Friday 9 September 2011

D-Day Relics at Lepe

Remains of a Beach Hardening Mat
While I was away on company business at Fawley near Southampton I was able to get over to Lepe Country Park. This stretch of Hampshire coastline faces the Isle of White across the Solent and was one of many D-Day embarkation sites across the south of England. I visited the site a few months ago but didn't get down on the beach to see the slipways and other relics because the weather was awful. Although it was cold and windy this time the lack of horizontal rain made taking decent pictures a more realistic prospect.

The remains at Lepe are very interesting because they represent a snapshot of a particular moment in history. The whole purpose of the remains found here was to enable the building and launching of caissons for the Mulberry Harbours and for the loading and embarkation of men, tanks and other vehicles into landing craft and supply ships. Shoreline structures like these can be found all along the south coast of England although these ones at Lepe are particularly well preserved.

7 comments:

  1. Thats interesting and its good to handle on the other end of D-Day here in the UK

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  2. Very nice to read an original D-Day post.

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  3. I was at Lepe this afternoon and it was very sunny. I got talking to a local couple and the woman told me she has lived in the area all her life and she remembers an army camp where the upper car par is now (the country park area) She said she recalls it being in use in the 50s when it was occupied by National Servicemen. I would be interested to learn more about this if anyone knows anything about it. John S

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