MSO8358 - World War Two military camp on Treborough Common (Monument)

A World War Two military camp was seen as cropmarks and mapped from aerial photographs. The camp, centred at ST 0045 3504 covers an area 450 metres long by 320 metres wide. [1,2] The area in question is now improved pasture, and was not enclosed until after 1947. There appears to be no remains of the camp, which was probably mostly tented accommodation: it was an American army camp, occupied for a short time prior to the D-day landings in 1944. Immediately to the North-East of the triangular pillar on the Common at ST 0048 3512 is a rectangular water tank which presumably postdates the military activity. [3] The camp is visible on aerial photographs from 1946 and consists of a roughly rectangular enclosed area surrounded by a temporary wall or low bank. Within the enclosure, parch marks from eight double rows of circular tents can be distinguished, with roads or paths between each row. Several larger, rectangular structures can also be seen which may have been shower blocks or similar. [4,5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8]