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Just talking about the old camp on the field at the side of Walter Halls School, Wells Road. What was it originally, and how did families get put in there?

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It's a new one on me, but looking on old maps it seems to be officially called 'The Hutted Camp, Ransom Road". It looks like an army camp with a lot of huts; and then below it is a strange collection of things which might or might not be buildings.

5klhGPK.jpg

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Paddy..your recollections appear to be in living memory, So I hope I'm totally wrong here! 

I'm sure I read a reference to a 'hospital' on Ransom Road pre 1920.

 

CT..what date is the map?

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From here; http://www.chezfred.org.uk/gp/FullAlbertHall/16CHAPTER16.htm

 

(being at the bottom of Coppice Road, now Ransom Road. By 1851)

From the bottom of Coppice Road and up to Mapperley were gardens and the Rifle Range (the Butts) where the local Volunteer Regiment did their firing practice.

 

That may be the area down from the Huts

 

 

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If the ‘huts’ were there c.1920, they were probably “recycled” Army huts from 1914-18. They could have been from a local base, or even possibly from the Machine Gun Corps camp at Belton near Grantham, which was huge! These huts were well-built and some lasted well into the 1970s at least - my school in Grantham had one which housed the domestic science classroom and dinner hall, and others had new lives as village halls, so it’s entirely possible that’s what these ‘huts’ were (I saw one still in existence, but showing its age, a year or two back in Co. Durham - not bad for ‘temporary’ structures to reach 100 years old!)

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   If you compare Cliff Ton's map with google maps, you can clearly see one of the funny buildings remains as a crop mark in a field.

I don't think this particular one is shown on his map. Hut 9 appears to still be there, along with another possible that doesn't have a number, located to the left of hut 9. You can also see the pathway through the trees just above it.

   The earthworks around these buildings is puzzling, and points to some form of military use. The curved pathways could allude to some form of movement of shells.

  Another strange feature which may or may not have any bearing, but a house on Blythe Street has an observation room on it's roof.

  Not all World War 1 military installations were recorded as such.

  I can't find any reference to Mapperley being used as a military hospital, but then again the powers wouldn't have necessarily wanted the public to know about the mental state of their armed forces. Bagthorpe is recorded as a military hospital at this time.

  Doesn't answer the question though.

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Just had a memory alert!  Can now remember being told that the tunnels on the Suburban Railway were used for storing ammunition  trains.

This being the unofficial reason for the station closures in 1916.

 May be there is a connection?

The official reason for their closures was put down to staff shortages, due to the war. 

 

Another thought! Maybe the Zeppelin was after this location when he bombed the brick works. He wasn't far off his target, if indeed he knew about it.

 

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As previously stated..happy to be wrong..

Glad to know that they appear to be Military instillations. Had visions of Halfway Houses or possibly overspill...

 

Dark Angel...I know nothing about raiiways but i do recall reading about hospital trains arriving at Thorneywood Station during the First World War.

 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Dark Angel said:

Just had a memory alert!  Can now remember being told that the tunnels on the Suburban Railway were used for storing ammunition  trains.

This being the unofficial reason for the station closures in 1916.

 May be there is a connection?

The official reason for their closures was put down to staff shortages, due to the war. 

 

Regarding earthworks..  Below is not a map from Nottm, but does show a former munitions depot near Rainford Lancs, now used for warehousing. It has similar odd looking earthworks. (Raised banks between each brick building..to direct any blast upward.  It was a WW2 construction and it is still just possible to see a curved 'crop mark' showing a former link to the railway, which in turn goes to Kikby near Liverpool, which had a large munitions factory in WW2.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4983731,-2.8096792,1927m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

Just sayin'

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The camp was an army camp, I used to play on there in the early 50's as my great aunt lived on Caunton ave. And yes the areas mentioned were probably munitions storage.

 

There was another thread a while ago mentioning same.

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In the same area, Just off the Wells Rd. my uncle’s father, Elijah Burton, the coal merchant and builder had a firelighter factory. Apparently the factory was hit by a stray wartime shell and you can imagine the result! I can’t find anything about this now but the info came from my late uncle and is reliable.

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I am not a chemist, so may be barking up the wrong tree.

However, I will proceed into the unknown. Large quantities of nitro glycerine were required as a propellant in the production of cordite.

In liquid form it is highly unstable and extremely difficult to transport, needing to be kept cool at all times.

This would necessitate it's manufacture at the site of the blending with other elements to produce a paste. This would form a 'cake' mixture which would be warmed in stoving houses. I think the odd elliptical shapes on Cliff Tons map could be these.The earth works indicate that something explosive was around this site.

If you look on google maps, it can be seen that the gulag building is surrounded by steps indicating varying levels.

This manufacturing process tended to be carried out in small locations in the event of something going wrong, thereby ensuing production continued elsewhere. Also some locations converted to the manufacture of shells weren't large enough to carry out this activity. 

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The site was definitely the Anti-Aircraft Battery, as evidenced...

 

https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?a=0&hob_id=1473141https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?a=0&hob_id=1473141

 

Whilst ack ack guns were usually mobile, the permanent camps may have had emplacements built to accomodate the guns, particularly heavier ones like these. I suppose there would be searchlight positions too.

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There definitely was a Heavy Anti Aircraft battery there, presumably needing a fairly substantial force to operate it, hence the array of huts.

This was Manned and Armed in 1940.

But Unarmed and Guarded in 1942.

 

PiVwIoA.png

 

 

 

GpcPlSg.png

 

 

 

 

So presumably at the end of the War the huts may have been vacated and possibly used as temporary housing for those displaced by bombing or for families to re-group whilst awaiting new or rebuilt housing.

 

To the O.P,

Where did the info that families were housed there come from?

Does the enquiry result from your own family known to have been placed there or other reasons?

 

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9 minutes ago, Stuart.C said:

To the O.P,      Where did the info that families were housed there come from?  Does the enquiry result from your own family known to have been placed there or other reasons?

 

I was wondering the same thing. So far, the OP hasn't been back here since she posted the original message, so hasn't seen any of the comments. The other information we don't know is what era is she referring to ?  eg 1940s, 50s, 60s ?

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  • 7 months later...
On 10/13/2019 at 7:51 PM, Beekay said:

Could  they some sort of fortification or armourment CT? Not know the date, just guessing.

Nissan huts. 

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