Weeley has two claims to fame in military history. During the Napoleonic Wars, between 1803 and 1815, it had a large barracks accommodating up to 3,000 men, initially from three Scottish Highland battalions. In the 2nd World War it was the base of a small secret squad, or "Auxiliary Unit", led by local squire Roger Weeley, and prominently featured in the first book published on the subject, by David Lampe, in 1966. (Eastern Command and many other army records in WO series at National Archives, Kew; J P Foynes "East Anglia versus the Tricolor 1793-1815; David Lampe "Secret Army" 1966).
