A series of fascinating discoveries have come to light in recent weeks
Surprisingly it’s the more recent history of Kings Weston that we have less historical evidence for than earlier periods. A lack of original material is a particular problem when researching the Second World War at Kings Weston when necessary secrecy meant that fewer records were kept. We know that it played and extremely active role during the war with two army camps; one on the Shirehampton Park Golf Course and one on Penpole Lane. These were “Camp Seamills” A and B respectively and mainly housed regiments of Black US Army soldiers that formed the Port Companies used to unload war supplies and arms arriving in Avonmouth.
We’re less clear about how Kings Weston house and the surrounding area of the Home Park operated during the War. From contemporary aerial photos, and from the remaining concrete bases, we know that there were several dozen barrack huts built along the South Walk and as far as the Echo, but we’ve yet to establish who they were used by.
Our recent work clearing the area below the South Walk has uncovered a lot of the ruins of the former army camp, but last month we uncovered some interesting artefacts from the area. Close to where the newly-revealed concrete steps descend towards the house there is a very large concrete slab base from a building much larger than the other barrack blocks. It was close-by that we found a rubbish dump with a lot of contemporary finds amongst a lot of tipped ash. You can see where we found it using this link to the Know Your Place website.
Most interesting was probably this well-preserved enamel sign. Further research has shown that this came from the inside lid of a wooden crate used to store “A W Bombs”. These ‘bombs’ – actually incendiary grenades – were produced in large numbers from 1940 onwards and were issued to the Home Guard in the event of German invasion – a real threat at that point in the war. Fortunately we didn’t find any of the glass flasks that contained the white phosphorous that would still have been dangerous today!
Also uncovered were the shards of a very large mug with the printed date 1942 on the base – could this have been from a nearby N.A.A.F.I canteen? Amongst other artefacts was a 1940s Brylcreem bottle; an evocative reminder that men lived and slept in the huts scattered about the estate.
This month seems to have had a WWII theme running through it as we also acquired two period photographs that we are hoping people might be able to help with. The setting for both is clearly on the front steps of Kings Weston House. The front windows have been boarded over as protection against bomb damage for the paintings still in place in the Saloon beyond it. In front are posed British servicemen and women from a wide variety of regiments. One photo shows just the officers, and the other, shown below, shows a wider group of staff. The only clue we have to the event, or organisation represented here is the pencil note on the back of the photographs “Capt’ Myles”.
We’d be really interested to know more about this photo and if you can add anything please let us know. Can you find out who Myles was, what does this group of people represent, or do you even recognise anyone? Please let us know if you can help us. A much larger version of the photos can be found on our website here.
