In March 2017, a team from The Lickey Hills Local History Society, the Lickey Hills Society and the Birmingham Parks Ranger Service began a project to research and record the buildings around the Lickey Hills Visitor Centre dating from the First World War. The site was known as the Bilberry Hill Gun Proof Range. The project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund’s First World War: then and now Programme.
The Bilberry Hill Gun Proof Range was built towards the end of the WWI in the winter of 1917/18, under the direction of the Ministry of Munitions, to carry out the inspection testing of repaired 4.5″ howitzer field guns and 18-pounder carriages. The guns and carriages were returned from the battlefields in Europe and refurbished at the Austin Motor Company’s factory in nearby Longbridge.
The range consisted of two large proof butts and associated buildings – only some of which survive.
Leaflet The Boards Bdr. Roberts & images Research Summary Building Recording 2017/19 Schools Pack Aerial Images - coming soon