# Harewood Forest RAF Ammunition Depot - June 2011 (Pic Heavy)



## Harry (Jul 3, 2011)

The RAF required a stretch of woodland not too close to a town, that was rail served and about 25 miles inland to store ammunition. New sidings and a branch network for military traffic were built at the Longparish station in 1942 and concrete roads were built in the forest to disperse ammunition to the storage huts. Bombs started arriving in the autumn of 1943 and the depot initially stored 40,000 tons which obviously increased around D-Day.

Not a great deal has been documented on the site, so i decided to dust the bicycle off and proceed towards Harewood Forest from Winchester in the sun. I spent most of the afternoon exploring and found more than i expected! 





































Longparish station, now a residential property.






This concrete area covered in moss was a siding where ammunition was loaded and unloaded.






Middleton House was occupied by a school, but was taken over as the HQ for Maintenance Unit 202






Just one of the many concrete roads built into the forest to help disperse ammunition to the storage huts.



















































Well the door frame is here, but not hut...





















Emergency Water Supply Pond, there is another alongside, but nature has taken over.






Few of these dotted around, any ideas?


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## klempner69 (Jul 3, 2011)

What a great little find.That last pic actually looks like a fire pit.There is one made of concrete in Savernake Forest thats very similar.


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## st33ly (Jul 3, 2011)

I like places like this with stuff dotted about 
Thanks for sharing.


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## RichCooper (Jul 3, 2011)

Looks like a nice woodland walk  Some great pics there thanks


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## Newage (Jul 3, 2011)

*Last picture*

Hi Mate

What a fantastic site, looks like a cool mooch indeed.
The last picture is a concrete EWS (emergency water supply pond) you get these all over RAF bases
from WW2, I would think they are a standard air ministary pattern.






This one is at RAF Woodcote

Cheers Newage


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## Harry (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks for confirming that Newage, it puzzled me yesterday.


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## borntobemild (Jul 3, 2011)

good stuff. nice collection of nissen huts.


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## smiler (Jul 3, 2011)

My first thought on the last photo was water supply, nice to have Newage confirm it, great report and pics, Thanks


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## LostBoy (Jul 4, 2011)

i first saw that Ford Prefect ? about 25 years ago & went looking to see if it was still there a couple of years ago , but got stopped & told it was all private land & i couldn't go down there , so nice to see it still exists ... just ! lol.
Good to see how much other stuff is still in there & might inspire me to pay another visit soon.


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## oldscrote (Jul 4, 2011)

A wonderful find and a nice walk in the woods,thanks for sharing.


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## Harry (Jul 5, 2011)

LostBoy said:


> i first saw that Ford Prefect ? about 25 years ago & went looking to see if it was still there a couple of years ago , but got stopped & told it was all private land & i couldn't go down there , so nice to see it still exists ... just ! lol.
> Good to see how much other stuff is still in there & might inspire me to pay another visit soon.



Certainly worth another visit, because there is more to the ammunition depot than i covered in the thread!

How was the Ford looking 25 years ago?


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## Foxylady (Jul 6, 2011)

Some great remains there. I find those circular brick towers particularly interesting as I haven't seen any like that on a military installation before. Excellent site.


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## Derelict-UK (Jul 7, 2011)

A really great explore, I have not seen this before. it is all in great condition too. Thanks for sharing 



Foxylady said:


> Some great remains there. I find those circular brick towers particularly interesting as I haven't seen any like that on a military installation before. Excellent site.



I thought they were chimneys, big ones leading to a massive bunker (if only lol).


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## Bilban (Aug 6, 2011)

*Nice*

Just found this site looking for info on the Longparish/Harewood ammunition dump and am liking it.

You've found more structures than I have and I've been walking the forest for 10 years!! Fantastic. I'll have to go looking again.

The round EWS are standard RAF issue. Nearly drowned an armourer in one once at RAF Brawdy. Tie-wrapped him to a chair which itself was tie-wrapped to a pallet and then lowered the lot into the tank. Them were t'days!


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## urban phantom (Aug 6, 2011)

Great find thanks for sharing


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## cleat9214 (Aug 16, 2011)

I was based down the road in Tidworth and the local rag did a bit about this site and they said there were 5 trains a week for 10 yrs emptying this place after the war. This place must have been massive


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## LostBoy (Aug 17, 2011)

The Prefect was very rusty even then , but about 3ft taller ! lol

i seem to remember finding some sort a brick hut in the forest somewhere that had 3 or 4 steps leading down , as if they lead to an underground bunker or something similar , but sadly the stairway had been filled in with concrete to stop any further decent


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