If you are planning a tour to Britian, and would like to take in some of the spectacle of our military heritage we can help you to take advantage of the dozens of re-enactment and other events staged around the country.
We will be adding an events calendar so you can see what is on and where!
RAF Northolt was a sector station and still is an RAF airfield. The station contains a reconstructed sector operations room as well as other historic buildings. The airfield was also the home of the 303 (Polish) Sqn RAF in the Battle of Britain. It can be visited by prior arrangement. Contact British battlefields for details
The No 11 Group Bunker Uxbridge was
used by RAF Fighter command throughoiut the Second World War.
It is one of the most famous command posts in history. It was from
here that the main air battles of the Battle of Britian were
controlled. The plottign table is still laid out when it was at
11.15 Am on Sunday 15
September 1940 when Winston Churchill watched the battle from
the gallery. I unique place, which can be visited by
groups with a
prior arrnagement, contact British Battlefields for
details
The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede commemorates by name over 20,000 airmen who were lost in the Second World War during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and who have no known graves. They served in Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Transport, Flying Training and Maintenance Commands, and came from all parts of the Commonwealth. Some were from countries in continental Europe which had been overrun but whose airmen continued to fight in the ranks of the Royal Air Force.
The Pathfinder Collection housed at Royal Air Force Wyton near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire is a memorial and testimony to the airmen of No 8 Pathfinder Group of Bomber Command during World War II, the RAF’s only officially recognized elite force and commemorates that organization and those who gave so much in achieving its goals.The musuem is staffed by RAF staff and civilian volunteers. It is only open to groups by appointment.
Britain's largest aviation museum, with
around 200 planes, military vehicles, artillery and naval vessels.
Duxford Aerodrome was home to several RAF fighter squadrons during
the Battle of Britain and later to USAAF 78th Fighter Group. Museum
highlights include the Battle of Britain exhibition housed in a
1917 Belfast hangar and the American Air Museum in a modern
building designed by Sir Norman Foster. The Aircraft Hall includes
a Spitfire, a Lancaster and a Concorde. Also on site are the
regimental museums of the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Anglian
Regiment. Duxford hosts regular air shows and other
events.
Brooklands is a historic site on the development of British miltiary aviation. It was home to the Vickers aircraft factories and from where aircraft built by Sopwith and then Hawker were tested and fl;own. The Museum contains historic Wellington and Hawker Hurricane aircraft, a Vickers Vimy repleca and as a collection of well as post war bomber and transport aircraft
Housed within Magazine No 5 of the former
Royal Magazine for Gunpowder on the bank of the River Thames, built
in 1759. The centre documents the history of the magazines and
holds collections covering the army from Waterloo to National
Service, including the story of the Gurkha Regiment. The naval
collection has exhibits from the Battle of Trafalgar to World War
II while the RAF Hornchurch Wing Collection has uniforms and
aircraft artefacts from the Hornchurch aerodrome. A Zeppelin
display tells how the anti-aircraft guns at Purfleet helped shoot
down Zeppelin L15 in 1916.
Within the space of a couple of weeks the first two German dirigibles were shot down over NW London. SL 11 was shot down over Cuffley by Lt Leefe Robinson and L31 captained by the Zeppelin captain Mathy was shot down over Potters Bar. These events were a turning point in the first german air war on London using airships. This story and the legacy on the ground can be interpreted with the help of a guid
he only registered battlefield in Greater London. Here is where the Yorkists King Edward IV Edward and his brothers George, and Richard, (The future king Richard III) beat their Uncle Richard Neville Earl of Warwick "the Kingmaker". It is a great story and makes a good day out. .
Housed inside The Keep at Gibraltar
Barracks. Contains badges, medals and uniforms plus artefacts such
as a German Imperial flag captured from the German governor's house
in Togoland in August 1914. Among the museum's large collection of
drums is one of the drums left in Roubaix, France by the 1st
Battalion Suffolk Regiment during the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940,
with a note reading 'to be called for later' and retrieved after D
Day.
The RAF Museum London is on the site of Hendon Aerodrome and houses over 100 aircraft from around the world including some very early aircraft designs through to the latest modern day jets and military aircraft. It is on the site of one of the historic airfields, serving as a base for night fighters, training and communications. The site includes the buildings of the Graham White aircraft factory and houses a fine archive.
A 13th century hexagonal castle without a
keep, it had a curtain wall with five D shaped towers and a twin
towered gatehouse, surrounded by a moat. In the 14th century it was
owned by John of Gaunt and his son Henry Bolingbroke was born
there. Garrisoned by Royalist troops in the Civil War it was badly
damaged in the Battle of Winceby and was later 'slighted' to stop
further use, the towers and walls being torn down. Now ruined, only
its lower walls and earthworks remain.
RAF Bassingbourn was a bomber airfield in
the Second World War, home to the RAF's Operational Training Unit
that took part in the 1000 bomber raids, and later to the USAAF's
91st Bombardment Group (Heavy). The site is now a barracks, home to
the Army Training Regiment Bassingbourn. The Tower Museum is housed
in the original 1930s control tower and focuses on the history of
the airfield. The first floor is dedicated to the story of the RAF
and British Army during World War II, the second floor to that of
the USAAF.
