Visited August 2006 and January 2007
Hidden in underground Wiltshire lies the remains of the largest underground ammo storage facilityin Britain.
Before the start of World War II the armed forces needed a large facility to safely stores arms and ammo.
The decision was made to utilise old mines in Wiltshire. Tunnel Quarry, Ridge Quarry, Eastleighs Quarry and Monkton Farleigh Quarry was converted in 1937 by the royal Engineers to give over 200 acres of space capable of holding 350,000 tons of ammo.
The depot was decommisioned in 1965 and eventually sold 1976 to various business's for secure storage. The meeting point was the Kings Arms pub in Monkton Farleigh from there we made our way to what would be our entrance into Monkton. Although the dept has been slowly stripped of anything on any valuable by scrap merchents, you can still appreciate the work that went on with what little evidence remains.
Long conveyour systems stretch right across the depot which would have carried all types of bombs and ammo 24 hours aday and would have been stack from floor to ceiling, imprints from the weight of the ammo can still be seen in the floor in some places. The ammo would have entered the mines via long sloping shafts from the surface where lorries or trains would deliver new supplies.
All around the depot the air conditioning system can be seen as huge metal flumes hang from the ceiling that would have delivered fresh air all around the site that was powered by huge fans in each district.
After 3 or 4 hours of walking it was time to head to the surface, get some fresh air and some food, then start the long journey home. There are more sites on the net that have good details on Monkton Farleigh.
Please note: 19 and 20 Districts of Monkton Farliegh CAD have now been bought by Wansdyke Security and all entrances have been sealed.
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