Molesworth common
Encyclopedia
Molesworth Common in Cambridgeshire
was chosen to have cruise missile
nuclear weapons in the 80s. It also had a peace camp
.
A number of peace camps were established at various locations around the airbase in the early 1980s as well as a large camp established on the site of the base itself. In 1984 members of Molesworth Peace Camp helped establish a Peace Camp at the neighbouring Alconbury Airbase. Molesworth airbase did not have a runway and cruise missiles were to be flown into RAF Alconbury
before being transferred by road to Molesworth.
A large camp called Rainbow Village was established on Molesworth Airbase in 1984. It was forcibly evicted in 1985 becoming the largest peace time undertaking for the Royal Engineers since WWII when they fenced the airbase after the evictions. Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine
famously arrived during the evictions via helicopter and wearing a flak jacket.
A small peace camp remained outside the airbase until after the cruise missiles were decommissioned. The Quakers maintained a presence at the peace camp for many years, finally leaving in 1989.
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
was chosen to have cruise missile
Cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
nuclear weapons in the 80s. It also had a peace camp
Peace camp
Peace camps are a form of physical protest camp that is focused on anti-war activity. They are set up outside military bases by members of the peace movement who oppose either the existence of the military bases themselves, the armaments held there, or the politics of those who control the bases...
.
A number of peace camps were established at various locations around the airbase in the early 1980s as well as a large camp established on the site of the base itself. In 1984 members of Molesworth Peace Camp helped establish a Peace Camp at the neighbouring Alconbury Airbase. Molesworth airbase did not have a runway and cruise missiles were to be flown into RAF Alconbury
RAF Alconbury
RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station in Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is adjacent to the Stukeleys [Great and Little] and located about northwest of Huntingdon; about north of London....
before being transferred by road to Molesworth.
A large camp called Rainbow Village was established on Molesworth Airbase in 1984. It was forcibly evicted in 1985 becoming the largest peace time undertaking for the Royal Engineers since WWII when they fenced the airbase after the evictions. Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine
Michael Heseltine
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC is a British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001 and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major...
famously arrived during the evictions via helicopter and wearing a flak jacket.
A small peace camp remained outside the airbase until after the cruise missiles were decommissioned. The Quakers maintained a presence at the peace camp for many years, finally leaving in 1989.