No current operator or landowner permission for a public visit was established in this review. The linked designation is historical evidence, not an access invitation. Do not enter the site, open hatches or cross private land on the strength of this map.
Read the source used for this access review ↗ · checked 2026-09-13
Stay within authorised areas. Do not enter unstaffed tunnels, shafts, railway land or restricted property.
How to explore responsiblyReviewed 2026-09-13 · review due 2026-10-13. Desk research from the full official designation and the cited historical context. No site visit or direct operator contact.
The recorded history
Heslington Tillmire was established after the April 1942 raid on York. Historic England records a temporary Starfish decoy, operational from 15 May, using forty fire baskets. Seven firebreak enclosures are described in the monument. Crucially, the source reports test ignition but no known operational lighting. The decoy’s intended purpose therefore must not become a claim that it demonstrably diverted a particular raid or saved a known number of lives.
- Historic England — World War II bombing decoy 500m east of Bland's Plantation ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
How to understand the remains
The landscape is the principal evidence here: earthworks and buried traces rather than a surviving display of machinery. The control building is recorded as demolished and excluded from the monument. Read the plan as a set of separated working areas, not as one bunker represented by the map pin. A record of wet ground helping determine the site’s wartime location also explains why present-day ground conditions need separate consideration. We have not established permission to wander across the enclosures.
- Historic England — World War II bombing decoy 500m east of Bland's Plantation ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
What remains uncertain
Descriptions of survival refer to the source record, not a September 2026 inspection. Current fabric, ownership and authorised visitor arrangements require further checking.
Sources used for the access review
- Historic England — World War II bombing decoy 500m east of Bland's Plantation ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-13
What the official index records
Historic England / Planning Data records this location as World War II bombing decoy 500m east of Bland's Plantation. Our atlas groups it under wwii defences using that source wording.
Record details
- Category
- WWII defences
- Source classification
- World War II bombing decoy 500m east of Bland's Plantation
- Period / construction dates
- Temporary Starfish decoy, 1942
- Current condition
- Not verified
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Designation date
- 2002-03-07
- Nearest reference town
- York (approximate)
- County / historic source county
- Not supplied
- County or local authority (ONS)
- York
- Nation
- England
- Source record ID
- 1020404
- Coordinates
- 53.91975, -1.032084 (reference point, not an entrance)
- Index checked
- 2026-09-13
- Source last updated
- 2026-08-28
- Published access reviewed
- 2026-09-13
Index verification means the record and supplied attributes were checked against the official downloaded index on 2026-09-13. It does not mean a site visit or confirmation of current access. Points may refer to a whole complex, a surviving component or a recorded location.