Thanks to Geoffrey Fisher (1931 - 2023) for these memories: -
Maugersbury Manor was requisitioned by the British Army in about 1940. Many, probably 20 or so, Nissen huts were built around the perimeter of the land to the north of the Manor and some to the west of the Park road. Entry to the field was via a gateway opposite “the big beech tree” on the Park road. The huts were sited under the trees so that they could not be seen from the air. Senior officers were accommodated in the Manor and the troops in the Nissen huts. Only two large dining huts were sited in the open in the midst of the huts. The accommodation was firstly occupied by British troops, a division of the Royal Army Service Corps and the East Yorkshire Regiment. American soldiers occupied the premises in about 1943. The Park field to the west of the Park Road was used as a training ground for the troops.
When the East Yorkshire Regiment was stationed in Maugersbury they arrived by train at Stow Station during freezing rain. Geoff stood at the front door of Oxleaze House and watched the soldiers march in single file up the Park road carrying their rucksacks, rifles, etc. The conditions were so treacherous underfoot that single file was the safest way to march.
Geoff remembers standing at the top of Oxleaze Hill together with his Uncle John and Jack Bond (groom to Col and Mrs Lyon) and watching the last of the convoy of army vehicles coming up the hill. They had assembled in “Flat Oxleaze” field in the valley in order to get into the correct order to start their departure for D-Day. It took 2 or 3 days with 2 horses and a cart to clear all the rubbish left in the field, timber, jerry cans full of fuel, a canteen of cutlery, etc.!