World War Two: Evidence of damage/stuff left over now.

[williamp]

Local paper calls it a centurion. So its bound to be wrong...

[don'tbesilly]

Not 'up' on tanks, but the consensus on Google seems to be it's a Centurion.

One example:

http://friendandcompany.tumblr.com/post/6898044925...

[Storer]

If the paper says a Centurion then it probably is (they sometimes get things right).

It has a long gun but the 'stance' is wrong. However, if the engine and transmission etc. has been removed, which I strongly suspect, it would stand nose down.

I might even have the engine in my collection!!!


Paul

[Halmyre]

Consensus on Geograph is 'Centurion' apart from one dissenter who says it's a Challenger:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/SD5224

[Steve_W]

That's a Centurion. We have a fair number of photos of them as my Dad served in them, after originally being in Comets. The photographer calls it a Cent too in his comments. The fume extractor (?) on the barrel is the giveaway.

[vonuber]

Bunker on the banks of the Thames near Wallingford.

There's also a bunker overlooking the circuit at High Edge, Buxton:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.218358,-1.910568...

[Celtic Dragon]

I got up to the archery club today and took some photos, sorry its a bit over grown so their not clearest.

This is the first building you come to, some effort was made to keep it hidden, the banks are I think left overs from the quarry days


In front of it is this block which is what I think ins the anchor point for an ariel


This is the view of it from inside the building in the first photo.


Inside shot of 1 of the corners (right hand back in first photo) The building is a rectangle with a "office" in the right hand front and back. Sectioning it in to a T shape and 2 squares


the other "office"


View back of the 2st building from the 2nd. The "valley" is brick lined on both sides almost retaining walls for the mounds on each side.


The 2nd building, looks like a garage or small storage area

[PanzerCommander]

Storer said:

If the paper says a Centurion then it probably is (they sometimes get things right).

It has a long gun but the 'stance' is wrong. However, if the engine and transmission etc. has been removed, which I strongly suspect, it would stand nose down.

I might even have the engine in my collection!!!


Paul

The silhouette certainly looks like a Centurion (as you say its a bit nose down), the various photos I found searching for 'Leyland Tank' are pictures of a Centurion.

[Stickyfinger]

PanzerCommander said:

The silhouette certainly looks like a Centurion (as you say its a bit nose down), the various photos I found searching for 'Leyland Tank' are pictures of a Centurion.

Vijayanta (Vickers MTB)

[fatboy18]

don'tbesilly said:

fatboy18 said:

My Uncle lived at the base of the quarry on Reigate hill in the 1960s when he bought the house it came with the quarry too! There were tunnels in the quarry (which may have been used by the military for ammo storage) but sadly due to many trespassers onto the property grounds and fear of the tunnels being unsafe, he had the entrances blown up! He sold the house in the late 1970s
There is a private road between the Esso garage and the pub half way down reigate hill, Montgomery had a house there, friend of mine did some plastering work there, he told me they still have a map room in the house preserved as his office?

One of the entrances to Montgomery's HQ was in the woods located at the base of the hill, the access was down the private road pinpointed in the google maps link below.

Sadly all entry points were blocked up many years ago, probably for all the reasons you mentioned above.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/51%C2%B015'06....

Yep thats the road and sorry to say it was my late uncle that had the tunnel entrances blown up!

[yellowjack]

Storer said:

Adz The Rat said:

There is a Chieftain tank on a roundabout in Leyland, apparently they were built here?

It is difficult to see but I now think it is not a Churchill which looks like this:-



A Chieftain like this:-



A Centurion:-



I think it is this



A Cromwell Cruiser.

Unless you know differently or fancy a trip to Leyland to check!


Paul

Definitive answer? It's a Centurion... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owyXniuyQhw

[williamp]

Ashford in Kent has a WW1 tank..

[Saddle bum]

Adz The Rat said:

There is a Chieftain tank on a roundabout in Leyland, apparently they were built here?

Chieftains were built at ROF Leeds.

[anonymous-user]

PhillippeDuLait said:

Someone mentioned this site a few pages back: http://www.thirdreichruins.com
It has been around for years and I really wish it had more higher resolution pictures. Despite that, you can lose hours just browsing the then and now pictures. I recommend it to anyone that has at least a passing interest in the history of WW2.

Many thanks for that link - absolutely fascinating!

[Pints]

OpulentBob said:

moorx said:

1878 said:

A different kind of damage here - Tyneham in Dorset. Village was taken over during WW2 for practice by Allied forces ahead of D-Day. The village was never given back after the way. Some of the buildings are ruined, the schoolhouse contains some pictures and information, the church is immaculately kept. Well worth a visit and there is some good walking along the South West Coast path - but check before going as the surrounding land is still used for range training.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham
http://tynehamvillage.org/a-brief-history-of-tyneh...

You've reminded me of another one, that we often used to drive past during our forays into Wales from the west country - Epynt, near the Brecon Beacons.

http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/page45.html

There's also Stanford in Norfolk, AKA Stanta to any Army boys on here who may have trained there (it's a current training facility today).

To keep it PH, it's also very close to the site of the Top Gear test between the Boxster and the AMG SLK where Clarkson was up against army snipers. (Series 6, Episode 5)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford,_Norfolk

https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Stanford,+Norf...

(It doesn't look like that any more, about 8 years ago I designed an extension there for the Army to train on, making it more like a semi-urban Afghan base, more visible here: http://binged.it/1KbBIrx )

Apologies, I don't know how to make other webpages appear as images...

There's also Imber in Wiltshire. Eviction of its population in 1943 for military training. Never returned to its inhabitants.

[Pints]

Interesting little site brought to my attention by a Guernsey-born colleague.

http://www.festungguernsey.supanet.com/

[DragsterRR]

In Carrickfergus where it was originally built.

[Europa1]

Nip over to France and have a look at the U-Boat pens at somewhere like Lorient or La Rochelle.

[Storer]

DragsterRR said:

In Carrickfergus where it was originally built.

I'm going to stick my neck out again and say 'that is a Churchill'.

[fatboy18]

Storer said:

DragsterRR said:

In Carrickfergus where it was originally built.

I'm going to stick my neck out again and say 'that is a Churchill'.

Looks like a Churchill to me