MSO8084 - Target railway B, north of Selworthy Beacon (Monument)

One of three trackways used to move targets used for tank gunnery training. Destroyed but traces can be seen on 1993 aerial photographs. [1] Slight earthworks visible on the ground. The remains of a mound at the west end (MSO8087) are covered in gorse suggesting that it contained concrete structures that could not be removed. No concrete visible but there is a tank turret in the gully at the rear of the mound (MSO8086). At the east end is a small mound of stone rubble with no concrete. In front is another large mound (MSO8085). [2] A World War Two target railway runs from SS 92123 48646 to SS 92314 48464, a length of about 270 metres. The feature is very slight; it was presumably flattened by the army at the end of the war and has been further reduced by subsequent agricultural improvement. Nevertheless it survives as a linear terrace some 9 metres wide cut into the hilside by 1.5 metres.[3] This was the site of the moving target rail for Range B, with its associated firing track on Selworthy Beacon, MSO8107. The tank that rolled down into Henners Combe during the war was a Churchill, probably of 153 RAC sometime in 1942. It apparently ran away from the firing point of Range B. [4] The target railway is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs. The terrace on which the railway was constructed is centred at SS 9221 4857 and measures 300 metres long by 12 metres wide. The railway target was one of three used for tank training during the war. [5-7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8] The training area is mentioned in a publication on the industrial archaeology of Somerset. [9]