Saturday 28 May 2011

Surrounded by History

Something else that we can see if we only take the time to look is the history that surrounds us.

The past shapes the landscape, from the round barrows dotted across the hills to the marks of medieval strip farming.

Or more recently - from a time when the coast was fortified and guarded. A time when an invasion was feared. Hence the pill boxes we find along our coastlines.

Or even here, in this field. This was a radar station, manned day and night, watching for enemy aircraft crossing the channel. It was part of the Chain Home early warning radar network that proved so vital during World War 2.

Now forgotten and half buried beneath the meadow grasses.

4 comments:

  1. Fascinating. The story of radar and its links to our Dorset landscape would fill a book. Perhaps when you have a moment, Kate....

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  2. Funny you should say that - my first attempt at writing a children's book centred around this very subject. I had a fascinating time doing the research for it. In some places there's no trace whatsoever yet hundreds of people worked there!

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  3. Every place has a history, the difficulty is that we don't know it. There is the solid history of redar stations, houses, bridges and hillforts, we can see them, touch them, imagine ourselves standing there at that point in time. But we walk through history all our lives. Hmmm.. perhaps there is a poem in this...

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  4. "But we walk through history all our lives"

    I love that line :-)

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