Hankley Common
Encyclopedia
Hankley Common is a common near Elstead
, Surrey
, England
. It is an area of heathland with sandy infertile soil. The dry areas are covered in common heather (Calluna vulgaris) and bell heather (Erica cinerea
) with patches of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum
)
Hankley Common is a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI).
D-Day training sites were created in Britain in order to practice for Operation Overlord
, the invasion of Northern France by allied forces in 1944.
In 1943, in an area of the common known as the Lion's Mouth, Canadian troops constructed a replica of a section of the Atlantic Wall
. It is constructed from reinforced concrete
and was used as a major training aid to develop and practise techniques to breach the defences of the French coast prior to the D-Day landings.
The wall is about 100 m long, 3m high by 3.5m wide. It is divided into two sections between which there were originally huge steel gates. Nearby are other obstacles such as dragon's teeth
, huge reinforced concrete blocks and lengths of railway track set in concrete and wire entanglements. Much of the relics show clear signs of live weapons training and the main wall has two huge breaches caused by a variety of demolition devices including the Double Onion: a specialised demolition vehicle, one of Hobart's Funnies
, based on the Churchill tank
.
The reinforced concrete was made with thick rebar
s varying from 10 to 20 mm thick.
Over the years the wall has become colonised by alkaline-loving lichens, mosses, ferns and other plants because the concrete provides the lime-based substrate that these species require and which is found nowhere else in the locality. They present an unusual range of plants to be found in an expanse of acid heathland.
The preservation of the Wall is managed by Army Training Estates with the assistance of the MOD Hankley Conservation Group.
, and so the newspapers gave her the nickname of "Wigwam Girl". She was eventually identified as Joan Pearl Wolfe.
On 7 October 1942, two soldiers noticed an arm protruding from a shallow grave. On inspection, the badly decomposed body of a fully clothed woman was found. A pathologist concluded that the woman had been stabbed with a hooked-tipped knife, but that the cause of death was a heavy blunt instrument and that the attack had occurred elsewhere. A police search of the common turned up the dead woman's Identity Card and a letter to a Canadian soldier called August Sangret
who was of North American Indian ethnic origin. The letter informed Sangret that she was pregnant. When the police interviewed Sangret, he admitted having intimate relations with the girl and living with her in a tree wigwam. A heavy birch branch, with blood stains, was found near the grave and blood stains were found on Sangret's recently washed battledress. Later, a hooked-tip knife was found blocking a waste pipe.
Sangret was charged with Wolfe's murder, he was tried and convicted in February 1943. The jury who took two hours to reach their verdict made a strong recommendation to mercy. Before sentence of death was passed Sangret declared: "I am not guilty. I never killed that girl." Sanget's appeal was dismissed and he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 29 April 1943.
and in Blackadder Back and Forth. It was also used in the James Bond
film The World Is Not Enough
. Tenko
was filmed on the common.
In the fourth series of Ultimate Force
, the Drop Zone huts and surrounding area were used to shoot a Colombian forces training camp.
Elstead
Elstead is a village in Surrey, England, with shops and cottages mainly clustered around a central green, close to the River Wey. Neighbouring villages include Gatwick , Puttenham, Charleshill and Peper Harow...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is an area of heathland with sandy infertile soil. The dry areas are covered in common heather (Calluna vulgaris) and bell heather (Erica cinerea
Erica cinerea
Erica cinerea is a species of heather, native to western and central Europe. It is a low shrub growing to tall, with fine needle-like leaves long arranged in whorls of three...
) with patches of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum
Pteridium aquilinum
Pteridium aquilinum is a species of fern occurring in temperate and subtropical regions throughout much of the northern hemisphere....
)
Hankley Common is a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI).
Atlantic Wall reconstruction
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
, the invasion of Northern France by allied forces in 1944.
In 1943, in an area of the common known as the Lion's Mouth, Canadian troops constructed a replica of a section of the Atlantic Wall
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
. It is constructed from reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
and was used as a major training aid to develop and practise techniques to breach the defences of the French coast prior to the D-Day landings.
The wall is about 100 m long, 3m high by 3.5m wide. It is divided into two sections between which there were originally huge steel gates. Nearby are other obstacles such as dragon's teeth
Dragon's teeth (fortification)
Dragon's teeth are square-pyramidal fortifications of reinforced concrete first used during the Second World War to impede the movement of tanks and mechanised infantry...
