Hidden First World War Heritage of the Lickey Hills
17th March 2017
The Heritage Lottery Fund has just awarded the Lickey Hills Local History Society a grant of £10,000 under the ‘First World War: then and now’ programme.
The Hidden First World War Heritage of Lickey Hills project will focus on recording and researching the buildings of the Bilberry Hill Gun Proof Range in the Lickey Hills Country Park that date from the Great War.
The buildings are an unusual, possibly unique, collection, consisting of two gun butts for testing field guns, a partially demolished munitions store, a gun emplacement, two Army mess rooms and a toilet block. There were other buildings since lost - a bunker and a possible officers’ mess and stable block.
The team at Lickey Hills have been supported by the archaeologists from Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, who have visited the site, in putting together the application for funding.
A key aim of the project is that work should be done by volunteers within the community, with training offered in the various research and recording tasks needed, people interested in getting involved should contact the team on info@lhlhs.org.uk.
People are also urged to get in touch if they have any memories or stories that have been passed down. The Lickey Hills Local History Society are also interested in any photos of the sites or other physical evidence that could help.