Historic Munitions Found in Rural Oxfordshire
A series of controlled explosions were carried out on unexploded items found at Exlade Street in rural Oxfordshire. There are reports that the items may have been WWII munitions associated with a nearby Maintenance Unit (MU) depot at Woodcote.
No. 70 MU Woodcote (Goring) was established during WWII as a Ground Equipment Depot (GED), the responsibility of which was to store non-airborne technical equipment, such as cordage, dopes, spares and tools. Most GEDs consisted of up to 40 sheds dispersed in woodland. The Woodcote depot remained in use post-WWII, up until 1959. Given the recorded use of the depot, it is considered unlikely that the items found at Exlade Street directly relate to it. Rather, they may have derived from local Home Guard training/disposal operations.
