Summary
The earthworks and buried remains of a prehistoric round barrow, the earthworks and buried remains of a First World War practice trench network, and the earthworks, buried and standing remains of a Second World War heavy anti-aircraft gun battery.
Reasons for Designation
The prehistoric round barrow, First World War practice trench network and Second World War Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) Battery, variously surviving as earthworks, standing and/or buried remains at Browndown Ranges (north), Gosport, are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
Rarity:
* a once numerous military training feature, good surviving examples of First World War practice trenches are now relatively rare and the First World War trench network at Browndown stands out as one of the best preserved and most complex examples in the country.
Period:
* the experience of trench warfare is one of the defining features of the First World War and the Browndown practice trench network offers us valuable insights into the training given to recruits, the upheaval of the home front, and the nature of military battlefields, eloquently characterising the period. Browndown also acts as a poignant memorial to the commandos of the Royal Marines, who are known to have trained here.
Diversity:
* such training trenches vary in complexity, type, extent and quality of survival. The Browndown practice trenches illustrate a diverse range of features and are a particularly good example of this class of monument. The later Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery adds an additional layer of interest to the site.
Survival:
* the prehistoric round barrow is a good example that is considered to survive relatively well in the form of earthworks and buried features;
* the Browndown practice trenches are very well preserved as earthworks, including trenches some 2.5m wide and 1m deep featuring parapet and parados banks, and can be examined as a cohesive monument.
Documentation:
* extensive Historic England non-intrusive archaeological research has been carried out on the site, including an aerial photographic survey, topographical survey and analysis of LiDAR imagery.
Potential:
* the prehistoric round barrow, the First World War practice trenches and Second World War HAA Battery, hold a high degree of potential for further archaeological investigation relating to the buried remains, artefacts, ecofacts and deposits on the site.
Group value:
* the prehistoric, First World War and Second World War monuments on Browndown Ranges (North) hold a high degree of group value, and are also in close proximity to a scheduled medieval motte and bailey castle (Scheduled Monument 1008694).
History
Browndown Ranges (north) is an area of relatively flat open heathland and woodland in Gosport that now presents as an archaeological palimpsest of multi-period activity (see Bayer et al 2023 for a detailed study). It is sometimes also referred to as Browndown North, Browndown Warren or just Browndown. Prehistoric activity is evidenced by a round barrow near Privett Road at the south west corner of Browndown. Round barrows are mounds of earth and/or stone that were typically constructed between about 4,000 and 3,500 years ago (2000-1500 BC) during the Bronze Age, although there are Neolithic examples (Historic England 2018). When excavated they often contain a few relatively mundane objects, however human burials are sometimes encountered and previously they have been considered as the burial places of prominent people. There was a focus on this aspect throughout C20 scholarship but, increasingly, the complexity of the features beneath the mound has rendered any simple explanation of function inappropriate. Subtleties on the surface only rarely allow different forms to be distinguished and most occur as simple amorphous swellings. The most common type is referred to as a bowl barrow. These are inverted pudding bowl-shaped mounds sometimes with a surrounding ditch and occasionally an outer bank. They can be over 40m in diameter and as much as 4m in height, although much smaller versions can occur that measure just 5m or 6m across. Most barrow mounds have been damaged and large numbers have been levelled by agriculture, which make those surviving as earthworks all the more important.
The round barrow on Browndown Ranges (north) was recorded in about the early 1930s by the Ordnance Survey (OS) archaeologist O G S Crawford and then by the local antiquary Captain G Civil in 1936 who stated that Bronze Age flints had been found in the locality. An OS Field Investigator recorded it as a large mound, ‘probably a round barrow’ in 1955 before it was surveyed in 1969 and accepted as a prehistoric barrow, or ‘Tumulus’ for OS mapping (Bayer et al 2023, 13). The barrow may have been reused as a windmill mound in the C12 or later. Further medieval activity at the north of Browndown is evident from a motte and bailey castle at Apple Dumpling Bridge overlooking the River Alver (Scheduled Monument (SM) 1008694).
