Aerolite was the codename given to the visit on May 24th 1944 when King George VI came to review the assembled Eastern Task Force invasion fleet.
The following is a transcription from the diary of King George VI – Wednesday May 24th 1944
Wednesday May 24th
I motored to Exbury, which is now a naval shore base, H.M.S.”Mastodon”, where landing craft crews are trained. I spent the day with the Eastern Task Force to see the officers & men of the British Naval Assault Forces in Overlord. I was met by Admiral Sir B. Ramsay, Allied Naval Commander Expeditionary Force, Rear Admiral, Sir P. Vian, Naval Commander Eastern Task Force & others. We went by barge, the Royal Yacht barge, down the Beaulieu River out into the Solent passing landing craft. I went on board the “Bulolo” Command Ship, Force “G”, Commander Douglas-Pennant, the “Largs” Command Ship, Force “S”, Rear Admiral A.G. Talbot and I saw Force “J” ashore at the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, Commodore Oliver. From here I saw all the landing craft in Portsmouth Harbour & lunched on board the cruiser “Scylla”, Rear Admiral Vian’s flagship. I went in a Naval Rescue Motor Launch to Southampton Water & the Hamble River passed all the landing craft there. I must have seen over 300 landing crafts and other ships attached in the command. I spent a most interesting day. I got back to Wilton at 6:30 pm.
(This transcription has been made with the permission of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. No unauthorised reproduction is permitted)
He was to arrive at H.M.S. Mastodon at 9.30 a.m. where Captain Swinley and the ship’s company would provide the guard of honour. He would then proceed to Gilbury and board the Royal Barge.
This gave rise to great excitement amongst the Wrens, however the Captain (a misogynist of note!) confined them to the upstairs rooms of the House, only allowing the male ratings to be inspected on the lawn in front of the House. Others remember that some of the WRENs were allowed to stand in the Ha-ha, so only a line of hats were visible for inspection. They also sneaked into the shrubberies and watched from there.
Being May, of course the Gardens were in full flower, so Swinley spent days learning all about the various flowers in anticipation of having to show the Monarch around. The King, however, had other ideas, having been a regular visitor to Exbury prior to the War. “No” he told Swinley politely, he knew his own way round and would relish a few moments of tranquillity before having to review his fleet.
Down at the Gilbury jetty there was much excitement amongst the boats crews, one crew, expecting to be inspected, found that their feet had been glued to the decks by sticky tar. Luckily the King had spent longer than the 15 minutes allotted him in the Gardens and they were saved the embarrassment of not being able to come smartly to attention.
He boarded the C.I.C. Portsmouth’s barge, known as ‘The Green Parrot’ and slowly and quietly went down the Beaulieu River. All the C.O.’s saluted in turn. It was a very quiet and sombre occasion.
In the Solent he transferred to a high speed Motor Launch and with his party of Admirals sped off. The return to the barge presented the King with a moment of humour. Their craft approached at high speed, creating quite a wave. The poor WREN on the bow of the barge had enormous difficulty in maintaining her dignity and not falling into the sea. The King and the Admirals watched this balancing act with much mirth, commenting to the effect that WRENs look better in skirts.
Account supplied by Nicholas de Rothschild of Exbury Estate – 17 September 2012
There is a short section of archive footage filmed at Wilton House, Wiltshire on the 25 May 1944 held by criticalpast.com. It shows Allied officers attending a conference in Wilton House shortly before D-Day landings during World War II. Group of U.S. and British officers attend a conference at Southern Command (Wilton House). Includes British General Miller at his desk.
(Please note that this is a third part site and we are not respectable for it content.)
You can find out more about the New Forest’s vital role in D-Day from Mulberry Harbour, to holding camps, road widening, advanced landing grounds, PLUTO and Embarkation by visiting our main page on D-Day in the New Forest.
This series of photos from the Imperial War Museum start with the residents deciding to go for a picnic in the New Forest. It is decided half the group will cycle and half the group will travel by jeep, and they will swap over for the return journey. The cyclists check the route on a map in the sunshine before they set off from the grounds of the large country house. Left to right, they are: Captain R W Smith (from Pomona, California), Lieutenant J D Baird (from Suring, Wisconsin), Miss Kathleen Deane (from Connecticut and one of the American Red Cross hostesses working at the club) and Lieutenant E T Broadnax (from Bastrup, Louisiana).
