My family was fortunate enough to have a small car in the early post-WW2 years and petrol coupons permitting, we would sometimes drive out to the Peak District. I have very misty recollections as a small boy, of stockpiles of shells and bombs on the roadsides around remote villages which could have been the likes of Flagg and Flash I suppose. Does anybody else remember seeing this sort of thing?

Originally posted by oldrowley
My family was fortunate enough to have a small car in the early post-WW2 years and petrol coupons permitting, we would sometimes drive out to the Peak District. I have very misty recollections as a small boy, of stockpiles of shells and bombs on the roadsides around remote villages which could have been the likes of Flagg and Flash I suppose. Does anybody else remember seeing this sort of thing?

hiya oldrowley,
sorry to ask ,but what is "Flagg and Flash" I've never heard of this before


deecee

Hi deecee

Flash and Flagg are two small villages which used to be pretty remote. Flash is off the Buxton to Leek road near Axe Edge and Flagg is near Monyash. It is in such areas that I think I remember seeing the stockpiles on the road sides. Crates of shells and stacks of bombs in the middle of nowhere. A highly effective area for such an activity.

Hiya oldrowley,
thanks for the enlightenment, my parents took us all over the place back then. My father had a motorcycle and side-car ,I often rode on the pillion seat, it was a lot of fun in those days-there being not as much traffic. We used to go into Derbyshire but I cannot remember these places, and certainly don't remember ever seeing any shells or bombs. probably the old grey matter playing up lol
deecee
:thumbsup:

yes, they did store munitions on those roadsides in the late forties

There was also a store beside the Crown Inn on the Grenoside to Birdwell Road. It was there for ages.

Hi,

Can't remember too much about munition storage in the Peak District. How were they stored - out in the open or under cover?

You might remember the dual carriageway section of the A64 (York-Malton) road had munitions storage in the central median. These were stored in curved steel shelters (nissen huts without the ends) with just a piece of tarp over the entrances. After a while, when the tarps became ragged, you could see the shells stacked in side. By the end of the war, most seemedto be rusty, and probably useless.

Slightly off-topic. Does anyone remember the US Army Air Force unloading bombs from trains at Wortley(?) station. I don't know where they stored them. I seem to remember that the US camp was at Scout Dyke, on the opposite side of the (A629) road to the reservoir.

Regards

Hi,

Can't remember too much about munition storage in the Peak District. How were they stored - out in the open or under cover?

You might remember the dual carriageway section of the A64 (York-Malton) road had munitions storage in the central median. These were stored in curved steel shelters (nissen huts without the ends) with just a piece of tarp over the entrances. After a while, when the tarps became ragged, you could see the shells stacked in side. By the end of the war, most seemedto be rusty, and probably useless.

Slightly off-topic. Does anyone remember the US Army Air Force unloading bombs from trains at Workley(?) station. I don't know where they stored them. I seem to remember that the US camp was at Scout Dyke, on the opposite side of the (A629) road to the reservoir.

Regards

Hi. If it is Wortley, Sheffield you mean, then it is most likely they were where I said earlier on. By The Crown Inn on the Grenoside to Birdwell road. Wortley is but three miles away from The Crown Inn. The bombs were stacked in the open for all to see. No doubt they were harmless but they were there.

Hi. If it is Wortley, Sheffield you mean, then it is most likely they were where I said earlier on. By The Crown Inn on the Grenoside to Birdwell road. Wortley is but three miles away from The Crown Inn. The bombs were stacked in the open for all to see. No doubt they were harmless but they were there.

Hi,

I only saw the US in operation at Wortley station once, and then only for a very few minutes. I knew the bombs weren't at Scout Dyke but I had no idea where they were stored

Part of the folk law of the district, so I'm told, is that the guys driving the trucks used to come hurtling down the country lanes around Wortley, with bombs aboard, and scare the heck out of the locals. I'm sure the bombs didn't have fuses but I assume the locals didn't know that.

Regards

There were bomb stacks all over Yorkshire, Derbyshire and other counties, usually on what were then the remote roads and almost always hidden from the air by roadside trees.

I remember seeing piles of munitions, in the woods, alongside the road between Worksop and the A1 at Four Lane End. This was well into the fifties.