Maclaren Memorial Stone, Brendon Common

There is a tall grey granite memorial stone located on Brendon Common 500 metres to the east of the B3223 and 500 metres from the Somerset/Devon border on the Devon side (grid reference SS 767 438).  The inscription on the stone reads as follows:

In memory of Colonel R.H. Maclaren OBE

MC Commander CW Troops

Royal Engineer who was

killed on duty on this spot

May 20th 1941

This stone was erected

by his brother officers

Robert (Bobby) Hillhouse Maclaren was born in 1902.  In May 1941 he was in charge of a team of Royal Engineers who were testing a new rocket delivery system for gas warheads on Exmoor.  On 20th May he was observing a demonstration firing of five inch rockets on Brendon Common.  According to Brigadier Lloyd, who was also present at the demonstration, there was a fault with the launching equipment, which caused some of the rockets to be fired in the wrong direction. One of the rockets landed behind the onlookers and exploded. A sliver from the rocket's metal casing hit Colonel Maclaren and penetrated his chest.  He died shortly afterwards.  He is buried at Tidworth Military Cemetery in Wiltshire.

There is a path of sorts that starts to the south west of the memorial and heads towards it in a north easterly direction.  There are adders on Brendon Common and so stick to the path, unless you want to have my experience of only just avoiding stepping on a black adder on a pathless section just to the north of the memorial stone!

Colonel Maclaren's memorial stone, Brendon Common

Colonel Maclaren's Memorial Stone

Inscription on the memorial stone