"Secret" Underground Bunker

This site used to be a military base. In the 1950s a huge underground control block was built.

These photos were taken in early 2008. The underground bits have since been sealed and now has active security.

ROF Elstow – Bedfordshire

At the time, this explore seemed relatively boring – it was basically a lot of empty sheds and buildings. However, the site is historically significant, even more so now it’s been demolished. Wikipedia has this to say about ROF Elstow (amongst other things):

Robertsbridge Mill – East Sussex

During 2008 a friend and I visited this mill in Robertsbridge. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t get in. It closed in 1999 and was waiting to be redeveloped. I’m posting a few photos here in case you’re in the area and feel like checking it out…

Updated website

I have recently updated the software which runs the website.  As such, some posts may be temporarily missing.  They will return soon.  Thanks!

Bridge Valley Deep Shelter – Bristol

The Bridge Valley Deep Shelter is a World War 2 bomb shelter in Bristol – converted from an old railway tunnel. You can read more detailed information on the excellent Forlorn Britain website.

West Park Asylum – Surrey

West Park Asylum is in Surrey.

This asylum, along with several others (“The Epsom Cluster”), was built in the early 1900s on the outskirts of London. The asylum could hold about 2000 patients with a wide range of mental-health issues. The main part of the asylum closed in the 1990s and has slowly deteriorated over the last few years. Mother nature has reclaimed some parts, while vandals and arsonists have destroyed other parts.

Towards the end of 2009 news of its impending demolition meant the asylum became a tourist hotspot. Nearly every day hundreds of photos appeared on the forums and flickr. Your mum probably looked around before I did. I decided to go along and check it out for myself before it was too late… Baa.

Hales Hospital / Heckingham Institution – Norfolk

A workhouse has been at this site near Hales since the 1760s.

In 1927, the workhouse was closed and the building converted into an institution for “mental defectives”. After 1930, control passed to Norfolk County Council and the establishment was renamed Heckingham Institution. In 1948, it became part of the National Health Service as Hales Hospital which closed in around 1990. The buildings are currently empty and awaiting redevelopment. (Copied from Workhouses website – more info and external photos can be found there).

There are plans to convert it into residential homes, but these seem to be on hold.

Ditchingham Maltings – Suffolk

Various forums and websites mistakenly name this as “Wainford Maltings”, presumably because of a nearby roadsign. The real Wainford maltings is about a mile further down the road though. This one is Ditchingham maltings.

And sadly it’s one that’s always taken for granted. I’ve passed it many times and thought “I’ll have a look in there one day”. I even stopped once for a very quick look (October 2007) but didn’t have enough time to look round properly. One visit in May 2008 was depressing – the maltings were half demolished with guys picking away at it with huge machines. Uh. The picking didn’t last long – the recession put halt to any conversion plans. In August 2009, over half of the maltings still exist. Who knows what the future holds for them…

Farleigh Down Tunnel – Wiltshire

Deep within the Wiltshire countryside lies some old quarries. During the war, many were taken over by the army to store ammunition. Due to their nature, these quarries were extremely secretive and bomb-proof.

You can find out more about Monkton Farleigh here and other nearby quarries on the same site.

Farleigh Down Sidings was one of the main railway loading depots for the underground storage.

Fortalesa Isabel II – La Mola – Menorca

Whilst on holiday in Menorca, we visited “La Mola” – a huge fort on a small island defending the main port/city. It is now a tourist attraction, but I’m including it here as it may be of interest.

The Fortress of Isabel II was built between 1848 and 1875 after a lot of pressure by the British, who were threatening to return to the island in order to use it as a base in their defensive operations against the French. These two powers were disputing naval control of the Mediterranean.

Before the Fortress was even finished it became out-dated. In the 1860s there was an important evolution in artillery technology. Instead of the old-fashioned muzzle-loading cannons (front loaders), powerful breech loading cannons (rear loaders) were designed, which had rifle boring (a series of helical grooves in the interior of the barrel) which made the projectiles fire with more spin, improving their accuracy.

This meant that the island’s defence system had to be reconsidered. Instead of mounting all the cannon emplacements within the fortress, a second development phase was initiated (1896); a series of coastal batteries were set up away from the walled fortification. These batteries took care of the remote defence of Minorca’s coastline, with their powerful projectiles capable of detaining all types of enemy battleships.

More info can be found on the La Mola website.