Summary
A Second World War QF P-series oil bombing decoy, known as East Halton, situated at East Marsh, Goxhill on the Lincolnshire shore of the River Humber, built 1941. Used to draw off (decoy) Luftwaffe bombing raids aimed at oil installations at North Killingholme Haven.
Reasons for Designation
The site of the Second World War QF P-series oil bombing decoy, known as East Halton, at East Marsh, Goxhill is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: as one of eleven specialised QF (controlled fires) P-series (Petroleum Division) oil bombing decoy sites developed between 1940 and 1941 to deflect wartime bombing raids from extensive oil storage depots during the Second World War;
* Rarity: as a rare example of a near-complete QF P-series oil bombing decoy, one of only three of this type known to survive in England;
* Survival and diversity: a well-preserved, extant and fully legible bombing decoy of an unusual type, with all of its decoy display features surviving above and below ground;
* Documentation: the site is well-documented having been subject to research and aerial photographic survey;
* Potential: there is a high potential for further archaeological remains associated with the oil pools, connecting channels and other decoy display features. There is also potential for artefact remains.
History
The Second World War saw the emergence of aerial bombardment as a decisive instrument of warfare, and to counter this threat, the United Kingdom maintained a flexible and diverse mechanism of air defence throughout the war. This included the early warning of approaching aircraft, through radar and visual detection, and the local defence of towns, cities and other vulnerable points using anti-aircraft gunnery and balloon barrages. But less conspicuously, many potential targets were shadowed by decoys operated under the supervision of Colonel Turner’s Department (a department specially created to devise and oversee the use of bombing decoys) - dummy structures, lighting displays and fires - designed to draw enemy bombs from the intended points of attack.
Britain's decoy programme began in January 1940 and developed into a complex deception strategy, using four main methods: day and night dummy aerodromes ('K' and 'Q' sites); simulated urban or industrial night-time lighting (Quartz Light 'QL' sites), diversionary night-time fires (Quartz Fire ('QF') sites and Starfish or Special Fire ('SF')); and simulated urban lighting ('QL' sites). In all, some 839 decoys are recorded for England in official records, built on 602 sites (some sites containing decoys of more than one type). This makes up the greater proportion of the c1,000 decoys recorded for the United Kingdom. The programme represented a large investment of time and resources. Apart from construction costs, several thousand men were employed in operating decoys, the fortunes of which were closely tied to the wartime targets they served. The decoys were often successful, drawing off many attacks otherwise destined for towns, cities, aerodromes, and industrial sites, saving many lives and maintaining war production.
The decoy fires were one of two main types - Quartz Fire (‘QF’), and Starfish or Special Fires ('SF'), the main difference being the scale of the site and the range and types of fire displays. QF sites were generally smaller and represented specific target location; whereas SF usually represented towns and cities. For a decoy to be successful, it was essential for the decoy fires to replicate the type of fire effects an enemy aircrew would expect to see when bombing a particular type of target. The decoy displays included variation in fire type, duration of burning, speed of ignition, and were contained within discrete areas, defined by firebreak trenches, and they were controlled from a remote shelter. QF sites were first provided for the night protection of RAF airfields and military complexes, but their role was extended to the protection of civilian centres and industries, including oil installations. The site known as East Halton was of the latter type and functioned as an Oil QF or QF (P-Series) decoy.
The East Halton decoy was constructed to draw off Luftwaffe bombing raids away from the oil storage depot at North Killingholme Haven, 3.8km to the south-east, and was an integral part of the overall bombing decoy scheme along the Humber, representing Grimsby, Immingham, Hull Docks, and the City of Kingston-upon-Hull. The land for the East Halton decoy was requisitioned by the Petroleum Board during October 1940 and it was completed and manned by civilian oil company staff by the time of an inspection in August 1941 and it remained in civilian hands until 1943, when it was transferred to the Admiralty. The decoy was designed to burn fuel oil in a variety of brick or clay lined pools and channels, shaped to simulate the appearance from the air of a burning oil tank and two collapsed oil tanks. Typically each site included three basic types of pool: a circular oil 'ring', a crescent, and an irregular elongated pool or channel. The oil rings and crescents were constructed from a double skin of bricks packed with creosote-soaked wood shavings fed with oil through a system of buried pipes and valves from a storage tank. The levels of oil were kept level through a network of balancing lines. Fire clay linings were used early on, but may have been replaced at a later stage. Additional Starfish-type boiling oil fire installations were linked to the outside of the oil ring (Dobinson 1996, 62). It is unclear whether the site was successful in attracting any bombing raids, however, the importance of the decoys on the Humber ensured that they were retained in 1944 when the majority of decoys were dismantled, and it was not until 1945 that they were finally abandoned.
The surviving elements of the decoy site are visible on aerial photographs taken by the RAF in December 1945, however, the night shelter and two associated structures, possibly fuel stores that are also visible on the photographs, were demolished during the late C20 to permit the construction of a pumping station. The site is not visible on recent aerial photographs taken between 2003 and 2007 on Google Earth, as it is obscured by tree growth. The remains of the decoy display were identified by fieldwork carried out by North Lincolnshire Council in 2015. The site is documented as being one of eleven specialised oil QF sites completed between 1940 and 1941. Only three are known to survive: the others being East Halton, Allhallows (scheduled monument; National Heritage List for England 1425319) and Shell Haven (scheduled monument; NHLE 1020489).
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
This Second World War decoy site includes a complete QF (P-series) oil bombing decoy display site, which comprises the structural remains of a circular oil ring, a pair of mirrored oil crescents, a small irregular shaped oil pool and connecting channels with balancing lines, concrete sumps, and other associated structures.
DESCRIPTION
The decoy site is situated on level ground and conforms to the basic standard layout for this type of display. It is visible as a series of low brick lined channels forming a ring approximately 20m in diameter, representing a standing oil tank, with an adjacent boiling oil fire, together with two brick-lined oil crescents, approximately 20m in length and 5m in width at their widest points, and a similarly constructed irregular-shaped oil pool, all three representing collapsed oil tanks. The oil rings are contained within enclosures with a narrow ditch and bank or bund that acted as firebreaks. A number of oil sumps for each pond are located within the enclosures linked to the pools by channels that contained the oil balancing pipes, and conduits for the electrical ignition cables.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled area is sub-rectangular in shape and measures a maximum of 145m north-east to south-west by 75m north-west to south-east. It includes the full extent of the decoy display and it is defined by field drains to the south-west and south-east, the curved boundary of the wood to the north-east, and the north-west boundary runs along a line drawn on a south-west-/-north-east alignment from a re-entrant angle at the northern end of the curved boundary of the wood to the south-west land drain. The monument includes a 2m buffer for its support and preservation.
EXCLUSIONS
Fences, fence posts and the farm track that runs north-east/south-west on the south-eastern side of the site are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. The land drains running parallel to north-eastern side of East Marsh Road and to the south-east of the farm track on the south-eastern side of the site are also excluded from the scheduling, as it is unlikely that any contemporary artefacts will remain, as they have been regularly re-cut and cleared to maintain the drainage of the adjacent farmland.
