VPope
Member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2012
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 13
So its been a year or so since my last post, thought id go for something a little closer to home. Having obtained permission from the land owner and tenant last year I decided to take the nice bank holiday weather on and march up to visit the post.
Bit of history, post was opened in October 1962, but rather unusually was not closed until 1991 I found out from my research that the post was transferred from the ROC to the RAF and refitted to add chemical and biological weapons detection to its detection ability. It is for this reason that i have been eager to get into the post.
Given its location in the middle of some rather inaccessible farmland its a 1k hike to get to it ( be warned the land tenant keeps bulls in the fields and the post is in direct sight of a farmhouse so its not so advisable to take a crack at with out asking first. The land is owned by the local council but both they and the tenant were quite happy to provide access for photography.
The post is quite good condition, all the surface features are intact aside from some cracked concrete on one side of the hatch. The last visit prior to me by a Subbrit member has the post welded shut as of 1999, since then the rust has gotten the better of the hatch and it now opens. However unlike any post I have seen there is a second steel place welded to the underside of the hatch on a hinge that moves in such a way as to block your access into the shaft when the hatch is opened. With out a few people to force the rust free and hold it open it was not possible to get inside. From the top i could clearly see that the post has flooded slightly its not easy to tell from the top but id estimate no more than one foot.
I have spoken with the council and they have given me permission in principal to take some kit up to the post and pump it out and touch up some of the damage to try and preserve it. There are not many posts that were retrofitted like this one and I'm fairly hopeful that inside will be quite interesting. Certainly worth my time to preserve for the future.
As soon as i have drained the post and gotten inside i will update the post with interior pictures. Now after that wall of text here are the pics. Sorry for the hippy outer focus I only had a wide angle lens at the time, Thats right! i actually took a camera for this one
You can see the steel plate I mentioned in the upper section of this photo.
All the images can be found here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83348198@N07/sets/72157634053267242/
/VPope
Bit of history, post was opened in October 1962, but rather unusually was not closed until 1991 I found out from my research that the post was transferred from the ROC to the RAF and refitted to add chemical and biological weapons detection to its detection ability. It is for this reason that i have been eager to get into the post.
Given its location in the middle of some rather inaccessible farmland its a 1k hike to get to it ( be warned the land tenant keeps bulls in the fields and the post is in direct sight of a farmhouse so its not so advisable to take a crack at with out asking first. The land is owned by the local council but both they and the tenant were quite happy to provide access for photography.
The post is quite good condition, all the surface features are intact aside from some cracked concrete on one side of the hatch. The last visit prior to me by a Subbrit member has the post welded shut as of 1999, since then the rust has gotten the better of the hatch and it now opens. However unlike any post I have seen there is a second steel place welded to the underside of the hatch on a hinge that moves in such a way as to block your access into the shaft when the hatch is opened. With out a few people to force the rust free and hold it open it was not possible to get inside. From the top i could clearly see that the post has flooded slightly its not easy to tell from the top but id estimate no more than one foot.
I have spoken with the council and they have given me permission in principal to take some kit up to the post and pump it out and touch up some of the damage to try and preserve it. There are not many posts that were retrofitted like this one and I'm fairly hopeful that inside will be quite interesting. Certainly worth my time to preserve for the future.
As soon as i have drained the post and gotten inside i will update the post with interior pictures. Now after that wall of text here are the pics. Sorry for the hippy outer focus I only had a wide angle lens at the time, Thats right! i actually took a camera for this one
You can see the steel plate I mentioned in the upper section of this photo.
All the images can be found here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83348198@N07/sets/72157634053267242/
/VPope
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