MSO12602 - World War Two accommodation or administration building at North Hill (Monument)

A small, 2 by 2.5 metre concrete base aligned east to west. Adjacent to it is a loose piece of brickwork resembling the top of a gate post 1.5 bricks each side, mortat coated on the top and sides. [1] SS 9544 4753 Second World War military buildings, visible as structures, were mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1946. Located on Minehead's North Hill, six military Nissen huts of about 11 metres long and 5 metres wide (SS 9541 4753, SS 9543 4753, SS 9545 4754, SS 9543 4752, SS 9547 4754, SS 9545 4750) and a military building about 6 metres by 4 metres (SS 9544 4751), clustered around the western end of Moor Wood, are associated with both the CD/CHL radar station immediately north and the extensive tank firing range and marshalling area that covers North Hill during the war. It is not possible to identify which buildings relate to which military activity being undertaken, but the buildings are likely to have been a mix of accommodation and administrative functions for the staff of the two facilities. Although the concrete bases were still extant, the buildings were no longer visible in 1950. The building was not recorded by the NMP survey. [2-5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6] Nissen huts were designed by Peter Nissen, an American inventor who created the hut while serving in the 103rd Field Company of the Royal Engineers in April 1916. The semi-circular design was supposedly inspired by an ice-skating rink Nissen had seen in Canada. Such huts were not constructed in Britain during the First World War, but military hut development continued during the inter-war period. Building programmes associated with the Second World War resulted in construction of huts in great numbers, with c. 3500 created for training camps alone. The word “Nissen” quickly became attached to a variety of temporary hut types, and 52 different variations are known from this period. [7] Further research on individual hut types in use on military sites on Exmoor would be of value.