During their picnic in the New Forest the airmen play numerous pranks on each other. In the first one Lieutenant ‘Judy’ Judas falls victim to a practical joke. Having been challenged to drop a penny from his forehead into his trousers, he is caught unawares by Lieutenant Royal Firmin, Jr., who instead pours a bottle of beer into his trousers. Lieutenant Firmin runs the estate at Stanbridge Earls, as assistant to Captain B B Morse. It is his main job to keep the guests happy.
American airman Lieutenant Broadnax then plays a practical joke on his sleeping colleague Lieutenant Michael Zincowich (a Fortress Bombardier from New Hampshire) known as the ‘Hot Foot’ treatment: a lighted match is inserted between the sole and upper of his boot. He then wakes with a start much to the amusement of his colleagues.
The group finish their picnic with a relaxing pint of beer in the sunshine outside the Sir John Barleycorn pub in Cadnam. In the centre, in a white t-shirt, is Lieutenant Royal Firmin, Jr. Also seated outside the pub are two of the American Red Cross hostesses who work at the home, and have joined the men on their picnic. A greyhound dog can just be seen in the background.
Background
The original MoI ‘background story’ caption for this sequence of photographs reads: American pilots, co-pilots, navigators and bombardiers exhausted by long, relentless flights into enemy defences, are sent to “rest” at this English Shangri-La. Lush and mellow, centuries old yet up to the minute in comfort and fittings, the house and grounds have been lend-leased to the US Eighth Army Air Force by Britain’s Air Ministry. The home aims to prevent nervous breakdowns by easing the nervous tension before it becomes unbearable. At first sign of jitters bomber crews are ordered to “rest”, maybe four days, maybe two weeks. “Doc” Kennedy, Louisianan Flight Surgeon in residence, keeps an eye on heroes of Liberator and Fortress down for a few days’ lounging, trout-fishing, picnicking, cycling, tennis and eggs-for-breakfast with friendly American Red Cross hostesses and English staff including Mr Bunting, the butler. Mr Walter Hutchinson, British publisher whose home this was until the government requisitioned it, gladly lives in a couple of caravans in the grounds while lend-lease works in reverse to keep US airmen flying and fighting fit. This large country house is Stanbridge Earls, near Romsey in Hampshire
All Photos are credit: Imperial War Museum for Non-Commercial Use
Anti-tank gunners practicing defending approaches to RAF Ibsley aerodrome in the centre of Ringwood to the amusement of some locals and probably annoyance of the local shop keepers.
All Photos are credit: Imperial War Museum for Non-Commercial Use (Licence)
Just south of Balmer Lawn the Lymington River cuts accross the landscape and the main road between Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst. Today this is locally nicknamed ‘Brock Beach’ as it has become a favourite site for families to picnic and paddle at during sunny days. Rewind just under a 100 years and the area looked different, but the acitivities were not too dissimilar.
During 1918 Balmer Lawn was in use as a satellite site for convalescent New Zealand officers that were being treated at the No.1 New Zealand General Hopsital. You can find out more about the hospitals story here.
This series of photos from the National Army Museum of New Zealand are possibly part of an album compiled by 4/386 Major Henry Masterton Clark along with some more recent photos taken by the New Forest National Park Authority.
Calshot Castle is a mid 16th century stone built artillery castle with 18th and 19th century alterations, lying on Calshot Spit on the southern shore of Southampton Water. The symmetrical plan of the castle centres on a three storey gun tower or keep, separated from the surrounding curtain wall by a courtyard within which lie both accommodation buildings and later searchlight emplacements.
Fears of a French Invasion at the end of the 19th century resulted in the castle undergoing substantial modification to become an artillery fort once again after a long period of use as a Coastguard base combatting smuggling in the area. In 1894 a large quick fire gun battery was built to the south east of the castle, which was completed by 1897. this was supplemented by the installation of Defence Electric Lights installed on the castle to be used in conjuction with the battery and a boom was built across Southampton Water controlled by the castle.
A set of detailed maps and colour drawings of Calshot Castle and battery completed in 1901 can be found in the National Archives WO78/4954 some of which have been reproduced for this article.
