Feb 022012
 

We have now published the Stage Two report for our Coleshill Uncovered project.

Thank to John Winterburn and Anna Gow for producing the report and to the National Trust for allowing us permission to access the site.

Oct 222011
 

It has taken sometime but all the finds images from Coleshill Uncovered are now available to view on the Coleshill Uncovered website.

Please have a look through them and if you can identify any unknown items please let us know.

The full report from the week is due in early 2012. There are currently no plans for future work on site.

Jul 062011
 

This week has seen the continuation of CART’s Coleshill Uncovered project on the Coleshill estate in Oxfordshire.

More than 20 people each day are working on site to uncover and learn more about the training of the Auxiliary Units.

The project is being lead by Anna Gow and John Winterburn with help from other archaeologists.

So far we have uncovered the suspected entrance to another operational base. See below.

You can see there are two holes in either side of entrance. These are where part of the counter weighted system would have been housed. The drawing below was drawn at Coleshill and given out to Auxiliers as part of their course notes. It clearly shows the same system and notice the pulleys? Below the drawing you can see the pulleys that we have found.

We have also discovered so far what we believe to be part of a radio dial. In part of the woods that we are working they used to make TRD radio sets. About 250 in number. You can see below the dial and also an image of a modern mock up of the Auxiliary radio which can be seen at the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation.

Source: John Warwicker

More images can be seen here

The work at Coleshill will end this Thursday afternoon.

Jun 052011
 

Yesterday teams from CART and Subterranea Britannica explored the water tunnels and the cellars next to the remains of Coleshill House.

Work started at 9 am and ran till 4pm and 8 people in total took part. The purpose of the work was two fold. Firstly CART wanted to see if the cellars were used for anything during the war and they also needed to measure the complete area for their Reborn project.

Secondly Sub Brit wanted to explore the water mines and also make an assessment on their condition for the landowners, the National Trust.

Both organisations had a great day. Images and video from the day can be seen here

 

May 232011
 

 

 

 

 

After the success of the evaluation weekend work at Coleshill the National Trust has now been given the green light to stage two.

This is due to happen from Sunday 2nd July to Thursday 7th July at the Coleshill estate on the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire border.

In January 2011 the evaluation weekend (Stage One) located the remains of structures that were previously unknown, as well as discovering many finds including a very well preserved bayonet.

In Stage Two the team plan to re-visit the concrete bases that were previously cleared and will add trenches next to the structures, which will hopefully provide them with either further information about the construction of the original buildings.

Other remains like the suspected ‘Generator Base’ and military vehicle servicing ramp will be cleared of vegetation so they can build a clearer picture of their uses.

During Stage One, a number of strong signals were logged from both metal detecting and geophysics that the team plan to follow-up on.  Some small test trenches may be put in to further investigate these.

The Coleshill Uncovered team are looking for volunteers to help search for further evidence of the headquarters and training grounds of Churchill’s secret Auxiliary Units.

Anyone over 18 years of age can participate and no experience of archaeology is needed. As the project has no funding the organisers have to charge a fee of £75 per person and this will cover you for the week.

For more info and terms of involvement please go to coleshill uncovered

May 122011
 

Whilst investigating a site relating to the Auxiliary Units, our research team discovered a large metal object seen above. One of our team thought it could have come from a tank so we he contacted The Tank Museum and they kindly responded. They feel it is a panel from a Vicker’s Tank circa 1923 like the one seen below.

If you think you can help with this please let us know.

May 112011
 

On 11th May 2011 Eddie Cox, an ex Coleshill resident, took CART members Tom and Bill to the exact location of the firing range believed to have been used by the Auxiliers who trained at Coleshill. He had not been back to the spot for over 60 years but was certain he was in the right place.

See more info on this page.

Apr 072011
 

article


The ongoing project at Coleshill, known as Coleshill Uncovered has now been featured in the Swedish history magazine Altom Historia.
Roughly translated, the article reads:
“In the woods a few miles off London was one of Winston Churchill’s most secret facilities. Here, in Coleshill House trained guerrillas during World War II. Their task was to fight the Germans on the invaded Britain. The men and women would operate in smaller units in different parts of the country. The name used was an Auxiliary Unit, Reserve unit, but had even named a key role in the defense. It was Churchill himself who gave the order to the secret army was organized. After the evacuation from Dunkirk 1940 was prime minister convinced that a German invasion was to be expected.

“Now the archaeological excavations started on the spot. The aim is to see if you can do findings – or find the whole bases – that is to tie resistance movement.

“Surprisingly little is known on the device, perhaps because of its top-secret mission. Many of the volunteers were young people. They were trained, among other things in blowing up railways and fight it against it. Upon arrival at the camp had they know that they were not expected to live longer than fifteen days when the Germans landed in England.”