Monument record 4217 - ROF Dunham on the Hill

<1> W D Cocroft, 2000, Dangerous Energy - The Archaeology of Gunpowder and Military Explosives Manufacture, p.227-8 (Book). SCH4464.

Second World War dispersed ammunition storage area. Steel framed magazine buildings with brick infill and, in some cases, surrounded by an earth bank. The magazines were linked by standard gauge railway lines which passed through the buildings. The intervening hedgerows of the pre-existing field system were retained to break up the pattern of the facility from the air.

<2> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Winfield H, 2004 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The magazines are presumably built with the standard 14 inch thick brick walls and 6 inch thick re-enforced concrete roof. Each magazine probably originally had an earth embankment around it, though now only some seem to have one now.

<3> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 16/05/2017 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

Aerial photograph from the late 1940s record the facility reasonably clearly (see 4). It is clear from these photographs that only approximately half of these buildings were surrounded by earthworks. Typically the magazine is surrounded on three sides by a large U shaped bank. Adjacent to the open end of the bank, and parallel to the railway track running through the building is a linear bank. These banks are of varying lengths and often extend well beyond the magazine building. The railway line serving the site adjoins the (former) Birkenhead line just to the north of Dunham on the Hill. A small complex of buildings adjacent to the site (on Common Lane) is probably the accommodation for the site. Adjacent to the accommodation and the railway line is a large amount of either small structures or material laid out in regular rows. It’s not clear what these may be. Recent LIDAR surveys (see 5) and aerial photography (see 6) show that the majority of these buildings survive, though in a few instances the surrounding earthworks have been removed. Although the railway tracks have been removed, their course survives as earthworks (see 5) and, in some areas, soil marks (see 6). Some of the accommodation area’s hardstanding also survives, as may one building (see 6).

<4> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

<5> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, 1m DSM (composite) (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

<6> Bluesky International Ltd, 2010, 2010 Bluesky Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5444.

<7> GeoInformation Group, 1940, Luftwaffe Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SCH5167.

The facility is not extant on this photograph, indicating that it was constructed after September 1940.

<8> Higham N J, 1984-9, Professor Nick Higham's Aerial Photographs, 1986/5/32 (Aerial Photograph). SCH7659.