In 1907 Calshot Castle underwent its last major modification as a fortress; the roof of the keep was strengthened to permit the installation of a pair of quick fire guns to augment the adjacent battery.
Calshot Castle and its adjacent battery were stripped of their weapons before the end of the World War I.
The battery had been completely removed by the late 1920’s when aerial photos available from Historic England through the Britain From Above website show hangers built on where the battery once stood.
The full Historic England scheduling record for Calshot Castle can be found: Here
On the 6 June 1944 thousands of troops with their vehicles and supplies left Britain via locations such as Lepe Beach in the New Forest for the beaches of Normandy. This was D Day, the start of the great campaign to liberate Europe and to bring the Second World War to its end.
The D-Day invasion, code named Operation Overlord, is one of the most remarkable feats in military history, it had taken over two years of planning, and was one of the best kept secrets of the war.
During the build up to D Day troops and supplies were marshalled along much of the Hampshire coast. Lepe and the surrounding area came under the control of the shore station HMS Mastodon, the headquarters of which were at Exbury House. Many hundreds of troops with their equipment, vehicles and ammunition were hidden along the narrow roads and in numerous closed camps hidden in the wooded areas across the New Forest.
War diaries tell us that the Embarkation hard at Stanswood (Lepe) Q2 was programmed and commenced in July 1942 and completed by October 1942. This was a second phase of hard construction to expand hards commissioned in early 1942 to support commando operations in Europe. The first phase included Q hard in front of Lepe House. The hards consisted of a concrete access road down to concrete apron at the high water mark with a carpet of interlinked hardening mats on the intertidal beach to create a solid slipway surface at all tide times. It was built to serve two types of assault vessel; Landing Craft Tank (LCTs) or Landing Ship Tank (LST). For D-Day the hards at Lepe were used to embark troops bound for Gold Beach. War diary research says that prior to D-Day, 1579 men and 292 vehicles boarded 40 LCTs at Q2 and for the four weeks after D-Day 6,407 men and 2,037 vehicles boarded 122 LCTs at Q2. This was just one of a whole networks of Embarkation Hards across the south coast showing the huge administrative undertaking involved with D-Day.
Though the Q2 hard was built first in 1942 the focus at Lepe changed to help with the construction of Mulberry Harbour elements. Mulberry would be essential for supplying the army on the beaches of France and allow the allies to launch an attack on the Normandy Beaches rather than the very heavily defended deep water ports. The idea to build a harbour on the south coast and take it with the invasion force was a brilliant feat of engineering and was one of key factors in the success of Overlord. The floating harbours was to be assembled from a variety of component parts manufactured on the south coast. Several construction sites were chosen. The beach at Stanswood Bay being used in the manufacture of six type B2 Phoenix concrete caissons. The floats ‘Beetles’ supporting the roads connecting the harbour to the beach were constructed along the Beaulieu River and at Marchwood. Many of these sites still retain some of the archaeology associated with the Mulberry project today.
We don’t know when the Mulberry Harbour construction and launching site was constructed at Lepe, but it would likely have been late 1943. Six B2 Phoenix Caissons were simultaneously part built on these platforms from January 1944 so that they could be directly launched into the sea by May 1944. Then towed up Southampton Water to be finished.
Survivals at Lepe
Today at Lepe you can still see plenty of evidence of wartime activity. If you walk along the beach or track, about half a mile east of the car parks you will come across the extensive concrete and brick structures were used for three different tasks: construction of the ‘Mulberry Harbours’ (caissons), caisson launching, and for embarkation of men, vehicles and supplies. The following aerial footage and 3D model shows the site as it can be found today.
A birds eye view of the extensive features that were designed and built to support Mulberry and D-Day at Lepe.
The concrete floor remains of the site buildings used by construction workers and the military. They are dotted about in the Country Park area.
Water Tower Base used for water purification, required because so little fresh water was available on site.
Construction Platforms where the caissons were constructed. Today, although parts are storm damaged, the platforms run for 374 metres and are 11m wide and 1.3m high. The platforms were large enough to construct all six caissons simultaneously, reflecting the urgency of the work.
Beach Hardening Mats which resemble huge bars of chocolate, were held in place by a series of iron hooks. They were laid out to strengthen the beach enough to take the weight of the tanks and other vehicles being driven onto landing craft.
