Kirmington Bunkers ~ A Look at the Extensive Remains of Wartime Buildings
Kirmington Bunkers Mission: To find and Record.
Mission successful !
This area is remarkable in the number of wartime building still extant in and around the area
This trip was taken in the company of, and directional guidance of, Chris Keyworth - you may remember it resulted in my Roman Coin and was a great day out, despite the weather - it was also something of an eye-opener !
The amount of wartime bunkers and buildings in and around this area is really quite something and simply has to be investigated further.
I’d already been in the area some time ago for these bunkers and little did I know that these were also in the immediate vicinity
World War II Blast Shelter
There are several of these blast shelters still standing and in good condition but everywhere you look there are the remains of more buildings in the wood - it must surely have been some form of barracks ?
Site of former barracks ?
Leaving the wood that contains the above and crossing the road (of sorts) takes you to another wood overlooking Humberside Airport, formerly RAF Kirmington, and it is once again full of the foundations and remains of World War II buildings.
It would be of great interest to know exactly who was here and what they were doing.
Was it all for the support staff at the airbase or was it part of a larger military set up ?
We know it was the home of 166 squadron, amongst others such as 150, 142 and 153 squadrons, and was in operation use between 1942 and 1945.
166 squadron arrived in January 1943 and stayed for the duration of the war flying flying Wellington then Lancaster bombers and we should be very interested to her from anybody who has any association or recollection of this time.
Many of the blast shelters, as seen above, seem to remain and most are relatively intact but there are clear signs of many other buildings most of which only the footings etc remain. Presumably these fell into disrepair or were robbed out for the building material whilst the shelters being, I guess, of heavier construction have survived.
There’s clearly a great deal of research to be done here and it’s a site worthy of the effort. I hope to bring you a lot ore of the area including more pictures and locations in the near future.
In the meantime any comments or information are very much encouraged - especially information about what was actually happening here and day-to-day life.
All the best
Rod
See also our List of Lancaster Crashes in Lincolnshire
Shaunie Boy said,
March 1, 2010 @ 2:30 pm
These could possibly be Auxiliary Unit bunkers as these guys were tasked with the defence of airfields and local interest places. I have photographed and visited may AU Bunkers in Lincolnshire many of which have now collapsed. It’s a truly great way to spend a nice spring or summers day.
Rod said,
March 1, 2010 @ 6:49 pm
Hi SB
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site.
I’m with you there - takes some beating - all we need is a summers day !
Regards
Rod
John Ratcliffe said,
March 30, 2010 @ 2:09 pm
Hi Rod,
Long time no speak.
Had intended letting you have pix and info about these bunkers just after Christmas but you beat me to it!
Am now working in Kirmington at Timberland Motorhomes and often spend my lunch break walking up in the woods around the wartime shelters etc.
Keep up the good work with the website,
Kind regards,
John Ratcliffe
History Hunter said,
August 14, 2010 @ 2:17 am
Dont know where else to post this, but , as Michael Caine would say, ‘not a lot of people know that’
Hands up (Nev, Chris and Rod excepted) those who knew that Donald Pleasence, yes THE Donald Pleasence, flew from RAF Kirmington in WW2?
Incidentally, before i give you the boring details, he was actually a conscientious objector who was sent to work in lumbering to help the British war efforts. Six months in lumbering changed his mind, and so he signed up for the RAF.
Pilot Officer Pleasence 157509, who was brought up in Grimoldby near Louth, had flown as a wireless-operator with No 166 Squadron, flying in Lancasters from RAF Kirmington. His plane, Lancaster NE112 AS:M was shot down on an Agenville operation on 31-Aug/1-Sep 1944. He survived the crash relatively uninjured, but several members of his crew did not. He became a POW and was sent to Stalag-Luft 1, also named Barth/Vogelsang. It was in the very north of Germany, in what used to be Prussia.
