Type

Monument

Title / Name

Starfish Bombing Decoy Sf41a, Liddington Hill

Summary

A Second World War bombing decoy site at Liddington. It was built in early 1941as a 'Permanent Starfish' site to deflect enemy bombing from the town of Swindon.

STARFISH SITE; DECOY SITE SHELTER; BOMBING DECOY, Second World War (1939 to 1945)

Source Detail: Dobinson, C. S., 1996

Title: Twentieth Century Fortifications in England; Bombing Decoys of WWII: Volume 3

Summary: Historic survey Source ID: SWI21125

Additional Information: 3

Description: A Second World War 'Permanent Starfish' bombing decoy located at Liddington (SU 213 790). It was constructed to deflect enemy bombing from Swindon. It is referenced as being in use between 01-AUG-1941 and 08-APR-1943. It was also the site of a 'QL' decoy, which was built as part of the 'C-series' of civil decoys to protect Swindon junction. This is referenced as being in use between 02-OCT-1942 and 01-MAY-1943. The 'QL' decoy displayed simulated marshalling yard lights and factory lighting. A further 'Starfish' and civil bombing decoy site for Swindon was located at Barbury.

Source Detail: Anderton, M. J., 1999

Title: Twentieth Century Military Recording Project: World War Two Bombing Decoy Sites

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI26175

Description: Aerial photography from 1983 shows an uncovered control building standing at the site.

Source Detail: Dobinson, C.S., 2000

Title: Fields of Deception: Britain's Bombing Decoys of World War II

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI26176

Description: NGR concords with that given in source 2. The 'Starfish' decoy for Swindon was built in Spring 1941.

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

Source Detail: English Heritage,

Title: English Heritage Alternative Action Report

Summary: No summary information. Source ID: SWI30998

Description: Type C Starfish / QL Bombing Decoy. The Bombing Decoy survey listed a control building surviving at the site, complete with blast wall. Interpretation was based on a 1983 oblique air photograph. A site visit in 2000 showed that the structure visible on the air photo still survived, although the blast wall has subsequently been demolished to ground level and survives only to a height of 1 or 2 courses. The building is rectangular in plan and constructed of concrete blocks with a reinforced poured concrete roof. The latter has an escape hatch on its western end and drainage runnels set into its surface (indicating that it was not intended to be completely concealed with earth). Access is via a galvanised steel door set mid-way along the southern wall. The entry door does not appear to be an original fixture, and has modern steel bolts attached to it. Internally, the structure has two rooms, either side of a central access corridor. Each of the two rooms contains a large metallic cylindrical tank. There are no other surviving fixtures or fittings visible, either internally or externally. A metallic trough approximately 1km to the north west of the building within the vicinity of Liddington Castle hillfort is thought to comprise a component of an oil-fired decoy (Starfish) but is not in its original position. According to Dobinson 1996 ('Bombing Decoys of WWII') between 1941 and 1943 Liddington was the location of both permanent oil-fired 'Starfish' and an electrically operated QL decoy. The surviving building most closely resembles a QL site shelter (Dobinson 1996, 77 - Fig. 35), and the presence of the tanks in the two rooms intended for the generators and crew strongly suggests that it was re-used in the post-war era. Re-use and vandalism probably accounts for the removal of the plinths for the generators, the escape ladder, internal and external doors and all electrical equipment and cable ducting. The alternative - that the tanks are contemporary with the remainder of the structure and that it did not therefore function as a control building - is considered unlikely.