Mantog

Thanks for your efforts Steve. The hatch on that A24 is very similar apart from, as you say, lack of locking bolt. Was this type of cupola hatch used on other tanks? There was almost certainly only one tank in this location. I'm also fairly certain it wasn't a Churchill. My dad's clearest memory (bearing in mind he was only about 4 or 5 years old at the time lol) is of a really short stubby gun barrel. That area of the moors seems to have been used by the regular army, rather than home guard. There was quite a lot of Universal Carrier activity, track marks still evident when they burnt the heather off about 20 years later! Have also found remains of 2 inch mortars, spent .303 rounds etc. Amusingly, at end of war a soldier told him and his sister they could have the tank, so they headed off home to return with a very tired horse, with a view to pulling it off the moor. I guess at that point someone must've pointed out the futility of trying haha Just looked at pics again. The hatch in that photo looks fairly straight, whereas mine has a definite angle to it. Hmmm....

Thanks guys Does the armour thickness provide any clues? It seems fairly substantial!

Right folks, have returned from dad's with said piece of armour. I can't believe I carried this off the moor as a lad, it weighs a bloody ton! Interestingly, it's been hit by some sort of projectile at some point, hopefully you can see it in the pictures. There's a slight indent on one side and on other side the metal has bulged out and partially come away (dead centre). There also a more severe impact on the bottom edge Does this look like armour plate of a Matilda Mk1 ?

I had absolutely no idea people were recovering Matilda Mk1s in the UK as late as the 1980s!! Makes you wonder what else is out there! I have a piece of armour plate from this tank in the back of my dad's garage...will have to get a photo, maybe it will help with i.d. As an aside, we used to scour the surrounding area for interesting wartime relics. Found several spent mortar rounds, .303 cartridges...and even an unexploded 2 inch mortar bomb!

Hi Steve My dad described the tank as having a really short stubby barrel. I guessed it must be an obsolete model to be dumped on moor for training, and the Vickers Light Tank seemed a likely candidate. However, he recently spoke to a local old-timer who lived nearby and he said he thought it was a 'Matilda'. The Mk1 does have a very short stubby gun, was obsolete by end of 1940 and had rubber tyres which he also remebered the tank having

Long shot really, but wondered if anyone could shed some light on something for me. My dad recalls a tank 'dumped' on the North Yorks Moors (Google Maps 54.334368,-0.98701) during the war, to be used for training purposes. I think it got plastered by small arms and mortars on a regular basis! Post war, the remains of the tank were eventually taken away (or fell to bits/rotted away). There were still a few bits kicking around in the mid 80s and I brought home a chunk of armour plating. All rusted away now. We're trying to work out what it was, I originally thought it might be a Vickers Light Tank, but other info suggests it might be an early Matilda? Anyone know anything about it? A photo would be awesome!