Probable site of Second World War ammunition shelter, Hoe Mill, Woodham Walter (EHER 21269)

Now destroyed. The probable location of an ammunition shelter at Hoe Mill, Woodham Walter. It would have been sited to support weapons pits which are stated to have been at Hoe Mill House (EHER 39107), for protection of the bridge over the River Chelmer.

November 2008. World War Two Defences in Maldon survey: site visit and desktop research. Contemporary records state, ‘Storehouse for explosives. Bell Meadow.’ The landowner’s address is given as ‘The Shrubbery, Woodham Walter, Maldon’ and by cross-referencing this with other entries, which give the Military Grid Reference of more defence works, it can be established that the shelter, almost certainly a small Nissen-type, must have stood somewhere close to Hoe Mill. Here, it would have stored ammunition and explosives in support of weapons pits which are stated to have been at Hoe Mill House (EHER 39107), clearly to cover the bridge across the River Chelmer immediately to the north. <1> Nothing conclusive can be seen on a 1946 aerial photograph but it could very well have stood beneath the many trees in the area. <2> The mapped location is considered to be the most likely position. <3>