Missing piece of ‘secret’ wartime map of Greenham revealed

The missing piece of a wartime puzzle has been found.

In March, newburytoday reported how Newbury resident, Liz Chaplain, had acquired a map showing the distribution of military sites around former RAF Greenham Common.

But the section showing the layout of the airfield and the munitions stores at Bowdown Woods was missing.

Now, after contacting the Royal Air Force Museum — which holds the originals — newburytoday can reveal the complete maps, which show clearly the makeup of the area.

The maps, or ‘record site plans’, were produced by the Air Ministry and plot everything from troop dining rooms to latrine blocks.

They are labelled as:

Greenham Common, Site No1 Airfield, DG of W 4817/44, Airfield Plan No120

Greenham Common, Dispersed Sites, DG of W 4818/44, Airfield Plan No121

No120 shows the glider marshalling areas located at either end of the main runway used for D-Day — many of which were manufactured at Elliott’s of Newbury.

And No121 reveals the Bomb Stores housed tail units, fused and spare bombs, incendiaries and other parts.

Much of the infrastructure has since eroded or been demolished.

Both maps were produced in 1945 and remained closely guarded secrets for obvious reasons.

But their status was amended in 1946 and downgraded from ‘secret’ in 1958.

West Berkshire Council’s archaeology team is responsible for maintaining the district’s Historic Environment Record.

But not all of its records are available online through the Heritage Gateway portal.

Visit www.westberks.gov.uk/her and www.westberks.gov.uk/her-enquiry for more information about the HER.

Please contact archaeology@westberks.gov.uk or visit www.westberks.gov.uk/report-heritage-issue to report any updated, inaccurate or missing information.