The History of Ruddington Depot
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Wartime Operations
Living in a danger zone
The residential accommodation on the site was built in haste to meet the immediate and urgent need to fight a war. The dwellings were stark, utilitarian buildings which seemed to outsiders squat, flat-roofed and ugly, but to those who lived in them they were spacious homes where they were happy to live. They were a long way from the village, but there was open country near at hand and it was a good place for children to grow up. Many of the houses in Ruddington at this time were by comparison over 100 years old, cramped, damp, and without bathrooms. Some even had a shared outside toilet. The flats and bungalows on the Depot site were good by these standards.
The Avenue was outside the high security fence, but very close to the magazines in which shells and bombs were stored even when the war ended. The magazines or bunkers, were well hidden behind blast banks and so were for the most of the time out of mind. The small community flourished and families lived out their everyday lives for 25 years apparently unconcerned by the close proximity of such hazardous material, and the ever present threat to their very existence. When in 1968 The Avenue was demolished, many of the residents moved with reluctance and regret into the new accommodation they were offered on the Barleylands Estate, which was being built on the site of Box 10
The Story > Chapter 4 > Section 4.04