In the late C18, Browndown is documented as being in use by the British Army. A map of 1782 shows camps of the Light Infantry and the 16th Light Dragoons in an enclosed field named ‘Square Close’ at the north-east of the area. The 1839 tithe map records this field, as well as ‘The Warren’, an unenclosed area covering most of this area, and four water meadows at the east next to the River Alver. The 1869 OS map shows the area to the south, beyond Privett Road, as ‘Browndown Camp Fields’ and a hutted encampment. This was the precursor to Browndown Camp, initially constructed for the Royal Marines in 1877, with a series of associated firing ranges.
During the First World War, a complex network of practice trenches was constructed on Browndown Ranges (north), simulating a battlefield with opposing frontlines and support trenches separated by ‘no-man’s-land’. Defensive trenches became increasingly important in the late C19 and first decade of the C20, however the First World War saw the development of trench systems of unprecedented scale and complexity, particularly on the Western Front. Trench complexes for training troops in trench warfare were created in Britain from as early as 1914 and became more widespread from 1915 onwards. They had several purposes: to teach recruits how to dig, reinforce, repair and adapt the trenches; how to live and fight in them; and to simulate battlefield conditions. More widely, they helped to build the physical strength and resilience of new recruits and establish bonds of teamwork, trust and comradeship. There were originally First World War practice trench systems at: Larkhill and Perham Down on Salisbury Plain, Wilts; Kensington Gardens, London; Breary Banks, North Yorkshire and Blaeberry Hill, Northumberland. Surviving examples in England are now relatively rare but include those at: Tolsford Hill, Kent (SM 1463181); Berkhamsted, Herts; Old Oswestry Hillfort, Shrops; Sherwood Pines, Notts; Cannock Chase, Staffs; near Stanhoe, Norfolk (SM 1474255); Watson Road, Blackpool, Lancs; Redmires near Sheffield (SM 1417488); and Otterburn, Northumberland (SM 1021025).
A standard British First World War trench system comprised a crenellated front line, or ‘fire trench’, designed to give covering fire to other parts of the line and prevent blast or gun fire travelling down the trench (as outlined in Bayer et al 2023, 55). Behind this was the support or supervision trench and then the reserve lines. These were linked by perpendicular communications trenches with a zigzag plan to give maximum protection from enfilade (along the trench) gunfire or shell bursts. Projecting forward of the front line were spurs of trench, or saps, acting as listening and observation posts. Shelter bays were constructed along the communications and support trenches, some of which were covered or underground, which accommodated command and first aid posts/dressing stations. Further to the rear of the system were all the vital services necessary to maintain the troops and military operations: dugouts, cookhouses, Officers Command Posts, Communications (telephone) posts, accommodation, the water supply, shelters and latrines.
First World War trenches employed upcast earth to create a parapet at the front and a parados to the rear, serving to increase the depth of the trench, providing increased headcover and protection from shells. Other structural elements included: fire steps, Vickers machine-gun positions, and E-shaped grenade training trenches. When originally constructed practice trenches would typically have been revetted with a range of materials including timber planking, wattle hurdles, sand bags, or expanded metal (XPM) or corrugated iron sheet, held in place with angle irons. Other construction materials and features included metal cables used for revetting, wood trench boards (duckboards) or elements of ‘A’ frames used to brace trench edges and support trench boards in wetter areas.
