Duxford: Machine Gun Range and Shelter Sheds

Machine Gun Range (MGR) and Shelter Sheds to the north, constructed in 1918 as part of the initial phase of the Training Depot Station (TDS), Duxford.

MATERIALS: of brick construction with a tiled roof covering to the Shelter Sheds.

PLAN: The MGR is irregular in plan but the Shelter Sheds, a separate structure around 27.5m to the north of the MGR, have a rectangular plan.

EXTERIOR: the MGR comprises a buttressed brick wall, around 50cm thick, 37m long and standing to a height of approximately three metres. It tapers to the top and is capped in tile. The western two thirds has been raised by approximately 0.75m and extending from this section at right angles are two, stepped, buttressed walls, approximately 20m apart. Between these two walls is an earthwork mound sloping to the south, retained by a low brick wall of five courses surmounted by metal railings. The wall and railings appear to be a late C20 addition, possibly built at the time the Gibraltar Gun was installed. A plan and section of the existing MGR show a subterranean trench with concrete retaining walls at the base of the earthwork and running the length of the wall. This is labelled as a ‘Target Trench’ and has another earthwork mounded against the southern edge, again sloping to the south. Although the concrete retaining walls and trench may survive beneath the ground they are no longer visible on the surface neither is the southernmost earthwork.

At the western end of the MGR wall two brick-built compartments, one to the north and one to the south, form part of the MGR and appear to correspond to a Target Store (southern compartment) and a Stop Butt (northern compartment) as shown on a plan of the MGR dated to November 1935. Stains on the brickwork show the former roof line of the Target Store.

Attached to the rear of the MGR wall is a modern workshop and garage built of corrugated metal sheeting, which is not of historic or architectural interest.

The shelter sheds on the north side of the MGR are built in brick with a sloping and overhanging tile roof with iron brackets supporting the eaves. The shed is open fronted with regularly spaced brick piers dividing compartments. Some sections, towards the eastern end, have been infilled and provided with doors to create enclosed storage and workshops but the original fabric appears little changed. The shelters are clearly visible on aerial photographs dated to 1921 and show doors to the rear of the sheds, presumably enabling movement in and out without the need to manoeuvre around the MGR when in active use. These doors survive in the example here.