CD1

(59:01 mins)
 

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BORN ROADWATER 1922 / FAMILY BACKGROUND / SCHOOLS / ISLAND COTTAGE / RIVER FLOODING

Born Roadwater 6 May 1922. Family background. Parents William and Alice. Father mainly builder's labourer and worked in mines, on West Somerset Mineral Line. Two sisters, living away, he is the second oldest. There was another sister, older than him, who died when she was 5.

He went to school at Washford aged 5. No school in Roadwater. There were 4 schools in a 2 mile radius. Children on left of river above church went to Leighland, on right to Treborough. Ones on left at bottom went to Yard. They went according to parish. He was in Old Cleeve bit of parish and went to Washford. Roadwater was divided into 4 parishes.

He walked 2 miles to school. Took sandwiches. Older sister had left by then. Younger one just starting when he left. He went with cousin who lived near. Quite enjoyed it. Left at 14. He was more interested in sport/games. Liked anything - football, cricket, billiards, snooker, table tennis.

Born in Island Cottage. The river ran down the back. It flooded in winter. They cemented in fender board to back door each winter, and sandbagged it. Board 4 ft high. He's seen the water almost lapping the top. The water used to go round top and bottom side [of house], run out through garden, over wall and down to the main road which was very often flooded. [Back to top]
 

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FLOODS / FATHER'S EMPLOYMENT / MINERAL LINE / HOME LIFE / CROYDON HALL / WOODWORK TRAINING

Roadwater floods. Floods very bad at times. BR has photos of water surrounding cottage. It was a bit scary when high. It was a raging river at times, coming down from the Brendons and Exmoor. He has known it up to the windows in parts. Twenty years ago they made the river wider and deeper. It solved most of the problem.

His father did jobs around the district, such as sea walls. He spent quite a lot of time in mines and on railway. He was one of the last ones to work on removing the lines when it was all finished. He worked in different pits on the hill. BR can't remember how long he worked in the pits, but it was quite a long time. He worked getting the ore out, sorting it from the rubbish. BR has photos of him.

Home life was good, they were a very happy family. He lost an older sister at 5, mother never really said very much about it.

He left school at 14. He'd always wanted to do woodwork. It was difficult to get in anywhere, but he did eventually. At Croydon Hall. Owned by Bridges. It was a general estate. A big house and garden. Repairs always needed doing. He trained there. He was just 18 when war started. [Back to top]
 

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OUTBREAK OF WAR / HOME GUARD / JOINING CHURCHILL'S SECRET ARMY / RECRUITMENT / TREBOROUGH QUARRY / FELLOW VOLUNTEERS / TRAINING

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He remembers war being declared. Remembers the day. He was in Roadwater when Chamberlain broadcast. After retreat by British from France they formed a defence unit, 'Look, Duck and Vanish' [Local Defence Volunteers], later changed to the Home Guard. He joined at an early age. Then Churchill set up Secret Army of resistance fighters. He thinks they were vetted while they were in the HG to find out if they were suitable. Knowing the area as they did, all the quarries, they were finally selected, or rather asked to volunteer. Six of them. He doesn't know who vetted them. Maybe the army in disguise; even the police, he understands, at some stage. He didn't know he was being vetted. He would have been selected from 20-25 people.

The six all came from the same area. Farm labourers and carpenters. They were approached by the HG man in charge of their particular section. They were recruited through the HG, but secretly through the army. They had nothing to do with the HG but had to say there were if anyone wanted to know.

They were taken to Treborough slate quarry. The army had found a tunnel there, cleaned it out and put in bricks, shells and large supply of what was needed. Explosives, fuses, food rations. In case of invasion. It was Great Britain's darkest war time. The supplies were for them. The other 5 were W Taylor, C Burge, L Coles, Carpenter and Parsons. Parsons was Lance Corporal eventually.

They were sent to weekend training with the army to see if they were capable of using those things [explosives etc]. He went to a big house at South Petherton. He was issued with an American colt revolver and plenty of ammunition for practice. It was mostly explosives. They could have blown up anything in the area, if the order came through. [Back to top]
 

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WEAPONS TRAINING / SECRECY / ARMY CAMP TRAINING / INTEREST IN CSA NOW

He was doing Secret Army at same time as his job. Training was always at weekends and evenings. He was one of the main users of the Browning machine gun, long range. They had to cover everything. That was what he specialised in.

They were issued with a large supply of sticky bombs, mostly to be used against tanks, and hand grenades. They did a lot of firing with revolvers, and the Browning machine gun. They weren't taught a lot of hand-to-hand, but they knew how to defend themselves.

He volunteered because he was just 18. It was excitement and not realising what was involved.

They kept it secret. If anyone talked you were soon told about it. He thinks other HG people must have known about it and kept quiet. They were provided with petrol to get to the army camp;. There was lovely food, no expense spared. They [the CSA recruits] were different from the real army, they were still civilians. But the army people treated them well, but firm. The 6 of them were the only ones there at the time. There was an army training centre at Wiltshire. He never went there. They say he did, but he didn't. They, the  powers that be (he supposes), are trying to find out where they went. A lot of people are interested, contact him about different things. Most of them [CSA] have passed on. He's the only one they can ask, he supposes. [Back to top]
 

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TREBOROUGH QUARRY / OTHER UNDERGROUND PLACES / CROYDON HALL / RECEIVING INSTRUCTIONS / SCRAPBOOK / QUARRY

He went into the bottom of Treborough quarry when he was at school. It was a dangerous climb, about 200 ft deep. He had an awful job getting out. There was a tunnel low down in quarry, probably an escape route. The first time he went there they were made to go right through, and look down on inside of quarry. That end was full of bats, hanging from the roof, and cobwebs. They cleared it out for the stores. Army took stores to quarry. They never met them for security reasons. They were stored without anyone knowing what was going on. It was wartime. They had a few inquisitive people, but they were soon told where to go.