Documentary evidence of trench digging at Browndown appears in the war diary of James Thompson, Plymouth Battalion of the Royal Marines Light Infantry, part of the newly formed Royal Naval Division (Sellers 1998). An entry on Monday 10 August 1914 states: ‘At Portsmouth. Fell in at 8 o’clock and marched to Browndown for trench digging’. The Division was subsequently briefly deployed to Belgium before returning to Britain in October 1914 whereby the Portsmouth Battalion were temporarily stationed at Browndown before moving to Blandford Forum and then abroad. In 1915, the Portsmouth Evening News records a series of training exercises taking place at Browndown involving the home defence militia of the Volunteer Training Corp with reference made to ‘the defences prepared’, and to ‘trenches’ (Bayer et al 2023, 56). The 14th, 15th and 16th Battalions (‘Pals’ battalions) of the Hampshire Regiment were based in Portsmouth between September 1914 and January 1916, whilst the 3rd Reserve Battalion was based in Gosport from January 1915 until the end of the war and served as a local training centre. Troops from the regiment may well have been engaged in digging trenches on Browndown, although no documentary evidence has currently been identified. The configuration of the trenches at Browndown is thought to reflect two phases of activity associated with the above: the first in 1914 involving the Royal Marines Light Infantry, considered to be associated with straighter lengths of trench, and the second in 1916-1918, a more intensive and protracted phase of activity involving the creation of opposing crenellated frontlines and simulated battlefield (a ‘textbook’ training environment) that is most likely to be associated with the Hampshire Regiment.
During the Second World War, a Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) Battery (Solent P40) was established at the south-west corner of Browndown Ranges (North), near the above barrow. One of the major threats to Britain during the Second World War was the strategic bombing campaigns of the German Luftwaffe. To combat this danger, major installations and ports were provided with HAA gun sites and almost 1000 were constructed nationally. The standard weapons deployed at these sites were 4.5 and 3.7-inch calibre heavy anti-aircraft guns, manned by almost 275,000 men, supplemented by women soldiers from the Auxiliary Territorial Service from 1941 onwards. As well as gun emplacements, which were usually in groups of either two, four or eight, heavy anti-aircraft gun sites had other related structures such as a command post, sometimes radar platforms, magazines for storing reserve ammunition, gun stores and power generation huts. Sites were also provided with structures for their close defence, with pillboxes and trench works being common. Due to their inflexibility, the majority of Second World War HAA sites were abandoned during the course of the war, with a few retained as part of the Nucleus Force and adapted for Cold War use.
The HAA Battery on Browndown Ranges (north) was constructed between March and June 1942 with four 3.7-inch static guns covering the western end of Stokes Bay. On aerial photographs taken in June 1942 it is shown with four embanked enclosures surrounding the gun positions and forming an arc open to the east with a single rectangular hut, probably the command post, located at the centre, whilst a length of crenellated trench to the south-east likely functioned as an air raid shelter trench. A concrete pad with inset steelwork and two slight banks now marks the position of the southernmost gun emplacement, whilst the other gun emplacements are considered to survive beneath soil and undergrowth.
Aerial photographs taken in 1942 show a grenade range within the ‘no-man’s-land’ area of the practice trenches on Browndown Ranges (north) with a roofless structure at SZ58379970 that is thought to have been a concrete shelter from which the grenades were thrown by hand and mechanically; the impact zone beyond it is still pock-marked with craters. By 1966, the shelter had been demolished and a new grenade range within a rectangular fenced compound erected immediately to the north-east. This included three huts for the introduction, training and debriefing of trainees, with grenades launched into a target area from bays set between the huts. Historic mapping and aerial photography show a number of trackways across the area, which proliferated following the Second World War.
Browndown Ranges (north) remains in MOD ownership in 2023 and is utilised as a training area with public access on a permissive basis. There has been some recent disturbance on parts of the heathland from mountain bike trackways and machine-dug scrapes for ecological management. In 2019-2022, Historic England research took place that included an aerial photographic survey and topographical survey of Browndown Ranges (north) as part of the Gosport Heritage Action Zone project (Bayer et al 2023).
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The monument includes the earthworks and buried remains of a prehistoric round barrow, the earthworks and buried remains of a First World War practice trench network, and the earthworks, buried and standing remains of a Second World War heavy anti-aircraft gun battery, all situated on relatively level heathland and woodland on Browndown Ranges (North).
