D-Day: The story of the ‘secret chart makers’ in Taunton

The role played in the 1944 D-day landings by the Hydrographic Office in Taunton cannot be overstated. Quite simply, without them, there would have been no D-day.

On this day of all days, of course we remember the impossibly brave veterans who fought and died for the liberation of France and for our freedoms on the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago.

But what went on behind the scenes, in hushed corridors and darkened rooms in buildings at Creechbarrow House in Taunton – and also at Endsleigh in Bath – is worthy of much more recognition than perhaps it received at the time.

Using information gathered through top-secret sea and beach surveys, draughtsmen and women in Taunton and Bath worked tirelessly to produce charts depended on by more than 160,000 Allied service personnel who crossed the English Channel that day.

The results of their remarkable endeavours is held in an impressive archive in Taunton. It is the single largest collection of hydrographic information anywhere in the world.

And everyday this remarkable historical treasure trove throws up new surprises as archivists embark on the mind-boggling task of creating a digital archive of 14.2 million items – charts, survey drawings, historical data and the like.

Dr Adrian Webb, author of Churchill’s Secret Chart Makers. (Image: Clinton Rogers)

Dr Andrew Leitch, head of archives, said: “It is truly astonishing what we have here. Our oldest chart, hand drawn on animal skin, dates back to 1620. And of course, right now there is huge interest in our D-day collection.”

Only recently they discovered ‘pre-production D-day charts’. 

These were among the first charts of Normandy prepared after the secret surveys of the beaches (itself an impossibly brave venture). On them are hand-written notes, annotations, by those in high command who wanted changes made.

I went to see them a few weeks ago and to hold them you could almost feel the history, the critical significance, the sense of what was to come.

I was fascinated by the scribbled note that read: “Herewith material for these charts for URGENT preparation…. Please note that A.H. (I) has given 25th April as the date by which these charts are required.”

Of course we know now the significance of April 25 – just a few weeks before D-Day. But who was A.H. (I)?

The secrecy which surrounded the work of the Hydrographic Office 80 years ago was immense.

Annotations on ‘pre-production D-day charts’. (Image: Clinton Rogers)

The previous head of archives at the Hydrographic Office, Dr Adrian Webb, is publishing a book entitled “Churchill’s Secret Chart Makers – The Road to D-Day and Beyond”, which is a truly comprehensive and fascinating account of what those men and women achieved.

He recalls a story that one chart maker was heard talking in a local pub about the work they were doing – and he was immediately shipped off to Iceland!

Adrian, who worked at the Hydrographic Office for 35 years, started researching this book in 2003.

“It’s been a labour of love,” he told me.

“But to meet these people, to hear their stories of what went on in those buildings in the build up to D-day is just priceless.”

Adrian’s book, which really brings to life the top-secret wartime work carried out in Taunton, should be available for general sale soon in Brendon Books in Taunton. He is also organising an exhibition, which will run in Taunton Library from August 12 to 24.

As Adrian says at the very front of his book: “This one monumental day in 1944 was the Department’s finest hour that pushed it to breaking point, but it was never found wanting.”