Stalag Luft 1 opened specifically as a camp for British officers late in 1942, but in the ensuing years the camp expanded to include both Officers and enlisted men, and also large numbers of American airmen. While in Stalag Luft 1 he started his acting career by producing and acting in plays. While at the camp he was subjected to mental and physical torture by his German captors.
In May of 1945 the camp was liberated by the advancing Russian Army. The German guards had abandoned the camp of nearly 9,000 prisoners a few days prior to the liberation.
Donald Pleasence returned to England in surprisingly good health and returned to acting, later appearing in plays alongside Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
So now you know!
Chris Keyworth said,
August 14, 2010 @ 12:59 pm
i had heared somthing about it when i was at the airport but to be fair had forgotton all about it until your post on here, well done tony…
regards
chris
David Wood said,
September 11, 2010 @ 4:30 pm
Can anyone tell me anything about the two vertical shafts in the corner of Hendale Wood about 1 mile south east of the end of humberside airport main runway. They are about 1 metre square and about 15 metres apart.
David Wood
Gordon Luck said,
September 11, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
David,
There are two known WW2 Auxiliary Unit bunkers in Hendale Woods. Maybe one of those?
JezB said,
November 7, 2010 @ 7:46 pm
Following up from David Woods question and Gordons reply this was indeed one of the WW2 Auxiliary Unit bunkers, in my hours of fossicking on the internet I came across the following http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=863080 which gives a link to a google maps overlay of “15,456 placemarks marking the locations of all the known Pillboxes, Gun Emplacements, Artillery Batteries, Anti-Tank Obstacles and so on, that were built during the early years of the war against the threat of German invasion” including the site in Hendale David and I had found.
I’ve located one of the Saxby bunkers today, but it only seemed to be one part of it, a single hatch and an enclosed bunker, possibly a radio room as there is some wires leading into the concrete roof. Anyone else been to this site?
doug the historian said,
November 24, 2010 @ 10:26 pm
hello im a local grimsby man and im very intersted in the history of grimsby and have searched your website for some time, i would like too see more old maps if you have them???? i have been translateing your german maps and have found a bunker at the back of Hobsons built into the sea defences and would like to know were the rest are can you help me thanks douglas.
Rod said,
November 25, 2010 @ 8:34 am
Hi Doug,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site.
I’ll keep putting stuff on the site - including maps etc as and when they become available
I’ll also be chasing up more bunkers and likewise bringing then to the site - I’m interested in the one you mention and always keen to hear of any sites in Grimsby that are war related
Best
Rod
Steve E said,
April 2, 2011 @ 1:19 am
Just to follow on from Jez B’s comments about Saxby Woods. There are two bunkers in there, one is completely water logged and has been sealed with a concrete slab by one of the villagers but I can remember going in it when I was a lad. The other is accessible and is I believe a radio room. The two shafts in Hendale wood are part of an Auxiliary bunker, one hatch been the entrance the other the escape route. I have been inside this one as well and it is remarkably well preserved.
Regards Steve
Rod said,
April 2, 2011 @ 8:55 am
Steve,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site.
That’s really useful information Steve, I think I’ll have a revisit to the area
Best
Rod
Tony said,
August 9, 2011 @ 9:21 pm
Hi Rod, ive been doing some research on the Kirmington sites mentioned they were Dispersed Camps for the Airfield and are all around Kirmington and near the edge of broclesby park. Over the past few weeks i have been taking photo’s of all the sites in the woods but still have a few to find yet, there are various blast shelters, Stanton shelters and latrines/ shower blocks but only the foundations left with tell tale signs.
I found this site, home.cogeco.ca/~dswallow4/Kirmington.htm which has an excellent plan of the airfield and the dispersed camps it has been most helpfull.
while i’m on about Shelters, can anyone help me locate the aux unit base’s in hendale woods, i have been there yesterday and today and after walking for hours still cant find them, HELP
Rod said,
August 10, 2011 @ 8:00 am
Hi Tony,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site.
Like you I’ve still got plenty more to locate and write up although I find information completely lacking on many.
