Chemical weapons had their origins many years before WW2 and the cold war. They remained as effective throughout both and even improved with the invention of new chemicals and delivery systems. The Western Nations began to destroy their chemical stocks during the Cold war and by now the UK and USA have destroyed their stocks. From the late 1960’s the UK and USA destroyed their biological weapons although the Soviet Union (later Russia) continued to produce ever bigger and better ones, despite their treaty obligations. A few smaller countries are using the low cost and low technology requirements of these weapons to make their own chemical (and biological) arsenal. This site deals with history in this area and history is what lethal chemical weapons are in the UK. Some might argue about whether tear gas or smoke generators qualify as chemical weapons, but the lethal intent is missing with those.
In a similar way the trend in nuclear weapons seems to be away from size and quantity to fewer more precise weapons in the major nuclear states. Again numerous developing countries strive for the perceived power that goes with nuclear weapons ownership. This page demonstrates one small area near where I live that has been involved in both chemical and nuclear weapons and is now retired from both, but there are tangible remains to remind us of the past. There are more Nuclear weapons sites on the Cold War relics page!
Barnham top site and bottom sites.
First, the chemical weapon site.
It should be noted that this was one of two reported to be at this location, the other being closed and used as the site for the nuclear weapon store above. It may be that this was merely a storage site, but more information is required to confirm this. There was also a large conventional bomb store on that site as well. The following refers to the Little Heath site used in WW2 by US forces as it survives now.

Click here for more about the Little Heath No. 1 Forward Filling Depot



Barnham (top site) Nuclear store.
The more interesting of the two Barnham sites, as it is almost like the day it was sold, back in 1966, is the Nuclear bomb store and refurbishment area. It is a real treat for anyone interested in this type of thing.The first generation of British bombs were, like the other nations efforts, big and crude by modern standards. They came as a bomb assembly, with everything except the fissile components installed. The preparations for use included fitting the high power batteries and the fissile "cartridge" to the assembly. The plutonium core (Blue Danube was an implosion device, unlike the simpler but less safe gun type.) was kept separate from the bomb which meant that the accidental detonation of the explosive content of a bomb would only result in limited destruction as the nuclear components could not be involved. The first British Nuclear weapons were free fall bombs, produced to Air Ministry operational requirement OR.1001, original issue date August 1946. These bombs, known as Blue Danube, were kept in special stores (called clutches) on certain airfields ready for use. There were spare weapons in two stores at Barnham and Faldingworth.*See below for Faldingworth info* Maintenance was also done at these sites. This situation was short lived as progress was swift on improved weapons and these sites, opened from 1953 were closed and disposed of by 1966. They are a demonstration of how war was changed by nuclear weapons and how it took some time to adjust to this new situation. These open above ground stores were very vulnerable and soon became obsolete. It is also interesting to note that despite the elaborate plans to store more than 50 bombs here and many more on airfields, only 57 operational Blue Danube bombs were made. Therefore not all of the bomb storage could ever have been filled with these weapons. Britain never had missile silos like some other countries, but went on to submarine launched weapons.
At the time Blue Danube was deployed, Britain was developing nuclear weapons entirely alone. At least that was the official line, there was a "back door" communication link via The Nomination Committee, an MI6-CIA organisation set up with Pentagon approval to bypass the American Atomic Energy Act. This was, of course, highly secret! Barnham was built in 1955, the land being obtained in September 1954 and construction beginning in the following year. Work was almost complete as shown by air photographs taken in August 1955, and continuing into 1956 . This was a very busy time in the atom bomb saga. The first British plutonium reactor went critical in October 1950. The first production plant opened in February 1952. 35 days later the first metal was produced. The first test device (Hurricane) was exploded on 3rd October 1952. Due to the slow rate of production, some Canadian plutonium was added to the British product for this. There was a desperate haste to develop all forms of atomic weapon before testing was banned, as it was being talked about even then.
Blue Danube was supposed to have been made during the course of its life in a number of variants of up to 40Kt. The standard production item was actually a 16Kt device. The bomb case itself was huge, at 24 feet long. The bomb was a weaponised version of the test bomb shown below, a 5 ft diameter sphere. It was eventually replaced by a smaller lighter device, codenamed Red Beard. Red Beard was produced in response to a joint Admiralty / Air ministry requirement AW.330/OR.1127 issued November 1953. It used an all plutonium warhead, using a smaller and more advanced implosion system than Blue Danube, using "air lenses". It weighed 2000lbs and was 154 inches long and 28inches in diameter. Red Beard, as issued, was a 15Kt device, of which 171 were eventually made for both RAF and Royal Navy use. Blue Danube was not made after 1958, and Red Beard came into production from 1959 and operational deployment in 1961. These were the weapons originally in service at the time the major weapon stores and airfield sites were built. From 1958 Project E weapons (US owned and controlled, for Nato allied use during war) were stored here and in other European countries. The H bomb was developed and tested during the late 1950's too, but this site shows the program to actually get a weapon working and operational which was necessary for any deterrent to be credible. Later research seems to indicate that the first use of Barnham and presumably Faldingworth was as a decoy. Faldingworth was later to be the first home for the Nuclear Weapons Movements Convoy Group until they moved to Wittering in 1972. There are some features at Barnham which can be dated and seem to suggest that there was almost nothing going on here from its construction in 1955 to the late 1950's. For example the watch towers were not put up until 1959, the same year that a new type of workshop was added. The same year Red Beard was coming into production too. The Red Beard weapon may have been stored here and possibly later weapons at least for a short while, but this is not confirmed. Later arrangement were entirely on the sites from which the bombs would have been deployed and were simpler as the later weapons needed less constant maintenance. The very first bombs used a type of initiator which contained Polonium. This element has a short half life and needs replacing frequently. Later weapons use a different system involving an electronic neutron generator. Once American weapons were stationed here, as in Thor and US bombs stored both on their own bases and in association with the RAF, their storage systems were used and their US / Air Ministry Igloo buildings were constructed. Later RAF stores were also concrete box types with earth mounding. The very last type was an underground vault weapon storage, a kind of lift that retracted into the floor, in HAS buildings along with the plane which will deliver the warhead. (Now redundant here due to the treaty provisions which have led to the only nuclear weapons in service in Britain being submarine based Trident missiles.) From the many bases which once held the RAF nuclear weapons in the early years the number reduced down to half a dozen by the late 1970's when WE177 was the current weapon. Two were in Germany at Laarbruch and Bruggen. The facilities there were similar to those at any UK SSA, but the security was especially tight due to the proximity to the potential adversary. In the UK Scampton, Waddington, Marham and Honington were the other active RAF nuclear bases. (Up to 1990 the Royal Navy also had air dropped nuclear capability, as opposed to their current missiles) With the retirement of the last V bombers, the Vulcans, in the mid 1980's Scampton and Waddington SSA's were closed. A few V bombers were to remain for a while in the tanker role, but their nuclear era was closed. When the WE177 was withdrawn from service, it became sensible to keep them in one place until they could be de-commissioned. The place chosen was Honington and the SSA there was the last refuge for all the WE177's from the other three bases until the last were finally removed in early 2001. Honington was a particularly suitable spot, it being the main base for the RAF regiment who provided security. Now all the former SSA's are defunct for their original purpose.



