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Mendip Hills event
This Sunday Bristol OK has an event at Black Down - nothing to do with the range of hills we use. Its on open hillside with an extensive path network and dozens of individually mapped trees...and it has a curious past.
Two dozen QO folk, more than half of them juniors, encountered it this time two years ago, when it was used for a junior tournament (Yvette Baker) qualifier.
Bombs away
The Black Down area has some history... it was used to create a decoy town in World War II. It would appear the curious lines of mounds along the south of the map (extract pictured) are those that were intended to stop aircraft from landing.
Glow boxes were used to simulate lights from streets and railways and blazing oil drums to pass as bombed areas. It was hoped they would fool Nazi bombers into thinking they had uncovered a part of Bristol to bomb which had failed to follow black-out regulations. Anti aircraft guns lay in wait but there is no evidence the trick worked.
Part of Blackdown
Credit: BOK Routegadget