Monument record MDO43813 - First World War/Second World War slit trenches, Launceston Down, Tarrant Launceston

First World War/Second World War slit trenches on the western edge of Launceston Down, Tarrant Launceston, are visible as ditched earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs. They have subsequently been levelled by ploughing and are now only visible as a cropmark. The site comprises a group of narrow ditches and flanking bank sections which zigzag roughly WSW / ENE over an area that measures 80m long by up to 20m wide.

A First World War practice trench is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in 1943 <1> but has subsequently been levelled by ploughing. The site is centred at ST 9499 1089 and comprises a group of narrow ditches and flanking bank sections which zigzag roughly WSW / ENE over an area that measures 80m long by up to 20m wide.

The practice trench was dug on Launceston Common and was probably dug as a training exercise by the Royal Naval Division, who were stationed at nearby Blandford Camp from 1915 to 1918. The trench had been levelled by ploughing on aerial photographs taken in 1953 and is visible as a cropmark. <1, 3>

First World War/Second War slit trenches on the western edge of Launceston Down, Tarrant Launceston, are visible as ditched earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs <2>. The trenches are linked to form sub-square/sub-rectangular zig-zag sections, extending to around 75m long by 18m wide.

The features are no longer visible on 2001 APGB imagery <4>. They were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM project.

<1> Royal Air Force, 13-JAN-1943, RAF/HLA/651 1137-1138, NMR RAF/HLA/651 1137-1138 13-JAN-1943 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18390.

<2> Royal Air Force, 23-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1944 FS 2313 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18050.

<3> Royal Air Force, 20-APR-1953, NMR RAF/58/1090 F21 0126-0127, NMR RAF/58/1090 F21 0126-0127 20-APR-1953 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18515.

<4> Pan Government Agreement, 2001, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery (Aerial Photograph). SDO18519.

<5> Bishop, Sharon, 2009, Tarrant Launceston 15 & Environs. Aerial Photograph Survey & Analysis, Object Number: MD002384 (Unpublished document). SDO12459.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1480766 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 3 2023 10:37AM