RASC Poulton nr. Cirencester

[OneEighthBit]

Figured it was about time I contributed something. I wasn't sure if this strictly counts as a storage depot but it seemed the most fitting place for it.

Long story short, I used to live quite near Down Ampney back in the day and would often ride past Poulton Hill Farm on my way down to the village when visiting the airfield. The farm itself is about 1½ miles as the crow flies from the airfield itself and a fair way from the northern most dispersed site for the airfield.

However, when you've got your "eye in" exploring airfields you tend to spot things that look very Dept. of Works and the road leading to the far screamed military to me.



Last year, ten years since I last visited Down Ampney, I was browsing the web and came across a site with the Royal Army Service Corps diary where it listed "The Piggaries" at Poulton as it's headquarters. I'd rememberedPoulton Hill Farm and it's military looking road and did a little digging.

During WWII there were two piggaries at Poulton Farm; Broadway Piggary to the west of the road and Rocktree Piggery to the east - collectively known as "The Piggaries".

This was the HQ of 48 Air Despatch Group RASC and constituted two buildings and storage yards at the farm. To the west of the road was the Traffic Operations building and to the east the Central Freight Transit Store.





The two buildings are listed on a separate sheet of the Down Ampney site plan and although this sheet is badly damaged it's possible to make out that they were listed as being of steel and concrete construction. Unfortunately the original schedule of buildings is somewhat damage but with a bit of CSI style digital enhancement you can just about make out what looks like TO/C2/44/68 as the drawing number for the operations block and TO/CR/44/63 for the transit store.

[OneEighthBit]

Following on as I reached the image limit...

So last year on a trip home I went back and tried to document what was left.

This is the Central Storage block although I'm not 100% sure if it's the original building. Possibly it's been reclad at some point. Certainly its in the same place and fits the same dimensions.



A shot of the yard area between the hut and the road. Quite a lot of flat concrete was still embedded in the ground.



There is a huge pile of rubble and earth which I think contains what was dug up of the yard at some point. In amongst the pile you can make out some definite pieces of concrete construction.



On the other side of the road was the location of the Traffic Operations building which has long gone. The track is marked private and I didn't want to chance my luck so I took the following shot through the hedge. I believe the scrub that pokes out into the field contains what's left of the buildings foundations which you can just about make out on Google Earth.



So there you go, nothing terribly exciting but another WWII site documented.

[PETERTHEEATER]

Nice report OneEighthBit,

plenty of remains still out there awaiting discovery; wish I had more time in the UK to search.

As you say, ones eyes become 'trained' to military type constructions and see things that the average person would not.

Many years ago I was traveling by train out of London heading north and passed a building which my eyes said was a Ctesiphon Hut. I jotted the approximate location in my notebook but never had the opportunity to follow-up!