Summary

A Second World War QF P-series oil bombing decoy, known as East Halton, situated at East Marsh, Goxhill on the Lincolnshire shore of the River Humber, built 1941. Used to draw off (decoy) Luftwaffe bombing raids aimed at oil installations at North Killingholme Haven.

Source: Historic England

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
This Second World War decoy site includes a complete QF (P-series) oil bombing decoy display site, which comprises the structural remains of a circular oil ring, a pair of mirrored oil crescents, a small irregular shaped oil pool and connecting channels with balancing lines, concrete sumps, and other associated structures.

DESCRIPTION
The decoy site is situated on level ground and conforms to the basic standard layout for this type of display. It is visible as a series of low brick lined channels forming a ring approximately 20m in diameter, representing a standing oil tank, with an adjacent boiling oil fire, together with two brick-lined oil crescents, approximately 20m in length and 5m in width at their widest points, and a similarly constructed irregular-shaped oil pool, all three representing collapsed oil tanks. The oil rings are contained within enclosures with a narrow ditch and bank or bund that acted as firebreaks. A number of oil sumps for each pond are located within the enclosures linked to the pools by channels that contained the oil balancing pipes, and conduits for the electrical ignition cables.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled area is sub-rectangular in shape and measures a maximum of 145m north-east to south-west by 75m north-west to south-east. It includes the full extent of the decoy display and it is defined by field drains to the south-west and south-east, the curved boundary of the wood to the north-east, and the north-west boundary runs along a line drawn on a south-west-/-north-east alignment from a re-entrant angle at the northern end of the curved boundary of the wood to the south-west land drain. The monument includes a 2m buffer for its support and preservation.

EXCLUSIONS
Fences, fence posts and the farm track that runs north-east/south-west on the south-eastern side of the site are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. The land drains running parallel to north-eastern side of East Marsh Road and to the south-east of the farm track on the south-eastern side of the site are also excluded from the scheduling, as it is unlikely that any contemporary artefacts will remain, as they have been regularly re-cut and cleared to maintain the drainage of the adjacent farmland.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The site of the Second World War QF P-series oil bombing decoy, known as East Halton, at East Marsh, Goxhill is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: as one of eleven specialised QF (controlled fires) P-series (Petroleum Division) oil bombing decoy sites developed between 1940 and 1941 to deflect wartime bombing raids from extensive oil storage depots during the Second World War;
* Rarity: as a rare example of a near-complete QF P-series oil bombing decoy, one of only three of this type known to survive in England;
* Survival and diversity: a well-preserved, extant and fully legible bombing decoy of an unusual type, with all of its decoy display features surviving above and below ground;
* Documentation: the site is well-documented having been subject to research and aerial photographic survey;
* Potential: there is a high potential for further archaeological remains associated with the oil pools, connecting channels and other decoy display features. There is also potential for artefact remains.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Dobinson, C S, Fields of Deception: Britains Bombing Decoys of WWII, (2000), 146 - 150
Ramsey, W (Editor), The Blitz Then and Now Volume 1, (1987), 223 - 229
Other
AIR2/5179 - Report to war Cabinet COS Committee, 11th Oct 1941, The National Archive
AIR2/5180 - Letter from ACAS to Col. Turner, 16th May 1941, The National Archive
AIR20/7628 - Drawing of Oil QF display, The National Archive
Research Report Series no. 8-2014, Second World War Oil QF Bombing Decoy, Allhallows, Medwy, Kent, EH 2014
Twentieth Century Military Recording Project - World War Two Bombing Decoy Sites, Anderson, M, English Heritage 1999

Source: Historic England