Tag: WW2
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Fishy WW2 code-names
A view down from above the WW2 Starfish Decoy Command Bunker on Hutton Moor down Codhill Slack, or Rivelingdale to use its medieval name. Starfish seems a strange name to have used for decoys created to simulate burning British cities. I guess a secret code-name should be completely unrelated to the operation or else it…
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Crosscliff Beck
Volunteering with the National Trust at the furthest corner of what must be their remotest property. The task today was to repair the post and wire fencing along their boundary with Newgate Foot farm and to remove any overhanging branches from the alder and willow tress which align the beck. The boundary, actually along the…
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Samuel Liddle 1919-1944
A few weeks ago I wrote about 16-year-old Mary Liddle who, in 1930, was awarded the R.S.P.C.A.’s Gold Medal for her bravery in helping to rescue a sheep from a disused stone mine. Adam and Elizabeth Liddle with their family of eight children were living at Lonsdale House Farm (now called Oak Tree Farm). That’s…
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Scallywag hideout
A few weeks ago I had a tip off about a WW2 ‘Auxiliary Unit‘ operations base above Danby Park overlooking Castleton (thanks, Chris). This would have been the hideout for a special detachment of the Home Guard which would have operated as a guerrilla force in the event of a German invasion. Although these were…
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Moorland isosceles triangle
A strange feature to come across in the middle of a grouse moor. What appear to be two tracks, coming together at an angle of precisely 60°. The left hand track is about 27 yards long, and meets another track from the right. Again the angle is 60°. Once more, the left hand track is…
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WW2 Aircraft Crash Site, Urra Moor
A return to Urra Moor. Second day in a row. I have been minded to try to find this site for some time. Armed with an eight digit grid reference, it was surprisingly easy to find, the pieces of bleached aluminium had been piled up and acted as a beacon. The wreckage is of an…
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Balfour Coast Battery, Hoxa Head
During both World Wars, Scapa Flow in the Orkney archipelago was used as a naval anchorage for the British fleet. To protect the southern entrance to the anchorage, gun batteries were established at Hoxa Head and on the island of Flotta. At Hoxa, concrete buildings, foundation and plinths still remain, most relating to the World…
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Duncombe Park Army Camp
About 3km after crossing Rievaulx Bridge with its opportunity to gaze at the majestic abbey, the Cleveland Way crosses a concrete road at Griff Lodge. Here the National Trail bears left to Helmsley avoiding Duncombe Park. The concrete road is a reminder of the military presence during WW2 at Duncombe Park. Following it through Park…
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Ravenscar WW2 Radar Station
Just off the Cleveland way, south of Ravenscar are the remains of the coastal defence radar system for the protection of the UK during the Second World War. It was one of a chain of stations built along the east coast during 1941 to detect approaching aircraft. There are four buildings, nearest is a fuel…
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Aircraft Crash on Easby Moor
80 years ago today, 11th February 1940, a flight of three Lockheed Hudson aircraft took off from Thornaby airfield on a mission to search for enemy minesweepers operating in the Heglioland Bight off the Danish Coast. Within a few minutes after taking off at 04:10 one of the aircraft, NR-E crashed into Easby Moor. Ice…