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Now for a test, to see if anyone out there is awake! I was born in Cambridge, and there are a couple of items where I want some input. One place and one incident. Firstly, the place. During WW2 there was some interesting activity in an old chalk working on the edge of town. This quarry is still there, in Limekiln Road, Cherryhinton. It is now a Caravan Club site, and is called West Pit. When I was a kid, it was derelict and I and many other local kids loved to explore it, and I saw the old military buildings and the far more interesting remains of two tunnels at the lowest point in the quarry. I know from eyewitness reports, from reliable sources, that there were rails leading into these tunnels, and trolleys were placed on them with metal plates. Projectiles were fired at these plates from field guns. This was either to test the plates, or the ammunition. Anyone know more? I know a bit more, but I don't want to prompt anyone too much! Email me if you want to add anything or compare notes!! David Farrant

Next, something a lot more interesting, but I am not going to make this at all obvious. If you know anything, then you will know what I am on about, but if not it will just seem like a mystery. This is another WW2 incident and happened in the centre of Cambridge in April 1941. This has been mentioned in a few publications, but it has without exception been wrongly attributed and misrepresented. I know a great deal about this one, and I am just fishing to check details. If you know something useful I can tell you an amazing story about this. Look at the picture, do you know this man, and what he was, and what he was up to? What precisely happened to him?
David Farrant






For decades, since the 1950's, the British Government has continually denied the existence of an underground emergency headquarters for the government and associated functions during time of war, at Corsham in Wiltshire. Variously named BURLINGTON, TURNSTILE, SUBTERFUGE and probably others. This huge complex of mines included various ammunition stores and arms factories from WW2 and has been used for other functions, parts being frequently explored by various civilians over the years. Rumours about what had happened to the government hideaway have been rife for years. Now it is not only admitted, but for sale!
25th November 1998, on BBC Radio 4, there was a program about British Chemical weapons and the fact that huge amounts of them were simply dumped and will come back to haunt us. The program mentioned Risely (Melchbourne, Coppice Wood) near Bedford and the famous dumping ground of Beauforts Dyke between Northern Ireland and South West Scotland. There are many other places with potential problems not mentioned! Bomb disposal operatives were quoted as saying that even now, after at least two "clearances" of Riseley there are still large amounts of metal objects to be removed and certified safe. One man said that because the records of these places were in most cases deliberately destroyed, he and his colleagues never knew what they would come across. It was common to find chemical bombs up to 500lbs still armed and fused. A nice way to make a living! When a gas pipeline was laid across the enormous dumping ground off the North West coast of England, at, and sometimes around, Beauforts Dyke, in 1995, over 4000 phosporous incendiary bombs washed up on beaches in the area. Fishermen caught them and boats and even road vehicles were damaged. Now they want to put two electricity cables through the area! This area contains not only mustard agent, phosgene and more ordinary explosive devices, but many thousands of tons of WW2 German nerve agent. I would rather not think about what will happen if there is a big explosion there. There has already been an explosion measured at 2 on the richter scale after the 1995 disturbance.
Interestingly there was mention that there were other sites with problems but no names were given. You can read about one in the Nuclear and Chemical Weapon section of this site. I was born literaly within the shadow of another, Lords Bridge near Cambridge. This one was a FFD like Melchbourne, but it had a slightly more lively history after WW2. In 1955, it had three huge underground tanks, 25feet deep and 25feet in diameter. They contained many tons of mustard agent in benzene solvent. A nice recipe! Benzene is highly flammable and a worker using an acetylene torch managed to cause an explosion. A huge cloud of black smoke drifted off towards Cambridge and a certain amount of panic set in. The bravery of one man who donned his protective gear and put foam on the fire for some time at no little risk to himself was the only bright spot in this whole event.. RAF fireman Corporal John Saunders was awarded the George Medal for his courage that day and the site commander, Flight Lieutenant Edward Campbell was awarded the MBE. The local population was awarded a huge toxic cloud!
Perhaps another type of item might be of interest. While looking up some information I came upon this rather lively bit of history. Where was the loudest place in Britain? On the 27th November 1944 it was without doubt RAF Fauld (21 MU) near the village of Hanbury in Staffordshire, England. Here in an underground store, which used to be a gypsum mine, there was an estimated 18,000 tons of high explosive bombs in store. This wartime bomb depot was one of several around the country which acted as supply stores for the many RAF airfields. At about ten past eleven in the morning on this day there was a huge explosion here. Between 3,500 and 4,000 tons of the bombs exploded. The cause is unknown but various theories have been put forward from sabotage to someone using a brass punch on a bomb fuse. The village of Hanbury was almost completely destroyed, a farm along with a number of cattle, wagons, horses and six farm workers vanished. In total more than seventy people, workers in the bomb store, villagers, farm workers and passers by died in the explosion. A hole 300 feet deep and a quarter of a mile across was left in the ground. Yet this was lucky in a way. Had the entire 18,000 tons of munitions exploded, then the effect would have been very much of the order of the Hiroshima bomb. Today the site is still Ministry property and remains closed to the public due to the unexploded bombs still present in the tunnels. This was such an impressive bang that the Germans tried to claim it was one of their V weapons!


Overhead photo of the Fauld crater




September 2000. Sad news this month, on the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. One of the few surviving radar masts from that era is no more. On 21st September the single remaining mast at Bawdsey was demolished. This grade II listed structure was found to be severely corroded during a routine inspection and was declared unsafe to climb. This site was the original home of radar, as it was developed here and at Orford Ness. This mast was therefore of some historic interest. The structure was owned by HM Coast Guards who purchased the site from the MOD in 1993 to enhance their radio coverage in the area. Their antennae on the mast required regular maintenance, hence the need for it to be regularly climbed. The old mast will be replaced by a modern 60metre mast. *See Cold war relics page for picture of mast!*