World War two was the biggest conflict of the 20th century and it is no surprise that huge amounts of relics remain even now. These pictures show one such relic, in August 2003. This is very close to the small Welsh town of Llanberis, at the foot of mount Snowdon. It was one of many huge bomb stores, and the claim to fame for this one is that it collapsed, with hundreds of tons of bombs and a train inside! This and its very similar twin site Harpur Hill in Derbyshire were constructed in old quarries. The concrete two storey bomb stores were build in the old quarry, and then 25 feet of rock waste, in this case slate, were placed on top to hide and protect the structure. Someone got their sums wrong and the weight was too much and half this structure was crushed by the weight. Harpur Hill was checked, and was also cracking up. A lot of the overburden was removed and no further collapses happened. This store at Llanberis was cleared up and the bombs recovered. The remaining storage was bricked up at the ends and was used after the collapse. Now the site may be about to be developed, but for now remains as a testament to the huge amounts of effort put into war in the 20th century.

Looking 40 feet or so down into the quarry. The whole area in the foreground, about half of the total site, was the area of collapse.


From the remaining bomb store area, looking back towards the rail tunnels and fellow Subterranea Britannica members to give scale.


the remaining storage showing the two storey construction, with curved roof on top and supposting columns below.


Looking up to the remaining structure, and how flimsy it is when you consider 25 feet of rock is going to be dumped on top of it.


Standard gauge rail line ran right into the store, for supply and removal of bombs.


A view of one of the lower level store tunnels.


This was a narrow gauge rail tunnel to another part of the quarry system, now blocked off further along.