, huge reinforced concrete blocks and lengths of railway track set in concrete and wire entanglements. Much of the relics show clear signs of live weapons training and the main wall has two huge breaches caused by a variety of demolition devices including the Double Onion: a specialised demolition vehicle, one of Hobart's Funnies
Hobart's Funnies
Hobart's Funnies were a number of unusually modified tanks operated during World War II by the United Kingdom's 79th Armoured Division or by specialists from the Royal Engineers. They were designed in light of problems that more standard tanks experienced during the Dieppe Raid, so that the new...
, based on the Churchill tank
Churchill tank
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV was a heavy British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war...
.
The reinforced concrete was made with thick rebar
Rebar
A rebar , also known as reinforcing steel, reinforcement steel, rerod, or a deformed bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression...
s varying from 10 to 20 mm thick.
Over the years the wall has become colonised by alkaline-loving lichens, mosses, ferns and other plants because the concrete provides the lime-based substrate that these species require and which is found nowhere else in the locality. They present an unusual range of plants to be found in an expanse of acid heathland.
The preservation of the Wall is managed by Army Training Estates with the assistance of the MOD Hankley Conservation Group.
The Wigwam Murder
In 1942, Hankley Common was the site of a murder. The victim was a woman who was living rough in a crude shelter made of tree branches in the manner of a wigwamWigwam
A wigwam or wickiup is a domed room dwelling used by certain Native American tribes. The term wickiup is generally used to label these kinds of dwellings in American Southwest and West. Wigwam is usually applied to these structures in the American Northeast...
, and so the newspapers gave her the nickname of "Wigwam Girl". She was eventually identified as Joan Pearl Wolfe.
On 7 October 1942, two soldiers noticed an arm protruding from a shallow grave. On inspection, the badly decomposed body of a fully clothed woman was found. A pathologist concluded that the woman had been stabbed with a hooked-tipped knife, but that the cause of death was a heavy blunt instrument and that the attack had occurred elsewhere. A police search of the common turned up the dead woman's Identity Card and a letter to a Canadian soldier called August Sangret
August Sangret
August Sangret was a French-Canadian soldier of First Nations birth, convicted of murdering Joan Wolfe in Surrey, England and hanged. This murder case is also known as the Wigwam Murder.-Joan Wolfe:...
who was of North American Indian ethnic origin. The letter informed Sangret that she was pregnant. When the police interviewed Sangret, he admitted having intimate relations with the girl and living with her in a tree wigwam. A heavy birch branch, with blood stains, was found near the grave and blood stains were found on Sangret's recently washed battledress. Later, a hooked-tip knife was found blocking a waste pipe.
Sangret was charged with Wolfe's murder, he was tried and convicted in February 1943. The jury who took two hours to reach their verdict made a strong recommendation to mercy. Before sentence of death was passed Sangret declared: "I am not guilty. I never killed that girl." Sanget's appeal was dismissed and he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 29 April 1943.
Film and television
Hankley Common has been uncommonly popular with fictional time travellers. It featured in Doctor Who and the SiluriansDoctor Who and the Silurians
Doctor Who and the Silurians is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from January 31 to March 14, 1970. The story is the first appearance of a recurring family of Earth-dwelling reptiles...
and in Blackadder Back and Forth. It was also used in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...
. Tenko
Tenko (TV series)
Tenko is a television drama, co-produced by the BBC and the ABC. A total of thirty episodes were produced between 1981 and 1984 for women, followed by a one-off special , Tenko Reunion, in 1985 - also for women in mind.The series dealt with the experiences of British, Australian and Dutch women...
was filmed on the common.
In the fourth series of Ultimate Force
Ultimate Force
Ultimate Force is a British television drama series that was shown on ITV, which deals with the activities of the fictional Red Troop of the SAS...
, the Drop Zone huts and surrounding area were used to shoot a Colombian forces training camp.
Further reading
- William Foot. The Battlefields That Nearly Were: Defended England, 1940. Stroud: Tempus Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-7524-3849-2.
External links
- Hankley and Elstead Commons (MOD)
- Hankley & Elstead Commons (Surrey Wildlife Trust)
- A Sea Wall in Surrey? - D-Day preparations on Hankley Common
- http://www.culture24.org.uk/spliced/pictures/art22136
- Hankley Common, Surrey
- Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons, SSSI notification