# rifle range, Sandridge, St Albans



## ricasso (Dec 31, 2008)

I visited this while on a visit to family back in my home village of Sandridge, Herts.
when we were kids we used to spend most of our spare time in these woods doing stuff that kids do,
i remember digging bullets out of the backstops and building camps in the target pit.
dont know much about the history of the place, it was just always there, unfortunately most of the generation that would remember it in use have all passed on now,ive tried to research it through the Internet
but turned up very little except a reference to the bedfordshire regiment.
I believe it fell into disuse in the 50s and my older brother remembers convoys of army trucks driving up the track to the woods.
sorry if the photos seem a bit boring and not show much but this is whats left and i feel it needs recording

pistol range
http
://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll246/ricasso_2008/001-10.jpg






rifle range target pit





















rifle range back stop









seriously heavy duty cast pole









firing pits


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## Foxylady (Dec 31, 2008)

ricasso said:


> ...not show much but this is whats left and i feel it needs recording...



Quite right too! I find anything like this interesting, especially WW2 stuff. 
Thanks for sharing, ricasso.


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## ricasso (Dec 31, 2008)

thanks foxy,i think the trees will probably take over completely in 20 years or so, there is already large cracks appearing in the target pit walls


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## Kagey (Jan 19, 2009)

That place is literally at the back of my house!!!

Never knew it was a rifle range, always assumed they were old bunkers.


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## ricasso (Jan 20, 2009)

Kagey said:


> That place is literally at the back of my house!!!
> 
> Never knew it was a rifle range, always assumed they were old bunkers.



are we talking Grove or Close (you know what I mean!)


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## Kagey (Jan 21, 2009)

I certainly do and we're talking Grove...


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## ricasso (Jan 22, 2009)

Kagey said:


> I certainly do and we're talking Grove...



Ah ha, so is my brother!


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## herts digger (Jan 31, 2009)

*Hi Kagey*



Kagey said:


> I certainly do and we're talking Grove...



Re Sandridge rifle butts my brother Ricasso mentioned you,I too live in [the Grove] which part are you in? if I mentioned a rustic porch and an old white Escort estate on the drive it might give you a clue,call round some time I have lived in the village for sixty odd years and could tell you quite a bit about the rifle butts,the kettle is nearly always on see ya.


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## Kagey (Feb 26, 2009)

*Rustic*

Sorry, not been back here for a while.

Which definition of rustic from the dictionary below would best describe this porch???

rus⋅tic
   /ˈrʌstɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ruhs-tik] Show IPA
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or living in the country, as distinguished from towns or cities; rural.
2. simple, artless, or unsophisticated.
3. uncouth, rude, or boorish.
4. made of roughly dressed limbs or roots of trees, as garden seats.
5. (of stonework) having the surfaces rough or irregular and the joints sunken or beveled.


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## herts digger (Feb 28, 2009)

Without giving away my house number and or my name I don't know how many more clues I can give.


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## huffhuff (Mar 19, 2009)

Oooooh, I always wondered what this was. Used to ride through those woods.


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