Many people who walk up the main driveway to the Triumphal Arch notice the brick and concrete ramps along with some paved areas. They are all the remains of an army camp which was used for the service and distribution of military vehicles.
I have had the opportunity to discuss with two residents of Aberford who were stationed at the base, sadly both have since died, but between them they gave a real insight into the daily routines and the general purpose of the base. The 3rd Vehicle Reserve Depot or VRD as it was known, was a part of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) operated from around 1942, I believe, and before that bombardiers were billeted in tents on the land either side of the driveway to the arch.
The Reserve Depot spread from the entrance to the estate on Cattle Lane in Aberford, where the soldiers lived in a camp of temporary huts, later to become Parlington Secondary school. The officers three of them, were billeted in Church House, the depot continued, extending across the whole of the parkland to the arch. Beyond the arch in later years of the war large numbers of jeeps were held ready for despatch to the European theatre of the war. Indeed Ralph the Aberford resident who was stationed at the camp in the last years of the war recalled how around the time of D-Day in 1944 half track vehicles were parked side by side along the fence line from the beginning of the driveway all the way to the Triumphal Arch. The road itself was metalled by Italian prisoners of war, so Mrs Lumb recalled, the other Aberfordian who was stationed at the base.
The types of vehicle were ranged from ‘heavy’ six ton Fodens to ‘Quads’ (armoured cars) and medium weight vehicles, cars, vans and small 15 hundredweight trucks. Each of these categories were kept in designated locations, and when it came time to despatch them to the east coast port of Hull the designated amount of fuel required was measured and poured into the vehicle, no opportunity for excursions on route!
The next time you walk up the estate road and see the structures think of the men and women seventy odd years ago who during the most dangerous times toiled to keep the wheels of war in motion. The photo is of troops in recent times doing manoeuvres at Parlington, they set up their mess on one of the repair ramps!