Slades Hill army camp

Slades Hill army camp with gun emplacements (top left) from a 1970s Ordnance Survey map. Camp Road shown diagonally leading to the gun emplacements.[1]
Remains of buildings at the Hog Hill gun emplacement.
Alternate view.

Slades Hill army camp was a Second World War British Army camp and anti-aircraft battery in Slades Hill, Enfield, London, that formed part of London's defences against attack by German bombers.

Establishment

The camp and gun emplacement was established at the start of the Second World War in Slades Hill, Enfield. A half-battery of 3.7 inch mobile guns had previously been temporarily sited nearby during the Munich Crisis of 1938.[2] The road to the camp from Enfield Road, previously a track, was made into a permanent way and is now known locally as Camp Road.[3] The Merryhills Brook crosses Camp Road and Salmon's Brook runs along the eastern side of the site. To the south of the camp was the 26th Enfield Rifle and Pistol Club, which still exists, and which dates from the Boer War.[4]

Anti-aircraft battery

The anti-aircraft battery on adjacent Hog Hill featured four 4.5 inch anti-aircraft guns that were adapted from the 4.5 inch naval gun[2] and approved for land use in 1938. They were set in concrete emplacements and formed part of the defences of London against attack by German bombers. In 1941, Winston Churchill's daughter Mary, who had enlisted in the Auxiliary Territorial Service of the British Army, was posted to the battery before moving to a different one in Hyde Park.[2][5]

Closure

After the war, the camp was converted to an army records centre and closed by the early 1960s.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Map of Enfield, Ordnance Survey, 1970s.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Memories of the Slades Hill area in 1938 and the war years. Jack Brown, The Enfield Society, 18 April 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  3. ↑ PLANNING COMMITTEE 25.09.08. London Borough of Enfield. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Welcome to the 26th Enfield Rifle and Pistol Club. Shooting Enfield, 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Wrigley, Chris. (2002). Winston Churchill: A biographical companion. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 123–125. ISBN 978-0-87436-990-8.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hog Hill gun emplacement.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.