow-gauge railway, positioned perpendicular to the track, suggesting they were loaded directly from the trucks. This arrangement in threes was, no doubt, yet another measure to prevent one unfortunate mishap from escalating into something altogether more catastrophic.
Further reading
The Spirit of Wartime Sherwood Forest, Archaeological Survey. End of Project Report. Andy Gaunt MA BSc CertHE FGS. OASIS Id: merciana2-518484. Mercian Archaeological Services CIC. Report No. MAS053 20/03/2024. Available online at
http://www.mercian-as.co.uk/reports/mas053_spirit_of_wartime_sherwood_end_of_project_report.pdf
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