Belmont (Chorley) Decoy Site No 18 & 51

[LAMR]

Hello

Looking for any information on the Belmont decoy site or an acurate grid ref, is there anything surviving ?

Many thanks

Mark

[PETERTHEEATER]

According to 'Dobinson' NGR SD658162 which puts it around here:

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepat...z=14&oz=8&gt=1

[LAMR]

Thanks for that, how accurate are these grid refs, are they the estimated centre of the site or a specfic feature ?

[tigger]

Thanks for that, how accurate are these grid refs, are they the estimated centre of the site or a specfic feature ?

The accuracy tends to vary and is usually a nominal centre rather than a specific feature.

[LAMR]

As this site had a QF & QL located on it would there be two shelters to control it and I asume they would over look the site ?

The area given in the grid ref is very remote and hilly ie very little roadways/tracks to serve it, would have thought it very difficult to get supplies in paticularly the QF site.

Have spent some time in the area looking for any remains but as yet no luck, what kind of area would this site been expected to cover as ROF Euxton was a very large site

[a10694]

I've had quick looks at this before, with no success. The grid references are usually "somewhere" within the site itself, and not usually the bunker associated with the site.

For this area, I would first take a look at Lancashire County Council Mario Maps - they have aerial photography of that era. Secondly, contact the National Monuments Record (I can give you emails etc), give them a OS grid reference, and ask them to do a search for you, which will tell you what aerial photos they have have of that locality. Then ask them to do a photocopy of each one (41p each?), and start looking. It's not a fast process, but they are usually pretty good.

Don't believe Pastscape saying that the remains are lost, I've just proved them wrong on the Mossley decoy, ( http://www.airfieldinformationexchan...hlight=mossley there is a thread on here about it, which may give you a clue as to what to look for.

The bunker was usually not too far away, I've seen them from 100 yards to a 800 yards away. The bunker was usually on slightly higher ground, and overlooked the site. On moorland, they liked sticking them near the top, or on a shoulder, so they would be visible from most directions, especially the direction that bombers came from, with the bunker just above.

The usual giveaway, is that these things consumed a lot of combustive materials, therefore they had a good trackway to them, so look for trackways that end in the middle of nowhere. They usually had a lot of "disturbed" ground around them, which usually appears light coloured / white on B&W aerial photos.

Also worth having a quick look at Bing Maps aerial photos / Birds Eye.

Also, ask the nearby local farmer, BUT - DO NOT FORGET that the locals were told packs of lies about them in WW2, and still believe the lies to this day. There is usually a grain of truth in what they say though.

I've had Dunham-on-the-Hill munitions storage built by Italian PoW's in WW1. It was actually McAlpines in WW2.