Helen O’Neil, born Helen Evangeline Donovan in 1893, lived with her family at Camp House which straddled the western entrance to Salmonsbury Camp. During the Thirties Helen Donovan married Bryan O’Neil, a British archaeologist who became Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments. They had met on site.
After the 1932-34 excavations, Helen continued with occasional excavations around Bourton-on-the-Water. Things obviously were on hold in the run up to the Second World War and during it as you might expect. Helen O’Neill could however briefly occupy herself with being Honorary Curator of the new Corinium Museum in Cirencester. However, this was short-lived as the museum was closed/requisitioned during the war itself.
Gerald Dunning joined the meteorological service of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was stationed at stationed at Worthy Down nr. Winchester. He was still interested in Salmonsbury as shown by the correspondence with Derrik Riley late in 1943. Riley was a pioneer of aerial photography or archaeology.
In a letter from Derrick Riley to Gerald Dunning dated 18 Nov 1943, Riley is sending a negative strip and some details of time and height of flights. He hopes to do a better job of photographing after the War if he gets the chance. Riley must have been a flight instructor as he talks of trying to direct a pupil towards Bourton so that he gets a chance to try Salmonsbury again. In a later letter, Riley says he expects to be on ‘ops’ again soon and has an excellent posting lined up.
