Did RAF Upper Heyford have a rail connection?

[Mark24]

Google earth shows what looks like a dismantled railway line between the old air base at Upper Heyford stretching to the outskirts of the village of Kirtlington, which is only a couple of fields away from the Cherwell Valley line.
I can’t find any record of this on the internet. Can anyone confirm it was once a railway?

 

[AlistairCL]

Google earth shows what looks like a dismantled railway line between the old air base at Upper Heyford stretching to the outskirts of the village of Kirtlington, which is only a couple of fields away from the Cherwell Valley line.
I can’t find any record of this on the internet. Can anyone confirm it was once a railway?

Could this be an ancient structure called Aves Ditch, Wattle Bank or Ash Bank?

See the one-inch OS map at the National Library of Scotland :

View map: Ordnance Survey, Sheet 145 - Banbury - B Edition - Ordnance Survey of Great Britain. One-inch to the mile, Seventh Se... - Ordnance Survey One-inch, Great Britain, Seventh Series, 1952-1961

maps.nls.uk

Google maps shows Aves Ditch as part of Gallos Brook, but the OS map shows it as a separate structure crossing Gallos Brook, at almost 90 degrees.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Concur with @AlistairCL that this is almost certainly the 'Aves Ditch' (a.k.a. the Ash Bank or Wattle Bank). Thought to be an Iron Age ditch / boundary dyke, and maybe some three miles long. Marks the civil parish boundary between Lower Heyford and nearby Middleton Stoney.

 

[Mark24]

Thanks for both replies. Yes, that looks like it’s Aves Ditch.

 

[30907]

Thanks for both replies. Yes, that looks like it’s Aves Ditch.

I learnt something new ton8ght! A rail connection to the airfield would have run directly from Lower Heyford, surely.

 

[Falcon1200]

Definitely no rail connection to Upper Heyford, but I believe the fuel sidings at Islip may have been installed to supply the airfield, by pipeline perhaps?

 

[High Dyke]

Just checked on the NLS Georeferenced map. Link here. It does seem to be Aves Ditch.