Rathmell Archaeology Ltd

Approach Wood, Mountcastle Quarry, Fife: Site Inspection for Military Remains

Data Structure Report

by Thomas Rees

issued 28th May 2009

RA09029 Approach Wood, Mountcastle Quarry, Fife – Site Inspection for Military Remains

Contents

Introduction ...... 2 Auxiliary Units in Scotland, 1940-44 ...... 2 Known Auxiliary Unit Activities within Approach Wood ...... 5 Probable Military Features ...... 5 Operational Base ...... 5 Transmitter Station ...... 8 Dumped materials ...... 8 Shell Scrapes ...... 8 Laager ...... 8 Conclusion ...... 8 References ...... 9 Documentary ...... 9 Cartographic ...... 9 Web (accessed May 2009) ...... 9 Contact Details ...... 9

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Introduction 1. After granting of planning consent for extraction, Hanson Aggregates and Andrew Josephs Ltd became aware of the potential for military remains associated with the use of Melville House as the headquarters of the Auxiliary Units in Scotland during World War II. These units were trained in subversive resistance fighting in case of invasion, which, following the fall of France, appeared imminent. 2. Through liaison with Mr Steve Liscoe (Fife Council Archaeology Unit) contact was made with Mr David Blair, a historian specialising in Auxiliary Units. A subsequent site inspection was undertaken on Thursday 21st May 2009 to enable the characterisation of the likely activities that took place within Approach Wood and the physical remains that are known to exist. 3. Presented below are details of the known activity and the identified features. These features are inferred to be at least 65 years old within dense commercial woodland, some of which has been harvested and restocked at least once since their construction. Hence the confidence as to the character and extent of remains must remain uncertain. 4. This document is designed to act as an information base to assist Hanson Aggregates and Andrew Josephs Ltd integrate these unanticipated remains into their mitigation and restoration strategies. This process of integration will be undertaken in liaison with Fife Council and their Archaeology Unit.

Auxiliary Units in Scotland, 1940-44 5. Auxiliary Units, sometimes referred to as a part of the British Resistance Organisation, were initiated by Winston Churchill in the early summer of 1940. He appointed Colonel Colin Gubbins to found them. The mission of the units was to attack invading forces from behind their own lines while conventional forces fell back. The Auxiliary Units answered to GHQ Home Forces, but were organised as if part of the local Home Guard. 6. The men were allocated to "Home Guard" battalions 201 (Scotland), 202 (Northern England), or 203 (Southern England) and provided with Home Guard uniforms. Melville House in Fife was used as the Headquarters and training base for the 201 Battallion covering Scotland and Northumberland, led by Captain Eustance Maxwell. This location lies to the immediate west of the stop line that was constructed to cut off the Fife isthmus to the east. 7. The 'combat units' were the Operational Patrols, but these were supported by Special Duty Sections, from the local civilian population. This group acted as the spotters for the action teams. In addition, a signals structure would attempt to link the isolated bands into a national network that could act in concert, on behalf of a British government-in- exile and its representatives still in the British Isles. 8. Operational Patrols consisted of between 4 and 8 men, often farmers, gamekeepers or landowners and usually recruited from the most able members of the Home Guard, who also needed an excellent local knowledge and the ability to live off the land. Each Patrol was a self-contained cell, expected to be self-sufficient and operationally autonomous in the case of invasion, generally operating within a 15-mile radius. They were provided with a concealed underground Operational Base (OB), usually built by the Royal Engineers in a local woodland, with a camouflaged entrance and emergency escape tunnel. 9. Some Patrols had an additional concealed Observation Post. Patrols were also provided with a selection of the latest weapons including silenced pistols, Sten Guns and Fairbairn- Sykes "commando" knives, quantities of plastic explosive, incendiary devices, and food to last for two weeks. It was not expected that they would survive for longer. Members anticipated being shot if they were captured, and were expected to shoot themselves first rather than be taken alive.

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Figure 1: Layout of features against Ordnance Survey base

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Figure 2a: Detail from Ordnance Survey 3rd Edition Map of 1919 (1:10560)

Figure 2b: Vertical Aerial Image from 1948 (note open character)

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10. The Auxiliary Units were kept in being long after any credible threat of invasion had passed and were only stood down only in 1944. At the end of the war Royal Engineer demolition teams were sent around the country to destroy all the Auxiliary Units operational bases.

Known Auxiliary Unit Activities within Approach Wood 11. Mr David Blair has been undertaking research into the history of the Auxiliary Units, specifically 201 Battalion. Much of the following comment on potential activity in Approach Wood derives from his personal research (through interviews with former battalion members) and the published work of David Lampe. 12. Melville House was used as the Headquarters of the battalion and as a training base for the members of the Operational Patrols. This training included:

Small arms;

Demolition;

Map work; and

Combat maneuvers. 13. There are no comprehensive records of the activities undertaken within the Approach Wood. However, some can be excluded – a small arms range was probably to the immediate north of Melville House while demolition training appears to have been undertaken in the open ground to the immediate south. 14. Lampe (1968) recounts ‘several very elaborate demonstrations’ at Melville House before proceeding to run through one demonstration where a ‘German’ convoy of about a dozen lorries ‘wound through the wood’ before forming a laager ‘in the wooded parkland’. Two Operational Patrols then emerged from an Operational Base whose exit was under a woodpile in a ‘large clearing’. The patrols then limpet mined the lorries and returned to their OB before the laager blew (destroying the antiquated British Army lorries). This demonstration at least, based on the description, probably happened in the Approach Wood. 15. Mr David Blair (pers comm.) recounts that training exercises (as opposed to demonstrations) also took place in Approach Wood. One veteran of the battalion recounted an exercise where shell scrapes were formed adjacent to the road running through the woods and ambush training on a convoy was undertaken.

