Lippitts Hill is a hill located at

High Beach High Beach (or High Beech) is a village inside Epping Forest in south-west Essex, England. Part of Waltham Abbey, the village is within the Epping Forest District and the ward of Waltham Abbey High Beach, and lies approximately north-east of Cha ...

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. It has played several historic roles in the defence and policing of London. The hill was the site of a gun emplacement in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and used as an

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

site in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

's 184th anti-aircraft artillery installed their own guns in 1941, and added an underground control room and block houses to the site. A

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp was established at Lippitts Hill by the British after the camp was abandoned by the Americans in 1944. Relics from the Second World War at the camp include a memorial to the American forces that served there, and a concrete sculpture of a man, left by a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

prisoner of war, Rudi Webber. The local branch of the

Peace Pledge Union The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is a non-governmental organisation that promotes pacifism, based in the United Kingdom. Its members are signatories to the following pledge: "War is a crime against humanity. I renounce war, and am therefore determine ...

, a pacifist organisation, would invite local prisoners of war from the camp to their homes on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

. The hill was the location of the bodies in the Babes in the Wood murders in 1970.

Police use

The Lippitts Hill camp was used for civil defence purposes after the war and by the police. The Metropolitan Police Firearms Training Unit was based at Lippitts Hill, and it was the site of the Metropolitan Police's first firearms training course. A new centre (MPSTC) is now operation at Gravesend. Lippits Hill was home to the

Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit The Air Support Unit (ASU) was a Central Operations branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The main responsibility of the unit was to provide aerial reconnaissance and other air support operations. Helicopters are particularly useful in ...

, which subsequently became part of the

National Police Air Service The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a police aviation service that provides centralised air support to the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, as well as the three special police forces serving that area. It replaced the pr ...

, acting as a base for police helicopters operating in the London area. Helicopter operations were moved from Lippitts Hill to

North Weald Airfield North Weald Airfield is an operational general aviation aerodrome, in the civil parish of North Weald Bassett in Epping Forest, Essex, England. It was an important fighter station during the Battle of Britain, when it was known as the RAF Stati ...

around late 2019, but at the end of 2021, the National Police Air Service moved back to Lippitts Hill.

References

External links

Subterranean Britannica - A visit to Lippitts Hill
{{coord, 51.6545, N, 0.0177, E, display=title World War II prisoner of war camps in England Landforms of Essex Mountains and hills of England Epping Forest District category:History of the Metropolitan Police