Site of Second World War British Resistance Auxiliary Unit Hideout, Trinity Wood, Ashingdon (EHER 20694)

Possibly destroyed. Auxiliary unit operational base. A Nissen type structure measuring 30ft x 12ft. It had a counter balanced ladder down to the chamber and there was a camouflaged lid to the ladder shaft. The monument was not traced during the Defence of Britain nor Defences in Rochford surveys and may have been destroyed after the Second World War.

2003. World War Two Defences in Rochford survey: site visit and desktop research. 'Churchill’s Secret Army 1939-45 and Other Recollections' (<1>) by Mr A. E. Cocks includes several chapters on Mr Cocks' time as Second-in-Command of Hockley-Patrol - one of a group of five wartime Auxiliary Unit patrols in the area. The unit was based in an underground 'hide' deep in a thicket in Trinity Wood. It was constructed by the Royal Engineers and measured some 30 feet by 12 feet. It was accessed via a camouflaged 3-foot-square lid which lifted to reveal a substantial ladder down to the chamber. This was fitted out with shelves for the piles of explosives, ammunition and booby traps, cupboards to take the food and large tanks for drinking water. The book, which contains a wealth of data on training and activities of Auxiliary Units, was written in 1991. In 2003, Mr Cocks, aged 97, was visited and interviewed as part of the World War Two Defences in Rochford project. He recalls the construction of the hide - concrete floor and walls with a rounded corrugated iron roof - and the proximity of its location towards the south-east corner of Trinity Wood. Site assessment: In considering the importance of the various categories of World War Two defence sites, Auxiliary Unit (or British Resistance) hideouts are in the top layer. Every discovery should be assessed for protection as a Scheduled Monument. It is not possible to say whether the hide in Trinity Wood still survives. However, bearing in mind its robust construction, its below-ground inaccessibility and its now unknown location, it probably does. If at any time in the future it is discovered, then it should be immediately surveyed with a view to both its statutory and physical protection. Any planning application affecting Trinity Wood should be carefully considered with this in mind. <2> NRHE data transfer: 1995-2002. Defence of Britain survey. Auxiliary unit operational base. Nissen type structure measuring 30ft x 12ft. Ladder down to chamber is counter balanced and there is a camouflaged lid to the ladder shaft. Information and field visit by A.E. Cocks. Recorder W. Ward failed to locate site in 1996.Trinity Woods, Hockley LOCATION: Trinity Woods, Hockley. <3> <4>