A circular fort built in 1808 to protect the
port of Harwich from invasion during the Napoleonic Wars, it dates
from the same time as the chain of Martello Towers along the East
Anglian coast. About 200 feet in diameter it had a central parade
ground 85 feet across. Surrounded by a deep ditch it could only be
entered by one removable drawbridge. Originally armed with ten
24-pounder cannon it was later adapted to take larger guns. A
number of original guns are on display along with replica firearms
and related exhibitions.
Part of the Chelmsford Museum, this
collection traces the history of the regiment from 1741 to the
present. Memorabilia and trophies include the Salamanca Eagle
captured from the French 62nd regiment at the Battle of Salamanca
in 1812. The museum also holds the collection of the Essex
Yeomanry.
Housed in the Martello Tower at Point Clear, one of the oldest
of these forts built along the east coast in 1806 to repel invasion
during the Napoleonic Wars. One of the few Martello Towers open to
the public it now houses an exhibition based around the remains of
a crashed P51 Mustang of the US 479th Fighter Group
forced to ditch in the sea off Clacton in 1945. There is a memorial
display to the Mustang's pilot along with collections covering
major conflicts of the 20th century.
The museum holds several collections of
military artefacts, including one of weapons and equipment used by
the Special Operations Executive, and another with more recent
examples of espionage equipment. Notable exhibits include the only
surviving MK2 Cockle canoe, used in the Cockleshell Heroes raid in
World War II, and one of the few remaining TSR2 engines. The museum
also houses the Donnington Historic Weapons Collection, featuring
weapons used and captured by the British Army in the 19th and 20th
centuries, and there is an extensive English Civil War collection
of armour and weapons.
From the time of Henry VIII to the Second
World War, Tilbury Fort defended London against attack from the
sea. The original blockhouse was strengthened with earthworks and a
palisade when the Spanish Armada threatened. During the Anglo-Dutch
Wars Charles II had the site re-fortified by Sir Bernard de Gomme,
adding four projecting bastions and an earth and brick gunline
along the river. In the First World War its anti-aircraft guns
brought down a German Zeppelin. Today it is one of the best
preserved bastioned fortifications in Britain.
Bungay Castle was built by Roger Bigod in 1100. His son Hugh was a significant player in the revolts by barons aaginst Henry II. Durign the sisge the castle was undermined. The story of the siege and the Barons revolt can be interpreted bya guide.
Commemorating the activities of the Royal
Naval Patrol Service during the Second World War. Exhibits include
boards listing the 850 honours awarded to members of the service,
including one Victoria Cross, and a list of over 200 mentioned in
despatches. There is a mock-up of a wheelhouse along with model
ships, photographs and assorted memorabilia such as shields,
uniforms and flags.
Founded as a motte and bailey castle by William the Conqueror,
this was the only royal castle in East Anglia prior to the building
of Orford Castle. The stone keep dates from around 1100. Briefly
captured by rebel forces under High Bigod during the rebellion of
1173-4. Today it houses a museum with galleries devoted to Boudica
and the Iceni revolt, and to the Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods.
Dungeon tours explore the maze of medieval cellars below the
castle.
A brief but significant battle in
the Civil War, lasting only half an hour. In 1643 Parliament's
Eastern Association army intercepted a Royalist force intending to
raise the siege of Bolingbroke Castle. Cromwell's cavalry charge
dispersed the Royalists, many of whom were trapped and killed in
Slash Hollow, a ditch still identifiable today. There is good
access to the battlefield by path and road.
A well preserved 12th century castle, with
13 square shaped towers along its curtain wall in place of the
traditional keep. Built by Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, it was
besieged and taken by King John in 1216. Later it was the base from
which Mary Tudor mounted her campaign to seize the throne from Lady
Jane Grey. In World War II it served as a regional defence centre
for British forces facing a German invasion. The castle has a
visitor centre and stages events during the summer.
Orford Castle
Built by Henry II in the 12th century to
consolidate his power over East Anglia and used to put down a local
rising led by the Bigod family. Refortified and used as a radar
station in the Second World War. Though only its unique polygonal
keep remains intact, there is plenty to explore with a maze of
passages in the basement and a visitor display in the upper hall.
The roof affords great views seaward over the former
port.
The uprising against Roman rule led by
Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, took place in AD 60 or 61. The rebels
first attacked the Roman capital Camulodunum, now Colchester, and
destroyed the city. A Roman legion led by Quintus Petillius
Cerialis went to put down the rebellion but was roundly defeated by
Boudica's army. This battle may have taken place near Great
Wratting in Suffolk. Boudica was eventually defeated at the Battle
of Watling Street, the site of which is unknown. There is a gallery
dedicated to Boudica's revolt in the Norwich Castle
Museum.
Here a marauding Viking expedition was confronted by a Saxon militia force, led by Ealdorman Brihtnoth, in 991. The Vikings were camped on Northey Island, linked to the mainland by a causeway. Brihtnoth let them cross in order to engage them in battle and was killed in the ensuing combat. The Saxons fled, leaving the Vikings victorious albeit with heavy casualties. The day's events were captured in a contemporary poem, The Battle of Maldon. Today the landscape is much changed, with the channel much wider, but the dyke wall affords a good view of the battlefield.