Never found out much about Butters Wood for example
All the best
Rod
Chris Keyworth said,
August 10, 2011 @ 1:14 pm
hi Tony
TA 0980 0735 O/s Map 281, Second World War auxiliary hide, consisting of a buried stanton type shelter with attached nissen style corrugated iron chamber, a small pipe leads from this room to the surface - possibly for a radio aerial. West side of Hendale Wood. if you cant find them come and get me from immingham and i will show you..
Regards
Chris
Chris Keyworth said,
August 10, 2011 @ 1:25 pm
Also
TA 1160 0680, TA 1430 0540 O/s Map 284, same info as above…
hope this helps confuse things a little..
Regards
Chris..
Rod said,
August 10, 2011 @ 2:43 pm
Chris,
I didn’t dare to expect but I hoped - tremendous, as always.
Appreciatively
Rod
JezB said,
August 10, 2011 @ 4:31 pm
I’ve been three times to the one in Hendale Wood and even though I know where it is I still struggle to find it, only the wooden hatch gives it away. Theres another one in the woods above Saxby at SE 9972 1638.
Chris Keyworth said,
August 10, 2011 @ 7:31 pm
have you found the infirmary hospital yet Tony???
Regards
Chris
Al said,
August 10, 2011 @ 9:44 pm
I’ve just found this thread - the one in Hendale wood is indeed an AU operational base, it’s not too difficult to find if you can locate a shallow depression running at right angles from the main track, there are 2 entrances (1 is the main entrance which would have covered by an earth filled tray type arrangement which would slide on runners into a slot in the side of the entrance, this arrangement can be best seen at the AU post at Barton where there’s enough left to sus out how it worked) the other entrance would be the emergency exit.
There’s 2 at Saxby - the lower one was flooded when I visited last winter, the top one is dry and about 1/4 mile SE, these and the Barton site have a single entrance and consist of a buried prefabed concrete air raid shelter. There’s a site at Elsham which is partially collapsed which has 2 chambers linked by a corridor, one of these is a concrete job and the other is a corrogated sheet construction. Elsham has the 2 entrance arrangement.
There’s also a construction above Worlaby (I reckon it was an observation post rather than a OB) which has similar construction but an open trench at the end of a corridor leading away from the bunker.
Winter is the best time for hunting these sites out when the undergrowth has died back, I spent many evenings looking for the upper Saxby site last summer and I was feet away from it. Guess they weren’t meant to be found 70 years back, they’re not going to be easy to find after all this time!
tony said,
August 15, 2011 @ 12:43 am
thanks Rod and chris thanks very much for the info, if you mean the ssq site yes but it’s all cleared now unless i’m in the wrong place, next time im in the area a friend is coming with me an extra set of eyes always helps
mike Clark said,
September 13, 2011 @ 4:55 pm
This really is a great site ! , Im surprised how much of this Airfield still exists ,even if it is under ground . Can anyone tell me Is there any signs of where the bomb dump was ?, Also along the caister Road There is a long track which goes down to a farm ?? , with signs saying ” No Entry To the Public ” -Words to that affect . Is there any building down there that was Airfield ? As everytime I walk down that lane , Ive often wanted to walk down there to Explore ,and to see the Airfield Closer ? Any help / Info would be welcome . Chris I never did get a reply from “Humberside ” regarding Photos ? Never mind !
Rod said,
September 13, 2011 @ 7:13 pm
Mike,
there’s a awful lot of ‘dispersal’ stuff around Lincolnshire, I’ve been to quite a few of them, there’s a lot of them on the site, click here to browse the category and click ‘previous’ at the bottom to see the next page etc.
Not sure about the specifics but Google earth should show you what’s down that track Mike,
Regards
Rod
Chris Keyworth said,
September 14, 2011 @ 12:41 am
Bomb Dump Cetered at TA 0960 0925
Regards
Chris..
Rod said,
September 14, 2011 @ 8:29 am
Chris,
fantastic stuff - many thanks indeed
Regards
Rod