DESCRIPTION
The prehistoric round barrow is situated at SZ57899956 on the south-western edge of the site within Browndown Ranges (North). It survives as a roughly circular mound with a surrounding ditch. The mound is approximately 24m in diameter and 2m high. It has seen some later disturbance by military trenching and burrowing animals. The ditch is about 0.3m deep externally to the east but up to 1m deep to the north and west. To the north the outer edge of the ditch has been heightened by the construction of a later bank on its outer lip.
The First World War practice trenches comprise a complex network of trenches that extend across the site. The eastern part of the site includes two opposing sets of crenellated frontline or ‘fire’ trenches, each with associated support and reserve trenches linked by perpendicular communication trenches. These opposing frontlines are separated by an area of ‘no-man’s-land’. Altogether, this simulated battlefield extends across approximately 3.5 hectares in extent. The western end of the northern crenellated ‘fire’ trench or frontline has been recorded as approximately 2.5m wide and 1m deep. It consists of a series of 9m wide forward-facing fire bays, separated by 2.5m wide traverses. Traces of parapet and parados banks, up to 0.35m in height, survive on the forward and rear edges of the trench respectively. No internal structural elements (e.g. fire-steps) have been observed. Behind this northern ‘frontline’ the support trenches are up to 2m wide and at least 0.7m deep with a 0.25m high parados. The fire and support trenches are connected by irregular communication trenches that include examples up to 4m wide and 0.8m deep. Further north are reserve trenches, including examples approximately 0.3m deep and 2m wide. Some of the area covered by ‘no-man’s-land’ has been disturbed by subsequent phases of trench digging and two grenade ranges from the Second World War onwards (but possibly with earlier origins - see History); these include numerous craters created by the impact of the exploding grenades. The southern frontline or ‘fire’ trench, as well as its associated communication, support and reserve trenches, are well preserved under woodland. A group of four semi-circular platforms located well behind the northern frontline and its associated network are considered to be First World War mortar/light artillery positions. Each one comprises a semi-circular level platform fronted by a crescent of ditch, 0.3m deep and 1m wide, with an external bank 0.25m high by 2.5m wide.
Adjacent to the opposing frontlines or simulated battlefield are areas of more irregular First World War trench complexes. These include interconnected crenellated, wavy, and straight trenches with examples recorded up to 40m long, 4.5m wide and 1.25m deep and including surviving parapet and parados banks. Some of the trench network has been infilled and survives as buried remains. Groups of sub-circular pits that are up to 2.5m in diameter and 0.45m deep with associated mounds up to 0.25m high, are considered to be ‘foxholes’ designed to conceal troops on track edges for instance. Aerial photographs indicate these ‘foxholes’ pre-date 1942.
A range of other pits and short shallow trenches that are up to 4m by 2m in extent by 0.6m deep, often with surrounding banks, or spoil heaps to one side, are likely to largely relate to post-Second World War activity. For instance, in at least two instances they are dug into probable First World War features, whilst a further example contains a length of substantial concrete pipe used as a crawl-way/tunnel.
The Second World War Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) Battery is situated at SZ57929961 near the above-mentioned round barrow on the south-western edge of the site. The battery originally included four embanked enclosures surrounding the gun positions and forming an arc open to the east with a central command post and length of crenellated trench to the south-east that likely functioned as an air raid shelter trench. A sub-circular concrete pad with inset steelwork and two slight banks now marks the position of the southernmost gun emplacement, whilst the other gun emplacements are considered to survive beneath soil and undergrowth. The southernmost gun position consists of anti-aircraft holdfast mounting Number 2b Mark II and has a concrete pad 3.5m in diameter. The length of crenellated trench to the south-east is recorded as an earthwork on aerial photographs.
EXCLUSIONS
The monument excludes all late C20 or later fences and fence posts, gates and gate posts, but the ground beneath these features is included.
