This article was written by Richard Ayres and first appeared on the Amersham Society website.
Recently there have been programmes on radio and TV concerning the relics of the last war which are still to be found hidden away in many parts of the countryside. Many of them are only just starting to be regarded as valuable parts of our heritage, worthy of conservation.
I know of two such relics around old Amersham, of which newcomers to the town may not be aware.
The first is a concrete machine gun emplacement, located just off the path leading from the bottom of Station Road along Ruccles Field towards the Church. [Editor’s note: this was actually the site for a spigot mortar, not a machine gun.] Part of the path has recently been laid with tarmac to provide easier access to Tesco, but fortunately the emplacement was not disturbed. When I last visited it in the summer it was very difficult to find due to the vegetation, but it is usually easy to see in the winter.
The second are the remains of trenches dug by Amersham Home Guard (Brazil’s company) in 1940). The are in Rectory Wood, and are to be found if a right turn is taken after entering the wood from the footpath across Tenter Field. With the passage of time they are now only shallow depressions filled with leaves. They would have commanded a field of fire over the Misbourne Valley. My father, a member of the Home Guard, assisted in the digging.