The Military-Industrial Enclosure of Britain’s Countryside in the Second World War
Fields into Factories
The Military-Industrial Enclosure of Britain’s Countryside in the Second World War
Fields into Factories
Description
This book is an examination of how Britain's Second World War aircraft building and arms production led to a state-sponsored military-industrial land enclosure that irrevocably changed the nation's landscape. Using a wide range of previously ignored and understudied material from national and local archives, The Military-Industrial Enclosure of Britain's Countryside in the Second World War uncovers the location, origins, war-time use and post-war lives of a critical mass of 220 sites owned and/or operated by the Ministry of Supply and Ministry of Aircraft Production, the two ministries at the heart of British war production.
Through a chronological analysis of the lives of these factories, Gary Willis demonstrates that, from an environmental history perspective, Britain experienced a long Second World War from 1936 when sites were first identified and building commenced, until 1946, by which time the post-war fate of the majority of sites had been decided. That this military-industrial infrastructure was predominantly built on green-field sites in rural and peri-urban areas has not previously been identified, analysed or quantified, and as a result the broad environmental impact of Britain's Second World War has been obscured until now.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
The Environmental Impact of the Second World War on Britain, and Within it
the Significance of New-Build Military-Industrial Sites
Phraseology and Terminology
Fields Into Factories: Aims and Objectives
Fields Into Factories: its Place Within Second World War and Environmental Historiographies
Chapter Two: Between The Wars: 1919-1936
'Permissive Restriction' or 'Progressive Control'? Inter-War Legislation and
Regulation of Land Use
Changes in Agriculture and Land Use in the Inter-War Period
The Rise of the 'New Professionals' as Protectors of the Rural Idyll
Chapter Three: Preparations for War: Location Location Location – Military Needs and
Solutions
Military Needs and Solutions
Location Location Location: the State's Balancing of Security, Operational, Topographical, Geological and Socio-Economic Considerations
Where the Rural Idyll and the Military-Industrial Complex Collided
Case Study: White Waltham, Berkshire, January 1937
Chapter Four: The Contesting of Landscape Militarization by Agricultural and
Preservationist Interests, 1936 to August 1939
Inside and Outside the Corridors of Power: MAF and the CPRE
Initial Landscape Militarization, 1936 to 1937
Grudging Consultation Progress – January 1938 to August1939
.
Civil War Between MAF and the Service Departments, February 1938 to
24 August 1939
Chapter Five: The Landscape Fights Back: Contestation by Agricultural, Amenity and
Preservationist Interests During the Second World War
The Impact of War-time Legislation on the Consultation Procedure and
Ongoing Landscape Militarization
Consultation and Negotiation in War-time
Chapter Six: Outcome: the Incursion of Military-Industrial Sites into the British Landscape,
1936 to 1943
Shadow Factories: Incursions Into Peri-Urban Areas
Royal Ordnance Factories: Incursions into the Rurality of the Safe Corridor
Fields into Factories: Facts and Figures
Rurality to Modernity: Military-Industrial Sites as Intense Agents of
Transformation
Chapter Seven: Service Department and Rural Landscapes in War-time:
Agency, Appropriation, Mimicry, and Subterranea
Landscape Agency in War-time: Facilitation and Frustration of
Military-Industrial Intent
Camouflage of Military-Industrial Sites: the Appropriation and Mimicry
of Rurality
Chapter Eight: Retention, Transition, Restoration? The Post-War Lives of Military-
Industrial Sites, 1943-1946
The Board of Trade – Determinant of Military-Industrial Site Futures
Requisitioned Land: A Headache For The State
From Shells to Potato Crisps: The Post-War After-Lives of Military-Industrial
Sites
Chapter Nine: 'Concur': the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and the Post-War
Fate of Military-Industrial Sites
Contestation and Restoration: 'War as the Remover of Inhibitions'
Between A Rock and a Hard Place: Planning vs. Foundations in the Ground
The Impact of Concurrence: the Post-War Lives of Military-Industrial Sites
Chapter Ten: Landscapes Enclosed and Stopped Up: the Obliteration, Diversion and
Replacement of Public Rights of Way
Protection and Threat: Legislative Duality in the Inter-war and War-time Periods
Long Shadow: the Impact of the Requisitioned Land and War Works Act on Rights of
Way
Case Studies: ROFs Risley, Ranskill, Drigg and Sellafield
Chapter Eleven: The Sunderland Seaplane Assembly Factory: White Cross Bay, Calgarth,
The Lake District
'Prepared To Make A Fine Fuss': Amenity and Preservation vs the Service Departments, December 1940 to Mid-1942
'Fanatical Determination to Resist the Most Trifling Intrusion on Their Preserves': Calgarth 1945 to 1961
Chapter Twelve: The Sebro Aircraft Repair Factory, West Cambridge
'A Neat Torpedo': Town and Gown vs the Service Departments, 1941 to 1943
The State and 'Town and Gown': the Reckoning, 1943-1946
Chapter Thirteen: Conclusions
Appendix One: Methodological and Statistical Considerations: the Analysis of the Impact
of Military-Industrial Sites on the British Landscape
What Types of Landscape Militarization to Include – and What Not To
My Sources
About The Data
Appendix Two: Military-Industrial Site Data Set
Product details
| Published | 18 Feb 2027 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | 9781350546875 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 10 bw illus |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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