Ingbirchworth Decoy Bunker

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RichCooper

RichCooper

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The ankle deep bunker for Leeds at Ingbirchworth with built in sheep dip :)


E09847 (1) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (3) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (6) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (10) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (12) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (15) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (17) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (18) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (19) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (22) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (23) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (24) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (27) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (29) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr


E09847 (31) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr
 
oldscrote said:
.What's the round thingy in picture five?
Click to expand...

It's a large diameter, right angle bend, clay sewer pipe section. Counting bricks and depending on how one describes sewer pipes (i.e. OD or ID), this example appears to be around 15 inch ID. Much earlier photographs of this place seem to indicate that the iron support was fitted after the outside of the bend developed a crack. This causes somewhat of a problem as all these photographs can be dated to post WW2 - no iron work, but cracks visible 1946ish, iron work present in 1950 and because I have heard two conflicting stories about what this 'flue' was for, I wonder if this is an original fitting or a post war adaption. I am not very familiar with the other decoy sites - seen many contemporary photographs but not actually examined other generator houses/rooms and from photographs I have seen the exhaust exit arrangements were from memory, very different. Nobody in their right mind would construct a flue arrangement that would direct rain water down into the exhaust system of expensive IC generator sets or into the room that housed them. However, did this place have a large diameter chimney made from these pipe sections that just removed the fumes from the generators by updraft? If the generators were small coventry Climax powered sets I suppose this might have been adequate.

Perhaps those of you that have examined the other sites can put me straight on this? It is something that has niggled me since I first came across this place many years ago, at a time when many local people had no idea what it was.

edit

Just found a good interior shot of this generator room on the Airfield Archaeology site. This shows the room having the usual properly bricked square opening that usually held the metal plate that the exhausts exited through.
 
Last edited:
Dirus_Strictus said:
It's a large diameter, right angle bend, clay sewer pipe section. Counting bricks and depending on how one describes sewer pipes (i.e. OD or ID), this example appears to be around 15 inch ID. Much earlier photographs of this place seem to indicate that the iron support was fitted after the outside of the bend developed a crack. This causes somewhat of a problem as all these photographs can be dated to post WW2 - no iron work, but cracks visible 1946ish, iron work present in 1950 and because I have heard two conflicting stories about what this 'flue' was for, I wonder if this is an original fitting or a post war adaption. I am not very familiar with the other decoy sites - seen many contemporary photographs but not actually examined other generator houses/rooms and from photographs I have seen the exhaust exit arrangements were from memory, very different. Nobody in their right mind would construct a flue arrangement that would direct rain water down into the exhaust system of expensive IC generator sets or into the room that housed them. However, did this place have a large diameter chimney made from these pipe sections that just removed the fumes from the generators by updraft? If the generators were small coventry Climax powered sets I suppose this might have been adequate.

Perhaps those of you that have examined the other sites can put me straight on this? It is something that has niggled me since I first came across this place many years ago, at a time when many local people had no idea what it was.

edit

Just found a good interior shot of this generator room on the Airfield Archaeology site. This shows the room having the usual properly bricked square opening that usually held the metal plate that the exhausts exited through.
Click to expand...

There's another similar at Formby although the pipe is gone


E09842 (3) by Rich Cooper2012, on Flickr
 
Nice report Rich - site looks in good condition (apart from at ground level :) )
 
RichCooper said:
There's another similar at Formby although the pipe is gone
Click to expand...

Thanks for that photo. I have managed to check my old original B/W photographic source and clearly the 1946 date is not correct as rest of set are dated 1942/43. Your Formby photograph indicates that ironwork is clearly embedded in the concrete of the cast roof - a very secure method of attachment. The Ingbirchworth ironwork is held by nuts threaded onto two lengths of metal studding - either cast into the roof or cemented into drilled holes. A person who knows much more about these particular ones has suggested that perhaps ironwork on Ingbirchworth was an afterthought - after weakness discovered, and other decoys built later in the project had the iron support cast into the roof. Again many thanks for your help in showing me that these pipes are wartime originals.
 
Thanks for sharing, I grew up near to a former WW2 airbase and there were places like this, air raid shelters and the like for miles surrounding the actual airbase. That was in the 70's and 80's and they are nearly all gone around there now. So it's nice to still see surviving examples.
 
I ride my bike past there most weekends, and have never given it a 2nd glance, I just thought it was either agricultural or some thing to do with mining, I shall stop and have a look around when I next pass.
 
simon r said:
I ride my bike past there most weekends, and have never given it a 2nd glance, I just thought it was either agricultural or some thing to do with mining, I shall stop and have a look around when I next pass.
Click to expand...

Dont forget your wellies :)
 

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