Royal Navy Cordite Factory Holton Heath March 2009

So me and Dazaf decided to return to the old RNCF on Holton Heath this time armed with cameras but again forgot insect repellent.
The sky was cloudy and overcast so excuse the not so good photos, my camera is not so good either.
The site itself is mainly overgrown be prepared to get attacked by thorns and brambles. Also the ground is very uneven with deep trenches all over the place. many are concealing hidden tunnels inside but unfortunately most have now caved in or have been blocked off.
There is also a lot of old pipework and conduit sticking out of the ground which meant lots of tripping over as the sun went down.
Anyway here are some photos, will go again soon with a better camera.

ceiling detail in first building





















Inside the resevior. this place is really dark and it stinks in there.

The resevior is HUGE inside!










Thanks for looking.

Looks good BC.
Cant wait to get down there!

Nice One!

Nice one mate top job! Your pics came out so much better than mine, well done!

Il have to borrow the girlfriend's camera next time be a little better than my shite Argos jobby!

Oh dont forget to mention the tick's, nasty lttle bastards... nothing that a 1000 degree bath wont sort out though!

Excellent pics, like the glazed tunnel, and that pillbox variant? would look really nice in my back garden, well done.

Nice. Where is it btw?
Think that's actually a firewatcher's post rather than a pillbox, but it's hard to tell sometimes.

Holton Heath industrial estate, Dorset.

Looks like an interesting place to explore. Love that firewatchers post / pillbox. Nice one.

Aha! Cheers mate- I'm heading down there on holiday this year anyway.

I am very suprised the float remains on that extremely large ball cock, as it sure looks like copper to me?



If any scum are looking, i bet thats got your hearts beating to the sound of the scrappys till :icon_evil

Here are a few more pictures of other buildings found at the site of the RNCF taken on an earlyer visit.
























Not to sure what these are but there seems to be alot of them lying around the site, maybe some type of mould?






Old aerial photo's of the site courtesy of BC





Taken from "Wartime Dorset"

Sunday 31 March 1940 - Paper made into shells at Holton Heath, Paper is being consumed in great quantities by the Royal Naval Cordite Factory Holton Heath and made into Nitro-cellulose. This guncotton pulp is mixed with nitro-glycerine; the basis of cordite SC which is the propellant for the Navy's shells.

The factory has used 4,279,141 pounds of paper in the past year, That is 1,910 tons.

Well worth another visit i think as it is a fair size site and you dont notice alot of this until you are right ontop of it, only problem is the Bambles and bugs!

Dazaf

NICE ONE Mr BC !!
Thats another one on the high priority list and its close to a railway stn !!!!
COOL !! (non car driving peasent)

Why did I have to go back to work!?
Such a waste!
Cant wait, will be good, nice one again. cheers.

Oh, excellent site, guys. Some great, quirky structures there...especially the pillbox/watch post with its funky turret roof.
Good stuff!

I forgot to post up the pics of the old antiques warehouse which is on the edge of the factory site.
As soon as i can find where my daughter hid my camera i will post them.

Awesome explore guys. There is so much to see I wouldn't know where to start. Great work

jonney said:

Awesome explore guys. There is so much to see I wouldn't know where to start. Great work

Click to expand...

It is definitely a few trips worth due to the size of the place and it is so overgrown to makes it hard to get about.

Half the stuff you dont know is there until you are right on top of it!

Been meaning to get here for a year or so, looks even better than I was expecting! Quality. Well done lads.

Oh, and did you check the building on the main road behind the massive gates? Looked interesting...

DigitalNoise said:

Been meaning to get here for a year or so, looks even better than I was expecting! Quality. Well done lads.

Oh, and did you check the building on the main road behind the massive gates? Looked interesting...

Click to expand...

What this one??

Also in the grounds of Royal Navy Cordite Factory, not connected though!

















Sorry about the crap quality of pics', think bonecollector has some better ones so watch this space!

Sorry daz.
As soon as i find my bloody camera cable i will post the pics.

Ooh this looks great. I love old military sites. Love that pointy roofed pillbox, or control pillbox, very unusual. Looks like there's lots of buildings to go searching around.

Excellent pics, I do like this.

Cheers,

Sal