Category Archives: military

Way out West

Stories of cranes, trains and model planes…

The Wiltshire location that never stops giving. We were supposed to be going draining when a last minute phone call provided a much better distraction. The first shall be last to see this one, judging by subsequent events.

First Contact

30 May ’11

Behind the Red Door was a whole new world of giant fans, strip lights and electric buggies. As one door closed another opened and a further eight visits was to reveal all; slowly and deliciously we gorged on the “sublime … Continue reading →

Preposterous Underworld

8 Dec ’10

Sub Depot 3 Monkton Farleigh was the largest of the WW2 Central Ammunition Depots of Wiltshire. Districts 19 and 20 remain unconverted to modern storage, and plenty of artefacts have survived the years of vandalism and metal theft. Titular source

Kit Hill Killer

12 Nov ’10

The Excelsior Tunnel began life as a drainage and prospect adit to serve Kit Hill Mine. Later, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment used the tunnel as part of Operation Orpheus, a project to investigate the possibility of camouflaging the seismic signature from nuclear test … Continue reading →

Pupae

8 Oct ’10

The giant insect slipped back into it’s brick-lined bore and slumbered…

MOD Stores

3 Oct ’10

At one time, this street in a Secret Underground City somewhere out west, would have been full of Mods, buying the latest in fish-tailed khaki fashions. Sadly shut since 1994.

Beyond Crane Country

29 Sep ’10

We’re hanging out with Shacklepot Neddy, undisturbed for over 50 years.

back when the world was scared…

1 Sep ’10

Detail from a Civil Defence bunker – objects as found, probably now removed.

Ceci n’est pas une MOD quarry

24 Aug ’10

Former stone mine, part converted to ammunition storage and abandoned sometime in the 1950′s.

Reds under the [sea]beds

18 Jul ’10

The Soviet Sub, visited one cold winter’s night, and the first outing for “Jeremy” the most trustworthy of my inflatable boat collection. Clambering over an ice-encrusted hull in the dark while being assaulted by pigeons was one of the year’s most memorable explores. We … Continue reading →

The Radon Railway

15 Jul ’10

An underground narrow-gauge railway guarded by a giant bat.