Lippitts Hill is a hill located in Epping Forest at High Beach, Waltham Abbey. 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 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. The United States'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 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, a pacifist organisation, would invite local prisoners of war from the camp to their homes on Christmas Day. 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, 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