World War II Barrage Balloon Tethers - Wanstead Flats, London, UK - World War II Sites on Waymarking.com

Wanstead Flats was a busy place during World War II. It is probably best known as the location of an Italian Prisoner of War Camp. Troops camped and mustered here prior to setting out for the D-Day Landings. There was a hush-hush telecommunications centre of some sort. And barrage balloons flew over the Flats as part of London’s defences.

There is remarkably little to see today as evidence of all this activity. Although archaeologists have found signs of neolithic occupation of the Flats, the mysterious tracks, ditches and shallow banks that can be seen at various points are probably associated with the Prisoner of War camp and areas that were converted into wartime allotments, rather than with Stone Age farmers. There are a couple of flat concrete bases in the woods associated with lost communications buildings. An unremarkable wooden hut and another brick-built hut date from the wartime.

Most interesting though are the barrage balloon tethers. At N51 33.423 E000 01.567 there is an interpretation board next to a car parking area off of Centre Road. This board makes mention of the tethering hoops and is a good starting point for a visit. The coordinates for the Waypoint are for the south-easterly of four tethering points. They are arranged in a square, the sides of which are around 100 metres long. You should be able to see all four from any one of the tethers. I have not been able to establish from what I have read on the subject whether the four anchors were needed for a single balloon, or whether there are two pairs of anchors at this site. Balloons were shaped like a gherkin, with four tail fins and were raised to a height of up to 2,000 feet on cables attached to anchors such as the ones visible here. The intention was to both confuse enemy aircraft and to force them to fly at higher altitude. They were also used for parachute training.

The barrage balloon tethering posts are in an area of Wanstead Flats that attracts breeding Skylarks. If visiting this Waymark, please keep to the paths to minimise disturbance to this sensitive species.

Related Website: [Web Link] Supplementary Related Website: [Web Link] Admission Fee: 0.00 Opening Days/Times: Open public access at all times.

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Posting a picture(s) of the location would be nice although not required.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   02/24/2021 Master Mariner visited it