GeoGraph - photograph every grid square

Park Farm, Savernake, Marlborough

These innocuous-looking farm buildings mark the spot where a major catastrophe took place in 1946.

During WWII Savernake Forest was used as a strategic ordnance store in preparation for D-Day. Few signs remain of that activity although the remnants of a storage building can still be seen. SU2265 : Old ammunition store, Charcoal Burners Road, Savernake (3)

Although the war ended in 1945 the forest was still being used to store and manage massive amounts of ordnance. On 2nd January 1946 huge explosions occurred while ordnance was being transferred between rail freight wagons and road vehicles in a siding off the nearby GWR line (formerly the Midlands and South Western Junction Railway).

There are a few websites that mention the incident such as Link and Link.

Link has a comprehensive set of present-day and historical images.

However, the most recent, comprehensive account of both this event and another, earlier, explosion nearby is to be found in an excellent history of Savernake and the war years entitled 'Savernake at War' published and written by Roger Day, 2007 (ISBN 0 9536601 2 5) contactable at the 'Ramsbury at War' website above. This and several other images can be seen in this gallery Link