WWII & Secret Toilet

Early intrusion of WWII was the appearance of evacuees from London in the village, but matters became deadly when the German invasion was planned, having a second landing devised for Lyme Bay.  

Literally hundreds of pillboxes and gun emplacements were erected in the area in readiness for that event. (One pillbox in particular can be seen just outside Axminster on the old Honiton Road). 

As part of a network of defence communications, a secret radio communications Auxiliary Unit Post was built on the parish boundary to the north, in the garden of a house, underground, beneath the outside toilet.   It was always manned.   In cases of capture, operators had their cyanide pills.  

With the RAF at Exeter, and Dunkeswell just ten miles away to the northwest, Membury could see and hear the war.   Enemy action was evident too with the raids on Honiton, Seaton, Chard, Axminster, and a bomb falling on the edge of the parish at Quarryfields, to the south, killing two.   Activity was especially evident in June 1944 with increased troop movements and more aircraft flying from new aerodromes; on the coast from Falmouth to Portsmouth, every port was busy preparing for the Normandy landings.  

The Red Lion in Membury became quiet and reflected on the fate of some of the erstwhile customers, many from other parts of the world.   There was an American unit in Axminster.   Membury itself lost five more to war.

Web site address:  www.thelocalchannel.co.uk/memburylocalhistorysociety