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This story has been contributed to the People's War by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Learning Centre, Gloucester, on behalf of Clare Smith with her permission.

I was 13 when war broke out and lived in what is now Mill Lane but was then known as Church Lane in Cranham, near Painswick.

There was a new factory being built adjacent to the ‘old’ Gloster Aircraft Company hangers and buildings in Brockworth. The clay being dug out was being brought up the Fiddler’s Elbow on the A46 in a con tinous convoy and dumped over the edge of the land at that point.

We children were interested in this project and in out free time went to watch the activity. The trucks backed up to the edge of the land, tipped up and the earth slid out. Gradually this made a wider area. We heard of trucks that backed just that bit too far and went over with their load to be buried in there forever.

Then it was noticed that cracks were appearing along the actual surface of the road and we heard the words ‘landslip’ and ‘landslide’ being used by adults. Slowly the side of the ground moved down and came up to the farmhouse below until it came up to the windows. The farmhouse dwellers moved out.

The roadway above was not deemed to be safe for traffic and our school bus came to Cranham Corner via Birdlip instead. Now here was a bonus in the form of the AA Battery’s HQ and the fact that the cookhouse was adjacent to the barricade of barbed wire between us. The Army cooks plied us with fried bread, jam sandwiches and, in winter, cocoa so thick the spoon stood up in it. We were never late for the bus.

When possible we walked down to Fiddlers Elbow to watch the activity and see how much further the deposited earth and clay had reached up and around the farm below. It was adventurous and kind of spooky — suppose the landslide suddenly broke away and cascaded down the hillside with all the trucks and men?

We did hear that the dumping had covered some springs of water that collected behind the dumping and caused it to become unstable. There were photographs in the local papers.

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