Historic Environment Records | Wiltshire Council

Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record

Details for record number ST99NE526

Type

Monument

Title / Name

Kemble Airfield

Summary

A Second World War military airfield, now known as Cotswold Airport.

Monument Types and Dates

MILITARY AIRFIELD, Mid 20th Century (1933 to 1966)

Other Details

Source Detail: English Heritage, 2000

Title: Thematic Listing Programme: Survey of Military Aviation Sites and Structures

Summary: Desktop assessment Updated May 2003 Source ID: SWI24317

Additional Information: English Heritage

Description: Kemble Aerodrome is split between the parishes of Kemble, Gloucestershire and Crudwell, Wiltshire. English Heritage has commented that "Kemble, by virtue of its range of five different hangar types, including structurally advanced ones of parabolic form, is the most oustanding and strongly representative of the 24 Aircraft Storage Units planned and built by the air ministry for the storage of vital reserve aircraft in the period 1936-1940". In 2003 it recommended that a number of the buildings (mainly hangars) on the airfield be listed. The aircraft hangars are mostly dispersed in pairs ("planets") around the edge of the airfield.

Source Detail: Google, 2001-24

Title: Google Earth

Summary: Digital Satellite Imagery Source ID: SWI26100

Source Detail: Willis, S. + Holliss, B., 1987

Title: Military Airfields in the British Isles 1939-1945

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI26227

Description: Kemble Airfield: ST 960 965. Opened 1938. By 1944 the airfield had concrete runways covered with asphalt, and permanent accomodation. The was a range of different aircraft hangars.

Source Detail: The Airfield Research Group,

Title: Airfield Review

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI26230

Description: Kemble Aerodrome: A former military airfield, opened in 1938, used during World War Two and in the post-war period, now a civilian airfield used by aircraft enthusiasts and a business park. It was initially opened as an aircraft storage unit whose role was to store reserve aircraft. At first it was manned by civillian staff then by Royal Air Force personnel as a maintenance unit. Construction of the initial site continued until 1939. The original site was to the east of the Fosse way but it was soon expanded to the west of the road. During World War Two (particularly 1941-1943) further expansion and building of hard runways involved the closure of the Fosse Way. By the end of World war Two there were 7 dispersed hangar sites (named A to G) in addition to the Main Site.Although maintenance and storage were the main roles of the site it was also used by ferry pilots and training units. Post -war the maintenance role continued, until 1983 run by the Royal Air Force and from 1983 to 1992 by the United States Air Force. The airfield houses the Bristol Aero Collection, although access to this museum and to the airfield is limited. The airfield has a number of inter-war and World War Two buildings with an especially representative set of aircraft hangars.

Source Detail: Janick, J. + Dickson, A. + Priest, R., 2011

Title: An Archaeological Aerial Survey in the Cotswold Hills: A Report for the National Mapping Programme

Summary: Air Photograph Interpretation Source ID: SWI26267

Additional Information: English Heritage

Source Detail: Historic England, Various

Title: National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) Entry

Summary: Data held by the NRHE database. The data is made available and licenced under the Open Government Licence version 3. Source ID: SWI29488

Description: The site of Kemble Airfield has been examined on the available aerial photographs, and many of its Second World War features have been mapped. These features comprise 57 airfield buildings, 29 Stanton air raid shelters, 5 chevron shaped air raid shelters, 2 emergency water supplies, 2 spoil heaps, 2 dispersals, 1 trackway, 1 barbed wire obstruction, 5 blast shelters, 5 gunposts, 5 transformer boxes and three probable pillboxes. Only features which have not been mapped on the Ordnance Survey¿s 1:2,500 map dated 1979-1980 have been recorded as part of the Cotswold Hills National Mapping programme, as many of the wartime structures of the airfield are still extant. Because of the sensitivity of the site during the period of the Cold War, there are comparatively few vertical photographs which cover the site. These features are located across the extent of the airfield, with the buildings, air raid shelters, transformer boxes and emergency water supplies clustered by the hangars and the main site. The removed structures and levelled earthworks are typically related to airfield defence and temporary wartime buildings, for example a barracks site was located adjacent to site A. Aircraft dispersals and hard standings extended to the east and west of the airfield. Often these features have been levelled on aerial photographs taken in 1956, 1971 or 2005. A previously recorded pillbox (1400737) has been reinterpreted as an anti-aircraft site. The 5 chevron shaped pill boxes known as seagull trenches have been previously recorded and have been mapped from aerial photographs (see 1400713, 1400716, 1400721,1400742). Two previously unrecorded pillboxes were noted during this aerial survey, recorded as 1515268 and 1515270.

Source Detail: Ordnance Survey, 1981

Title: Ordnance Survey 1:10000 Map 1981

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI30168

Description: Kemble Aerodrome, ST 690 965 (NAT). The airfield is split between the civil parishes of Kemble (Gloucestershire) Rodmarton (Gloucestershire) and Crudwell (in Wiltshire).

Source Detail: Ordnance Survey, 1979-1982

Title: Ordnance Survey 1:2500 Gloucestershire/Wiltshire

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI30182

Additional Information: 1:2500

Source Detail: English Heritage,