Herald - Issue 419

Page 10 • The HERALD • 17th February 2022 v F @ heraldpublishing v MR SWEEP THE CHIMNEY SWEEP keep it clean - keep it safer Open fires, wood burners, stoves etc. Both private and commercial properties Member of the Guild of Master Sweeps Tel: 07971 280906 www.mrsweeplymington.com email: mrsweeplymington@gmail.com 38 Bath Road, Lymington SO41 3SB Kitchen & Bathroom Showroom with free design service Tel: 023 8084 3787 Email: showroom@pcbuildingsupplies.co.ukWeb : www.pcbuildingsupplies.co.uk Professional installers of Fascias, Guttering, Cladding, PVCu Windows & Doors Composite Doors • 10 year labour and product guarantees Repairs, cleaning and advice also available Tel: 023 8086 9715 or 07888 705455 enquiries@aztecfascias.com Send your local news to The Editor, The Herald, 2 High Street, Hythe SO45 6AH How a Strange Hump in the New Forest Might Have Helped the War Effort As you travel on the B3054 from Hatchett Pond towards Lymington, you might notice a large gorse- covered mound on the heathland. It’s on the right- hand side, around half a mile on from the Beaulieu Heath entrance into the old air eld. It’s very recognisable as it has a walking track through the middle of it. I’d o en drive past this myself, and used to think it was a tumulus, (Bronze age burial site) which isn’t an unusual sight in the New Forest. at was until I started looking deeper into the wartime history of the area. For the last few years, I’ve been researching RAF Beaulieu and the New Forest air elds. is is what led me to realise what this gorse- covered mound was. It’s man-made and appeared in late 1942. It was dug out of the heathland, with the resulting gravel piled up into a small hill as part of the construction of RAF Beaulieu. It was designed to become what’s known as a ‘Shoot-In Butt’. ese were common on air elds during WW2. ey were for aircra to practice shooting into to test their weapons. In RAF Beaulieu’s case, the idea was for ghter or bomber planes to taxi into position on the edge of the air eld, face the Shoot-In Butt and then re at a target. However, whether the Beaulieu Shoot-in Butt was used during the war is open to debate. Unlike other practice areas on Beaulieu Air eld, I can nd no evidence of it ever being red at. If the RAF and USAAF aircra did use it for practice, the issue of the village of Pilley being behind it, and its proximity to the roadside had to be major considerations. Because of this, I suspect it was never actually used. Also, it shouldn’t be there today. In the late 1950’s, buildings and equipment from the air eld were auctioned o to the public. I’m led to believe that the mound of gravel was also sold, but the chap who purchased it never came and removed it for reasons only he knows. So, we’re stuck with this strange gorse-covered mound or small hill that might, or might not, have helped the war e ort. Fast forward to present day, and many locals a ectionately call it the ‘hump’ or the ‘mound’ as I have done in this article. e reason you see tracks over it is because it’s a popular point on a walk. People naturally want to climb up to the top, as it o ers amazing views. You can see for miles around, go try it yourself! In rainy months, a large pond also develops behind it. is is a result of the gravel being originally dug out and then piled up to create the Shoot-In Butt. If you’d like to nd out more and watch a video, visit : www.ra eaulieu.co.uk and type ‘hump’ into the search bar. If you have any stories or accounts of WW2 in the New Forest and Waterside, I’d love to hear from you. I’m currently writing a book and planning a local WW2 history exhibition for June of this year. You can email me on: mheighway@hotmail.com Investigations into the ‘mound’ near Beaulieu reveal its true identity by local history enthusiast, Marc Heighway