WW2 trenches at Smook Hills, Hollym

Image: © Paul Glazzard Taken: 13 Jul 2006

On Smook Hills Road the seemingly unnecessary bends in the ditches give the impression some of them were not just meant for field drainage, but only in the middle of a hawthorn thicket by the roadside is it clear that this was actually a World War II trench system. The dappled light and patchy groundcover make it difficult to photograph but I thought I'd have a go anyway as the hawthorns which have preserved it thus far will eventually be the cause of its disappearance. In this thicket there are three rectangular pits each about two to three metres across, joined together by a trench which runs up the right side of the picture. Around the top of the earthworks there seems to be a sort of step or shelf about thirty to forty centimetres wide and the same deep. It's not possible to tell how deep the trenches were as many have been partly filled in while others in the system are indistinguishable from the field drainage ditches still in use today.

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