Site record MDR23060 - Site of 30 Yard Range and Target Wall, Northwest of Eaves Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith

Former site of 30 yard range and target wall, northwest of Eaves Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith, built by 1910. A 400 yard, then 800 yard rifle range had stood on the site since c1869 until 1898 (MDR21845). '…The Buxton Advertiser carried an announcement in their Saturday 23 April 1910 edition confirming a 30 yard safety range had been sanctioned by the War Office for construction at Chapel en le Frith. The article also confirms that the stone butts from the old range would be used in the construction. B company 6th Battalion Notts and Derby Regiment must have been keen to have the facility in use as the Minutes record that by 31 March 1910 a 30 yards safety range for use with full charge service ammunition was in the process of being erected and the armoury had already been provided. …Final adjustments had to be made to both Chapel ranges [this one and a contemporary underground range at a Drill Hall, MDR WHAT] in order to pass the War Office inspection in 1913. …A 30 yard safety range has a wall at the back of the constriction with a ricochet pit (trench) in front of it within which the target is seated. The wall was part of the safety element and was there to catch stray bullets and ricochets off the ground and the target which was placed in front of and below the wall, the riflemen aimed down the sloping platform. This catchment wall became known locally as the target wall. …The Capel en le Frith 30 yard rifle range was knocked down in stages with the last two sections of the 1910 construction wall demolished in 1991, the wall had already lost one section and the ricochet pit / trench filled in at some time in the late 1950s. The 1991 demolition of the remains of the two sections was widely reported locally but I have yet to find the dates for the demolition of the first section of the safety wall and the infilling of the trench. The field on which the 30 yards range stood was purchased by a construction company in the 1980s. The company had a few name changes but was known as Rowlinson Construction by 1991 when the company had the remainder of the wall removed citing concerns over safety… The Parish Council were offered stone from the wall and a small commemorative wall was built in the Memorial Park which carries a plaque recording the origin of the stone.' (1) The County Treasures Survey of 1987 took photographs of what remained of the wall at that time, and a note dated 23 October 1991 appended to that record states that the target wall had been demolished by that time. (2)