This page is part of a site tour of the Coleshill estate during WW2. Click here to start the tour.  

Please Note: The Coleshill House site and grounds are owned by the National Trust. The woods and grounds of the house are all strictly private and access is limited to set days a year. See our events page for their official open days. Attempting to access the site outside of these times is not only trespassing but could damage the future of our work and relationship with the Trust and villagers. Please respect this.

Firing Training Range

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On 11th May 2011 Eddie Cox, an ex Coleshill resident, took Tom Sykes and Bill Ashby to the exact location of the firing range believed to have been used by the Auxiliers who trained at Coleshill. He had not been back to the spot for over 60 years but was certain he was in the right place.

He was asked if he thought it would be possible that it could have been used by local home guard from Faringdon or Highworth but he thought it highly unlikely.

When Eddie was a teenager he used to explore in the words near Badbury Hill with his friends and they came across the range which he said was very different to how it is now.
He said the side were like a sheer drop all around the walls of the range and it was a large horseshoe shape.

They used to collect the spend rounds and take them home and he said the walls of the range were peppered with bullet holes.

Whilst there Bill Ashby discovered a large metal object (see slideshow images below). He and Eddie think it is armoured panel work from a tank or the like. Can you shed any light on it?

A short video can be seen below.

See images of the range below.

Our thanks go to Eddie Cox for helping us find this and giving up his afternoon.

Can you help with this? Can you identify the metal work? Please email cartcoleshill@gmail.com