Probable Military Features

Operational Base 16. A void or opening in the ground was identified at NO 30268 13411. The rectangular opening was 1.2m by 0.7m and appeared to be a short concrete lined shaft which opened into a larger access chamber. The access chamber was filled with soil and could not be safely entered. A larger chamber opening off the access chamber could be observed to the northeast; this was brick built with a corrugated iron roof supported by timbers. A doorway (formed with a concrete lintel) was also noted leading northwest from the access chamber. 17. The general area of the opening was overgrown with scrub, but could be identified as lying to the immediate east of the Ha Ha that formed the eastern edge of the Beech Drive running to Melville House. Examination of the ground to the south and west revealed a linear hollow some 3m broad and 1m deep running away from the south side of the subterranean structure to the southeast. This linear hollow cut through the Ha Ha ditch and wall before terminating some 4m beyond. Overall the hollow ran for some 11m with no evidence of structural remains.

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Fig. 3a: Entrance to Access Chamber of putative Operational Base

Fig. 3b: Linear Hollow from south cutting through Ha Ha with terminal end (left of shot)

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Fig. 4a: Oak tree with cut for insulated wire, from east

Fig. 4b: Debris in the Ha Ha from east

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18. This complex of features is tentatively identified as a demonstration Operational Base and may well be that described by Lampe. The scale and size of the subterranean structure is uncertain but it appears well built (brick and concrete walls with timber formed corrugated iron roof) and substantially intact. The linear hollow may be a collapsed escape route, or a crawl route to the Transmitter Station (see below).

Transmitter Station 19. Some 5m beyond the terminal end of the linear hollow which runs from the demonstration Operational Base stands a mature oak tree (Quercus robur) at NO 30255 13390. A vertical groove has been cut/carved through the bark and bast on the east side of the tree’s trunk. Corroded and broken sections of a single run of insulated wire are visible running within the cut. The wire would have met ground at a point between two buttress roots on the east side of the tree, nearest the linear hollow. 20. While no additional features were noted (e.g. aerial etc) it is probable that this is an Auxiliary Unit feature – most likely a transmitter station either hardwired to the Operational Base or for connecting a portable transmitter to.

Dumped materials 21. During the Site Inspection a dump of barbed wire and other materials were noted in the Ha Ha ditch at NO 30284 13369. Other stray twentieth century objects including composite timber and metal objects were noted at several points in the wood. 22. It is uncertain as to whether these relate to the use of the wood for training by the Auxiliary Units or more general dumping and discard from the municipal use of Melville House and the commercial forestry.

Shell Scrapes 23. The historical account of the use of the southern portion of Approach Wood for ambush training suggests the potential for the survival of shallow excavations in the form of craters (used to provide cover). 24. The evaluation undertaken in the Phase 1 area (Matthews 2009) did not observe any topographic hollows of this character in the felled area nor was any suggestion of craters located in any of the evaluation trenches. 25. It was postulated on the site inspection that the most likely location for ambush training may have been where the winding drive meets the cross road from the sawmill.

Laager 26. The location of the Laager used in the known demonstration is uncertain. It is described as being in wooded parkland which could be at any location within the Approach Wood – although it is more probable that this is close to the known Operational Base at the top of the winding drive.

Conclusion 27. The historical research undertaken by Mr David Blair has identified a range of activities that are believed to have been undertaken in Approach Wood by Auxiliary Units during World War II. The site inspection identified of a number of credible military structures giving credence to the survival of physical remains associated with some of these reported activities. 28. The current character of landuse (commercial forestry), and the post 1940s landuse, raises the potential that additional remains may remain unlocated but masked.

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References

Documentary Lampe, D 1968 The Last Ditch, Britain’s Secret Resistance and the Nazi Invasion Plan, Greenhill Books Matthews, A 2009 Approach Wood, Mountcastle Quarry - Phase 1 Evaluation: Data Structure Report, unpublished commercial report by Rathmell Archaeology Ltd for Hanson Aggregates.

Cartographic Ordnance Survey 1919 3rd edition Ordnance Survey, Fifeshire

Web (accessed May 2009) http://www.btinternet.com/~david.waller/hideouts.htm

Contact Details 29. Rathmell Archaeology can be contacted at our Registered Office or through the web: Rathmell Archaeology Ltd www.rathmell-arch.co.uk Unit 8 Ashgrove Workshops Kilwinning t.: 01294 542848 Ayrshire f.: 01294 542849 KA13 6PU e.: [email protected] 30. Andrew Josephs Ltd can be contacted at their Registered Office or through the web: Andrew Josephs Ltd www.andyjosephs.co.uk 16 South Terrace Sowerby t.: 07990 571908 Thirsk f.: YO7 1RH e.: [email protected]

31. The Fife Council Archaeology Unit can be contacted at their office or through the web: Archaeology Unit www.fife.gov.uk Fife Council Town House t.: 08451 555555 2 Wemyssfield f.: 01592 583638 Kirkcaldy KY1 1XW e.: [email protected]

End of Document

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