Dolphins forming part of the pier head used to load ships departing for Normandy.
Bollards used to tie up the ships that were being loaded for the invasion.
Concrete Slipways run from the rolling track walls to the sea. These were used to launch the caissons at high tide
Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England Survey 1990
Following severe storms in early 1990 the RCHME were requested to survey the site due to concerns about the weakened structure becoming vulnerable to undermining by tides and coastal underflow. There was real danger that another severe storm would further damage one of the few surviving and best preserved monuments to a major event in recent British military history. The aim of the RCHME survey was to record in detail the full extent and form of all remains associated with the D-Day operations surviving within the area.
A low resolution of the survey map can be found in the images above and You can access an annotated copy of the RCHME report of this survey here: RCHME 1990 Survey
It was hoped that following the survey engineering work could be carried out to stabilise the monument and protect it from further damage. However, this was not to be the case and at some point after the survey the three most eastly Caisson construction platforms were deliberately broken up and left to act as coastal defence for the surviving platforms.
More recently with the support of funding from the Our Past, Our Future a National Lottery Heritage Funded Landscape Partnership Scheme a number of additional projects and surveys have been undertaken.
2018 Channel Coastal Observatory Survey
During 2018 the Channel Coastal Observatory based at the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton and New Forest District Council undertook detailed laser scanning of the foreshore at Lepe Country Park. This was part of a regional project to survey and record coastal defence which includes the WWII archaeology on the coast at Lepe. This data capture however will allow us to monitor the site going forward and will also allow the creation of digital models for education, interpretation and modelling the history of the area. The results of that survey have been used to create the 3D model of WWII Lepe above as it can be found today. You can read more about the recording work here: Lepe Laser Scanning
2019 Digital Reconstruction
Using the laser scan data collected during the 2018 survey as well as the drone footage captured by the New Forest NPA and another survey undertaken by CITiZAN (CITiZAN Drone work can be found: here) we used funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund via the Our Past, Our Future Landscape Partnership Scheme to commission Wessex Archaeology to re-construct Stanswood Bay (Lepe) as it would have been seen in May 1944. At this point two of the six caissons have been launched following partial construction and side launching and then towed up Southampton Water to be finished. Once the Caissons were launched attention turned back to the hard for the final build up to D-Day.
The annotations provide more detail on the Caisson construction and launching process. We will be seeking to add more information and detail to this model. Please get in touch if you are aware of any photos or memories of this important New Forest WWII site. There are no known contemporary photos of the site in use. This model is based on archaeological recording, contemporary war diaries and plans, memories, oral histories, loading tables, known examples from elsewhere and some later aerial photos.
More Information
If you have more information on D-Day in the New Forest or memories of the closed camps or embarkation please share them with us on this site.
You can find out more about the New Forest’s vital role in D-Day from Mulberry Harbour, to holding camps, road widening, advanced landing grounds, PLUTO and Embarkation by visiting our main page on D-Day in the New Forest.
Detailed Breakdown about Lepe during D Day from National Archive Research
(The following information was passed on to us from R. Reeves via Lepe Country Park)
Lepe (recorded as Stanswood in the loading orders) was used for loading the heavy equipment, i.e. tanks, trucks and stores, for the assault on Gold Beach the assault force being named as ‘Force G’ which was based around the 50th ‘Northumbrian’ Infantry Division. (The insignia of the 50th Division shows the letters TT in red on a black backgrounfd and stands for Tyne & Tees.) To this was added all the armour and assault troops. Troops listed in the loading were as follows:
Y-4 – Stores – no descriptions
D-3 – Vehicles for 231 Brigade & Vehicles for 69 Brigade –
231 & 69 Brigades were the assault brigades for Gold Beach landing on Jig and King Sectors respectively
D-3 – Self Propelled Artillery, 231 Brigade
D-2 – AVRE, 231 Brigade Assault Vehicle, Royal Engineers; 6th Assault Regiment, R.E., equipped with modified Churchill Tanks, including some of the so called ’Flying Dustbins’
D-2 – Duplex Drive Tanks, 69 Brigade Sherman D.D. tanks of the 4/7 Dragoon Guards
D-1 – Army Fire Service. We do not know what his was composed of.
