RAF WATNALL SPINNEY
Another place in Watnall close to my heart with fond memories is Watnall Spinney to be found at the end of Trough Lane, along Trough Road. It would have been either 1980 or 1981 that I first visited the area. I went on a play-day to my school friend's house, Richard Johnson who lived on Rolleston Crescent. He told me about the Hall which once stood where his house was now which I was fascinated by. We called for our mutual school friend, Paul Horton. We then went over Richard's back garden onto the fields beyond. They showed me the graves for the first time. They were completely overgrown. Paul seemed to have inside knowledge that there were in fact graves inside. The gate could just be made out and a small tunnel through the overgrowth through which someone had crawled through in the past to make the discovery. I remember the rusty locked gate and some of the fence was visible, but I remember the surrounding fence being much taller than what is there now, - but then again, back then I was much shorter !. They then took me down the hill and over a wooden fence to a wooded area. Here I saw the remains of two small buildings. They were quite small, had some of the walls upto window level and brick chimneys. On my guided tour I also looked into a couple of Air-raid shelters which were open but only partially filled. Happy days, my love of Watnall history has been there ever since. I have read that these were built as temporary brick structures including airmen's barracks with ablutions and storage. Clearly they had fallen into disrepair by the time I first saw them. I imagine for "health and safety" reasons the remaining above ground structures were removed some time later. Does anyone know when this was done, or can anyone else remember seeing the buildings when they were still there ? Only the above ground level brick structure has been removed. The foundations to all the buildings are still there. Images 1 and 2, close-ups from maps showing the location of the buildings in what is now known as Watnall Spinney. I believe this strip of land was commandeered from the Watnall Hall estate by the RAF in the early 1940's. The most noticeable feature, to be seen in the Spinney, is the covered Stanton Air-raid shelter. (building No.44 on the map) The Stanton Air-raid shelter, so called as the individual cast reinforced concrete arches were made during the war at the Stanton Ironworks in Ilkeston. The half arches are bolted together at the top and a complete arch will then dove-tail into another. The segments are 20 inches wide and seven foot tall, usually half sunk and covered such as ours in Watnall. They could be made as short or as long as required by adding more arches. Manufactured mainly for the Air Ministry, so no surprise to see them used at RAF Watnall. For me, the irony here, the trees growing through and around the shelter are destroying it, and no doubt at the same time saving it. I would imagine this above ground level feature would have been knocked down and filled in years ago if it were not for the fact that doing so would involve removing / killing several trees. Stanton Air-raid shelters are extremely strong and have stood the test of time. They can be found on and around ex-RAF bases all over the Country. images 3,4,5,6,7,8. Another large Air-raid shelter can be found in the wooded area near the corner nearest to the houses on Rolleston Crescent. This shelter is completely covered, but openings to either end are still visible at the top of each end Images 9,10.11,12.
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