The Hut on Henwood Hill was constructed at the beginning of the Second World War to provide accommodation for the Dilwyn Home Guard. They would keep a nightly watch on a “two on, two off” basis through the night on two-hourly shifts from 9pm to 6am. The Hut, a wooden structure with a tin roof and brick chimney, was their base. Sited at the highest point above the village with commanding views, it offered a meagre shelter equipped with simple beds, a small fireplace for a smokeless coke fire and kettle and no lighting other than a lamp, similar to a Tilley lamp, for emergencies. The men would walk the hills above the village keeping watch for overhead planes walking as far as Bidney or Henwood Bank and back again. Each man usually worked one night a fortnight on watch duty. In addition, every Sunday, the men marched from the Crown Inn to the Sandpit at Dingle for shooting practice. After two years, the Army insisted that the firing ranges at Credenhill be used instead. Occasionally, to demonstrate the platoon’s fitness, the men would play football in the meadow adjacent to the orchard by the Dog Kennel, Dilwyn. The Parish Hall, a galvanized hut built around the time of the First World War on the site of the now Cedar Hall, was used as the drill hall. The uniform was the usual khaki, with an overcoat to keep out the cold. Each man carried a rifle with a fixed bayonet but no live ammunition. The hut is sited on privately farmed land between a maze of quiet lanes and public footpaths. Peter Manders took a path towards the village where he looked down on to see villagers at Fields Place Meadow preparing for the Dilwyn Village Show, to be held this Bank Holiday Monday.