Notes.
The Westminster Dragoons claim to have been the first unit ashore on Gold Beach
The D.D. tanks were landed directly on the shore due to the rough conditions.
The loading tables list the Landing Craft by number
The Canadian Unit the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, which was attached to the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division which formed the core of ‘Force J’ the assault force for Juno Beach, they left the area in April 1944 to prepare for embarkation from the East side of Southampton Water. The embarkation points at Lepe were in constant use for training and for ferrying troops to and from the Isle of Wight, well before the D-Day loading, during this earlier use infantry units were also frequently using the site, not just mechanised units.
The storm that arrived late on Friday evening (14 February 2014) exposed a couple of small brick structures in the beach front car park. Further erosion along the coast caused a possible gun emplacement to start to collapse on to the beach.
Dig Burley was a community archaeology festival that took place in and around Burley during Easter 2019. It was a joint project between the Burley Historical Society, Burley Parish Council and the New Forest National Park.
It involved residents and volunteers opening up small excavation Test Pits all over the village of Burley with the help of archaeologists. It also featured talks, workshops and exhibitions.
You can find the fieldwork report for the 2019 project here (split into three parts due to file size):
While we can learn a great deal about the history of our towns and villages through study of historical documents and maps, place names, aerial photographs and so on, archaeological excavation is an extremely valuable way to add to or confirm the results of such research. The opportunity for large-scale excavation however, particularly within our established settlements, is usually rare.
Therefore, the excavation of a collection of test pits, which can be squeezed in anywhere throughout a village, is a good alternative. Test pits are also a great way of allowing a community, with the help of professional archaeologists, to investigate its past history and learn a bit about how archaeological excavation works.
A test pit is a small archaeological excavation, consisting of a square trench measuring 1m by 1m and up to 1m deep that can be dug by hand, by anyone, in an open space in their garden. The test pit is dug methodically, i.e. layer by layer, and carefully recorded, with the aim of identifying evidence of past human activity, usually by finding pieces of pottery and other material, or, if you’re lucky, archaeological features such as rubbish pits, building postholes or even wall foundations.
By collating the results from all the test pits the archaeologists will try to establish a general picture of the origins and development of a settlement, and hopefully find out something about the people who lived there.
The chair of Burley Historical Society decided to do a trial test pit and you can read about it here: Trial Test Pit Feb 2019
So what was found?
The soil profiles recorded in the test pits were varied and most reflect some form of human impact through agriculture over a long period of time.
Several prehistoric flint tools were found, including a beautiful Early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead. Two test pits which contained Mesolithic finds were logically located close to water courses, and the area around another Test Pit, which produced four Mesolithic flints representing all stages of flintworking, may have been a campsite. The Bronze Age finds from two test pits at slightly higher altitudes were perhaps lost by people passing through the area, hunting or interacting with the barrows in the wider landscape.
Early and High Medieval pottery came mainly from the Burley Street area of the village. This implies the Medieval settlement might have been focussed in this particular area. Two test pits had concentrations of Anglo-Norman and High Medieval artefacts such as pottery and roof tile, indicating possible places of residence.
In contrast, a very low quantity of Late Medieval pottery was found. This could be due to the impact of the Black Death upon the settlement, which might have led to just a handful of families occupying the more desirable plots.
A snapshot of the post-Medieval but pre-modern extent of the settled area is represented by the distribution of Verwood pottery, which was found in a lot of the test pits in the Burley Street area, around The Cross, and clustered around the Mill Brook along Chapel Lane.
Dig Burley Programme
A guide booklet and the ‘Dig It’ pack were distributed to all registered participants and volunteers, explaining how to dig and record an archaeological Test Pit.
Dig Burley HQ was located right in the heart of Burley at the Wathen-Bartlett. Visitors and participants were able to pop in at any time during the event to find out what’s going on or take part in workshops, help with finds processing or just grab a hot drink and a chat.
Workshops at Dig Burley HQ introduced participants to identification techniques for flint, pottery and bone, giving them the opportunity to learn more about archaeological finds, get hands on and identify what was found in their Test Pits. Burley Manor kindly hosted a free evening with a special guest speaker: Tim Taylor, the creator and Series Producer of Time Team. Both this event and the workshops were open to all participants, residents, volunteers and visitors, providing opportunities to celebrate archaeology and catch up with the community.
