Marldon Auxiliary Unit and OB By Nina Hannaford (cartdevon@gmail.com)

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View from the location of the Marldon Operational Base.

Lt/ Capt. A J Smith   DOB 24/5/1900    (Lt 1/12/1941, Capt. 26/4/1944)
Lt Edward John Crews Linscott   DOB 8/3/1899   (2nd Lt 1/12/1941)
Albert Stanley Dameral   DOB 23/7/1904
Frederick C T Kerswell   1912-1991
Tomas White   DOB 6/4/1905
Sgt. William Ernest Wills   DOB 16/8/1903
Philip Alan Bawden   1909-1988
Henry Claud Burscombe   1917-1997.

A visit to  the local reference library to view the 1941 electoral rolls shows all the above present in Marldon and nearby Paignton. The 1939 Kelly's Directory of Devon describes Marldon as being a small hamlet of around 100 houses 3 miles North of Paignton railway station. Some of the families are mentioned as residents.

When researching the local newspaper, The Herald Express, I came across a letter from David Best on 13/11/2001 asking for information on his childhood memories of discovering an OB and pinpointing the OB's location.

“ ….the only vehicles using the lane were a couple of army...lorries which arrived each day for several months and parked near Gallows Gate. The troops would then carry bits and pieces...across a couple of fields overlooking the (Tor) Bay. When the lorries failed to turn up I went ...to see what they had been up to...some tracks led to a depression in one of the fields. It was about 300ft across and surrounded by Elm trees...we came across the hollow sound of a wooden cover below a carpet of leaves...managed to get the hinged cover up, which revealed a vertical steel staircase with galvanised water tanks each side. Below this was a doorway...I discovered that the Nissen-shaped room was equipped with lighting and telephone. There were bunks one side and on the other a row of dustbins which were filled with hand grenades and other assorted bits of ordnance. ...we do admit to snipping bits of fuse wire which we let off the next day....

About 30 years ago this depression on the hillside overlooking Torbay was filled in with hundreds of tons of infill and the land improved.”

I then contacted the farmer of Stantor Barton who works the land in that area. He has confirmed the existence of the OB and its filling in. The grid reference is SX 878 648, nothing remains on the ground.

The OB was positioned between the two main roads leading from the port of Brixham and the harbour of Torquay to the North West and the rest of the country so I assume these would have been the main targets.

I believe the most significant finding to be the letter from the late David Best in The Herald Express giving details of the layout and contents of the OB he found as a child as nothing remains on the ground.

Further action may include trying to trace children of the men but this has proved difficult to date.

“ Memories of Marldon” by David Best (1923-2002)

Marldon Local history Society.

David Best

The Herald Express

If you can help with anymore info on this patrol please email cartdevon@gmail.com