MMO2530 - World War Two military training on Porlock Common (Monument)

Evidence of military training of World War Two date is visible on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s and 1950s. The evidence takes the form of oval and circular earthwork mounds and depressions, arranged in rows or grid-like patterns over approximately 15 hectares of Porlock Common, centred approximately on SS 8459 4405. The precise nature of the earthworks is not always clear, with most resembling areas of surface disturbance or clearance rather than true earthwork mounds or ditches. The oval or rectilinear features range in size from 7 to 15 metres long, but are rarely more than 4 metres wide. They are predominantly organised or constructed in rows, within which they are spaced between 10 and 20 metres apart. The circular features resemble shallow bomb craters of about 8 metres diameter, arranged in rows of four between 27 and 33 metres apart. The function of any of these earthworks and the nature of the training activities which occurred here remain unclear. One possibility is that they are associated with infantry training, perhaps in use as rifle butts. A second area of very similar features, probably part of the same training area, is visible approximately 500 metres to the northwest (MSO12270). Small numbers of craters, probably associated with the firing ranges to the east, are visible scattered throughout this possible training area, and are assumed not to be contemporary. [1-4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]