All participants were encouraged to report back on their excavation progress and findings throughout the project, so that the project team could let everybody know what was going on throughout the weekend.
Want to know more?
For further details, comments and suggestions you can visit the Dig Burley page on the Burley Local History Website: Dig Burley
Or please contact David and Ann Etchells via: davidetchells(at)uk2.net
Also feel free to contact the New Forest National Park Authority’s Archaeology Team at: archaeology(at)newforestnpa.gov.uk
As part of the Our Past, Our Future, Heritage Lottery Funded (HLF) Landscape Partnership Scheme the New Forest National Park Archaeology Team have been working with Emery Down to survey the condition of, and record the monuments in Christ Church graveyard. The survey will help accurately map and identify monuments that can be conserved using HLF funds and will ultimately create a database for ongoing management of the graveyard. The other ambition is to make the list of burials and monuments within the graveyard available to the public on this site to help people who are researching their family trees.
Christ Church Volunteer Survey
To start the survey Bournemouth Archaeology were commissioned to undertake a rapid GPS survey of the graveyard monuments to produce a digital map. The map can be seen as an image above or downloaded here: Christ Church Emery Down Map. This data is also available on the New Forest Knowledge map; if you visit the homepage and then explore the map by expanding the layers and turning on Churchyard Memorials under the archaeology layer.
Though a paper form can be filled in on site the data from this needs to be inputted into the main New Forest Churchyard database. This is managed through ArcGIS and the digital form can be accessed here: New Forest Survey Form
As this data is added by volunteers the main database will be updated so you will be able to explore it on New Forest Knowledge.
Can you Help?
Can you help Emery Down complete their graveyard survey. All the background information you need is above and then you can visit the graveyard and spend some time exploring the site and maybe add some information using the forms.
Conservation
As well as the graveyard survey adding names and dates to the database allowing residents and visitors to research their family history the condition monitoring element is allowing monuments suitable for conservation using National Lottery Heritage Funding. A number of monuments in Christ Church Emery Down have recently been conserved and you can find out more about them here: Conservation work at Christ Church Emery Down
Technology
As well as hard graft from volunteers we have been using technology to help us reveal the secrets of Christ Church; Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). The process involves taking numerous photos of one monument with a raking light and then letting the computer do the hard work to produce some amazing results. If you are interested in learning more about RTI photography you can do: here. The results produced highlighted how valuable RTI is; as the inscriptions that were once illegible have now been legible, providing a greater resource within the overall survey and documentation process.
Inscriptions
Grave 1
In loving memory of Albert Broomfield who died July 25th June 1916, aged 42 years
Day by day we all do miss him, words would fail our loss to tell, but in heaven we hope to meet him, never more to say farewell.
Louisa, beloved wife of the above, died Feb 16th 1951, aged 80 years.
Grave 2
In loving memory of Reuben Henry, the beloved son of Reuben and Mary Phillips, who died June 15th 1908; aged 21 years.
His end was peace
Grave 3
In Loving memory of our dear parents Thomas Taplin, died Dec 19th 1921, aged 69, and Sarah Taplin, died Sept 27th 1932, aged 77.
In thy presence is fulness of joy
Grave 4
Martha, the beloved daughter of Henry and Charlotte Veal, who died April 8th 1875. Aged 25 years.
And all wept and bewailed her; but he said, weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth. Luke 8.52.
He gave, he calls them when he thinks it best, for them to come to him and take their rest.
Pellery Mason
Grave 5
In Loving memory of Emily Veal who died Aug 20th 1903, aged 76 years
Sleep on beloved; sleep and take thy rest; lay down thy head upon thy saviour’s breast; we love thee well, but Jesus loves thee best.
Grave 6
In Loving Memory of Samuel Whitehorn who died June 15th 1916 aged 49 years.
Also of Charles son of the above who was killed on Febry 4th 1916 whilst serving with the Hants Regiment in Egypt Aged 28 years
Lord, all-pitying, Jesus blest, Grant them Thine eternal rest
Other Churchyards
As well as Burley we have been working at the following graveyards and using RTI to reveal their secrets.
