March / April 2025
Rebuilding roads and paths
One of our many mysteries on Wanstone Rediscovered was the hole in the road outside the eastern entrance to Clem magazine 3. We know the road was intact during wartime operations, but sometime later, a section of the road was removed. We think this was done to recover the scrap from the copper cables that formed the electricity supply to the magazine, and possibly elsewhere, given the proximity of the substation. It was probably carried out around the time of demolition of the gun, in 1957. Whatever the reason, it left a muddy hole, and so the team, with the help of a couple of tonnes of Type 1, repaired it.
The reason for the disappearance of the concrete pathway at the western end of the Clem crew shelter is even more obscure as there were no major cables in this area and no logical reason for its removal. It led to the area being heavily overgrown and almost impassable, so earlier in the year we carefully cut back the vegetation and the team have now built a set of naturally-styled steps to restore access. While there, the team pressure-washed the buttress walls of the magazine entrances, which now look very smart.

