A very dangerous wood

[oldclaypaws]

We've mentioned that there are various hazards in woods, ticks, falling trees, chainsaw operators, but I think there's one wood in Staffordshire which is in a class of its own. Even if it came on the market for a real bargain, this is one 12 acre wood you don't want to buy. Some 90 people have been killed there, and many of there bodies were never found. Here's a google maps aerial shot, notice anything unusual?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.8463611,-1.730583,477a,20y,180h/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

In the top right corner you can just see a small square area on the perimeter, which is a memorial. There's a sign warning you to keep out;

Its a quite deep depression about 300 feet deep, it looks peaceful now but in 1944 it was the site of the most powerful non-nuclear explosion in history, when the RAF bomb dump of Fauld blew up.

Here's an aerial shot just after the big bang, with some further details about the story. There's still tons of unexploded ordnance under the surface. Always useful to check the history of your wood before putting in an offer, or might get a lot of bang for your buck....

http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/27/not-the-moon-staffordshire-uks-largest-ever-explosion-70-years-ago-4964882/#

[Meadowcopse]

I was at an event at near-by Tutbury Castle some years ago, and a couple of elderly men in a car stopped to ask directions - there is a memorial at the roadside.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Fauld_explosion

[SitkaSpruce]

Might go and take a look myself this Xmas. We're staying just south of Burton upon Trent over Xmas period. There's a very good BBC radio broadcast about this terrible event http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nwvx2 it also points out that it's a study in how nature recolonises such an area.