I recently received an enquiry from a reader [Bill of Aberford] who, whilst walking the dog around Parlington, wondered what the brick and concrete ramp structures were for.
This was my response:
In a few words, during WW2 the area was occupied by an Army Repair Depot and the ramps were for maintaining vehicles, I am told that towards the end of the war there were Half-tracked vehicles parked side by side the entire length of the fence line on the north side of the drive. This is from a villager who was posted to Aberford towards the end of the war, married a local girl and therefore stayed on in Aberford, he is quite old now and lives just off Parlington Drive.
I have a picture of the Triumphal Arch, taken in 1952 for the National Monuments Record and you can see beyond the arch to the ramp nearby and the ramp is enclosed by the corrugated ‘Elephant Hut’. One of these huts was relocated to South Lodge Farm and remained there until the site was sold in 2002. I’ve been in it but at the time I did not know of its history, sadly, I would have taken photos before its demise had I known.
