Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Brimstage WW2 Bombing Decoy

There hasn't been much mention of the Brimstage decoy sight so I thought I would start the ball rolling. It is located about 2km south of the Storeton Gun Site just SW of Ley Farm.

At this site there is a new (since 1910) copse but looking at the 1970 and 1997 aerials, this has some very interesting features - but bear in mind these might be agricultural (I remember finding loads of manmade Beehives at one location like this).

Some of the lumps and bumps on the 1970 picture are pre WW2, some may not be. The third picture is the whole area as it is now, most of the fields are well ploughed.

One would hope that the lumps & bumps were evidence of the site having fulfilled its purpose.
I've got a feeling that w10694 is the guy who will know all about this. Here's a Livesearch birdseye view which shows the feature well. I'd love to know more about it.
BTW, I have to question whether you were sober when you described the location: Ley Farm is almost due West of Storeton AA site & the decoy is SE of that. Grid ref. SJ297833 Hope the farm never got hit, or the railway line; the bombing was notoriously inaccurate.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v...hx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Cheers, Chris

Excellent pics, I really wonder if the marks are / were bomb craters. Have you noticed how the one on the edge of the plantation shows in 1970, and the later pic shows the plantation growing around it !

I wandered around there, there are some curious bits of agriculture, and some MoD looking gateposts, but not much else.

I did reply to diggindeeper, quoted below:

I've looked around the Brimstage site, and there is naff all left. The access road is from Brimstage, fairly obviously, the buildings were at the end of the trackway, there are some bricks - and - that's about it !

The only mention I have is quotes (from "Wirral on the Home Front" book) is:
Operating from at least april 1941 (as were most, and all out use by 1943 !), when the Boys Club Hall was acquired by "colonel turners department" to sept 1941, when it was released.

The site was 1/2 mile NW, and knows as "defense works". included a brick built shelter (air raid ?), nissen hut, and an underground building housing an engine (sounds like a standard bunker / generator), trenches and a roadway. Every farm put in claims for bomb damage (nothing changes ?), but most were craters caused by falling AAa shells (what goes up - comes down).


Even the 1970's cheshire cc aerial photos show nothing much, but the OS map does show a building.

brimstage

All the standard bunker types are on: decoys

The Storeton AA site is fascinating, it seems to have started with 2 guns, and expanded to 4, but the accomodation appears to have outgrown everything (the arrow shaped bit going to the top right). Often extra acconmodation was required if there were women on site - many AA sites were manned by women - and they had lined Nissen huts - and curtains !

It may be explained because the accommodation often served local sites, ie Brimstage decoy, and the Storeton radar.

All in all, the brimstage area was busy, and also mysterious, because 2 installations, the AA and the radar, seemed to last well beyond the end of the war. Also the mysterious "copses" appeared from nowhere - although the Stallinborough aa site has been deliberately planted in a similar manner with trees !

I had a look around the copse a few weeks ago, I think the depressed bit may be the sewerage pit.

On the same day, I had a look at the Raby (Neston) aa site, and was surprised to find the accommodation huts still extant, and still being used as farm buildings. nice touch.



Sorry to go on, but I'm working at home today.

It's worth a good look around the Sutton Weaver site, Puddington is closer, but I've never felt safe, or welcome there !

Thanks again W10694, I spotted one map said that is a plantation a couple of days ago but couldn't find it again. Is this just a mappers assumption or is that what it was - if I find beehives again I will be really p*ssed off?

It seems remarkable that this appears to have grown and overgrown at roughly the same rate as Storeton Gunsite.

Chris - thanks for correcting my SW to SE - wot a plank you might be ahead of me in years but I beat you hands down on senility!

beehives ?

we went looking at a mysterious google earth site in chester, only to find it was a childrens wooden playground.

we also went looking for the "rexham" air navigation beacon near Llandegla, to find ----- nothing. found out afterwards that it is just a location - not like the proper physical air nav beacon at moreton ( "wallseye" ). idiots !

A couple more bits of information ...

"A Second World War 'Permanent Starfish' bombing decoy located at Brimstage (SJ 297 833). It was constructed to deflect enemy bombing from Liverpool. It is referenced as being in use between 01-AUG-1941 and 08-APR-1943. It was also the site of a 'QL' decoy, which was built as part of the 'C-series' of civil decoys for Liverpool to protect Mount Olive marshalling yard. This is referenced as being in use between 02-OCT-1942 and 01-MAY-1943. The 'QL' decoy displayed lighting to simulate the marshalling yards and loco glows that would be seen at Mount Olive."

"The bombing decoys for Liverpool had limited success, possibly because the decoys were positioned too far out from their intended targets"

What a lot of people don't realise is the the Luftwaffe attacking Liverpool came from the south, crossed ove the south coast, the Bristol estuary, and picked up the shiny rails of the mid-wales railway (known to them as "adolf hitler's railway"). Coming up the Dee, they then turned right, to go over Liverpool.

The Liverpool series of decoys started as far south as Fen Moss, Tern Hill, Minera & LLandegla, and then there were specific decoys for different Liverpool targets, ie Burton Marsh was for Garston Docks.

Their efficiency was usually rated as fairly high, the Burton Marsh, Wallsey and Hilbre ones specifically recorded as effective. The problem is that during WW2, their existence was ultra ultra secret, and the local populace were lied to, and many still believe the original lies.