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
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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.
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 | Feb 18 2027 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | 9781350546844 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 10 bw illus |
| Dimensions | 9 x 6 inches |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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