Monument record IPS 692 - Ipswich Auxiliary unit operational base, Gippeswyk Road, Ipswich.

Ipswich Auxiliary unit operational base (S1).

Little is known regarding the exact location of the Patrol’s OB.

The site is listed on the Defence of Britain database but no information is given. According to the B.R.O Museum in Parham the OB was situated near Ipswich railway station at the site of a sandpit, now built over. According to information published in The Evening Standard (17 Dec 1996 p 6), the OB was known to have been in the grounds of a large house at the junction of Gippeswyk Avenue and Gippeswyk Road. This information has been called into question, but this is the location currently mapped until further information is forth coming.

Patrol member Claude Riches said that their hideout was in a woodland about 700 metres north of Ipswich railway station. He recalled that it was constructed by the Royal Engineers. It was an elephant shelter which had two rooms, one being used for sleeping in. All ammunition was stored in the OB. The Patrol did not have an observation post. Because of the location being much favoured by dog walkers, accessing the OB was difficult at the best of times and it was hence not used very often. The whole area has since been built over, destroying the OB site in the process (S2).

The location is not known, but there is a sandpit and wood on contemporary OS maps 250m WSW of the railway station in the grounds of Howard House which could possibly be the location (S3).