There were 2 other underground places. One above Croydon Hall, one between Roadwater and Washford, Draggers Cross, in big sand quarry. He doesn't think the Croydon Hall one would have been chosen with the owner's permission. He went there to cover it over, to camouflage the top. There was a small supply there for emergency use. He just went there once, to be shown where it was.

They got their instructions from W Taylor, one of the 6. Walter. They had Sergeant and Corporal, the rest were ordinary ranks. [opens scrapbook and shows map of Treborough quarry]. He produced book and presented copy to Roadwater village, 'Some Wartime Secrets. Roadwater District'. It's in the Record Office and some museums have asked for it. He has drawn a lot of diagrams.

Quarry was a deep hole. They went up there practically every week, depending on the weather. In the evenings in the summer. Could be once a week, subject to a lot of things. Supplies were secure because you'd have a job to find it. Entrance like an entrance to a badgers' sett, you had to crawl to get in there. The inner opening looked onto quarry [phone rings] [Back to top]
 

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EXPLOSIVES PRACTICE / STICKY BOMBS / SECRECY

There was no guard on quarry. It would have given the game away. It's amazing what went on. Unbelievable some of the things. There are still some things he won't say.

They used stuff at quarry for practice. There were quite big bangs up there at that time. They practised on the other side of the road where it was level. They practised blowing up railway lines to find out how much explosives you needed to destroy these things. Explosives were in sticks, you'd estimate what you thought was the right number. You'd estimate 10 and a lot of times double it to make sure.

He enjoyed it. It was exciting but dangerous. The only problems they had was with the sticky bombs. They had a handle sticking out and you threw them at tanks. The handle broke off sometimes in practice. You had to wait a certain time then blow it up for safety reasons. If handle came off it meant nothing would happen. The bombs were filled with explosives and nitro-glycerine. They practised at evenings and certain weekends. Not at night. There were multi-purpose shelves there, though he never slept there.

He was living at home. His family didn't know anything about it. He had to carry his revolver at all times and keep it hidden in his bedroom. After the war his family said they knew he was doing something secretly. But they never knew. They couldn't say anything, they were told not to talk about it until, he thinks, 1955, when war records lapsed.

Not telling his family was what had to be done and it was done. They kept it secret in the village. No-one said anything. Village life carried on. [Back to top]
 

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JOINING ROYAL ARTILLERY / SCOTLAND / TRAINING / DEMOB / BUILDING WORK / HINKLEY POINT / CLEEVE ABBEY / SKILLED REPAIRS

He was in Churchill's Secret Army from 1940 to April 1942, when he was drafted into the army. The other 5 carried on. He would see them on leave.

Going into the army, he knew a lot about things. He kept very quiet but he thinks they knew. He was demobbed March 1947. He got home a few times. He went to Salisbury Plain for training. Posted to Royal Artillery. Sent to Scotland, Aviemore. A wild west town. He started mountain warfare training. Ben Nevis, all over Scotland. [reticent about which unit]. He did a lot of training. You had to be a certain height, strength and endurance. Doesn't want to talk about putting it into practice. He never mentions it. He prefers listening to people.

He came out of army in 1947. Worked for a few building firms, building houses. Spent a year at Hinckley Point making moulds for concrete shuttering. He was still living at Roadwater. Transport was laid on from Washford. Then he became involved in Cleeve Abbey, Ministry of Works at that time, doing repairs to roofs and carving. It was very interesting. They didn't advertise the job, he got to know. You'd put your name down and they would come to you. You did need skills for it because you were repairing old things. They took the roof down and repaired it in the workshop. The art was making the new wood match the old wood. It was oak.

They had lifting gear to take the roof down. It was quite easy work. It took years to do the repairs. [Back to top]
 

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CLEEVE ABBEY / OTHER SPECIALIST REPAIRS / OKEHAMPTON CASTLE / ENGLISH HERITAGE / CLEEVE ABBEY NOW

He worked over 20 years at Cleeve Abbey. Work used to be sent there from different places for repair. There was a lovely workshop. Things were brought there because you had the men who could do these things. He did some big doors for Ludlow Castle and prototype showcases at Carnarvon Castle. Ludlow Castle doors had been burnt, there were only a few pieces, which you had to work in the new doors. They showed it on the Antiques Road Show once. Someone else went to fix them. He hasn't been to see anything he's worked on.

He did a job at Okehampton Castle, the new offices, to blend in with the surroundings. They stayed at the hotel for a while, just two of them. It was pre-fabricated and they erected it.

After a while the Department of the Environment took Cleeve Abbey over. The last 5 years he was there it was English Heritage and Monuments Commission. They still own it. It's not the same now. It breaks his heart sometimes to see it. It's gone back terribly. Repair work is more or less finished. That's what happens, things deteriorate he supposes. The other repair work, around the country, all ended about 15 years ago. More or less at the same time as he retired.

He drove to Cleeve Abbey. He had a small car. They have been at Watchet 22 years. He was still living at home when he started working at Cleeve Abbey. [Back to top]