Blue Danube, the first nuclear weapon issued to the RAF, and the weapon available when Barnham was built.


Red Beard, smaller lighter second generation nuclear weapon. Probably stored at Barnham, certainly stored by the RAF and Royal Navy at many sites, some overseas.


Model of Yellow Sun Mk1. Interim British designed bomb, claimed as a megaton device, which it was not really. The warhead was about 400Kt. Big, crude, mostly fission device.



Model of Yellow Sun Mk2. Big case, small bomb. The small Red Snow warhead, a copy of the American Mk28 warhead with British made components, can be seen in the "exploded" picture. This was also the warhead for the Blue Steel stand off missile. A real megaton hydrogen bomb. If these bombs were ever stored at Barnham is not yet known

Below is the British WE177 nuclear weapon. This is the B variant, of 450Kt power, the highest yield variant, in service from 1966 to 1998. There were also A and C variants. The A was a shorter cased fission only version, used as a 0.5Kt anti submarine weapon, or as a 10Kt weapon. The different yields were to be used depending on the depth of water and with avoidance of colateral damage in mind. Interestingly despite previous information this was the only variable yield weapon in the series. The B version was a high yield, 450 or possibly 500kt depending on who you listen to. There were a total of 53 WE177B weapons produced. WE177C was made to fulfill a later NATO requirement for carriage on tactical aircraft in Germany, due to the yield of the B version being too great under the NATO regulation in force at the time for the envisaged use, and was a 200Kt device. Most of the weapons were made by using the primary from decomissioned WE177A and the secondaries salvaged from the Polaris AT3K warheads being displaced under the Chevaline program. The number of WE177 weapons in service peaked at 272 rounds in March 1977, with 233 planned in the stockpile after that. These later generation weapons were not stored at Barnham, but are included here for interest.


This shows what a compact weapon it is compared with the earlier Blue Danube, Red Beard and even the Yellow Sun models. WE177 came in 2 case types. The A type was 16.5 inches in diameter and 112 inches long. The B Type was the same diameter but 133 inches long. This case was also used for the C type. The three variants were designed in 1963, 1965 and 1972. Type A warhead called PT176 was a selectable yield fission device. It could be fired as either a half kiloton unboosted or 10 kiloton boosted bomb. It was essentially the primary from the WE177B, known as Katie. The navy ordered 63 of these, 20 for use in the strike role and 43 as anti submarine weapons. The B version used the same UK designed Katie primary with a US secondary, the package being known as ZA297, or Simon. WE177B was only used by the RAF. WE177 is now obsolete and no longer in service. Some training rounds are indeed now in museums. The Imperial War Museum at Duxford has two on a bomb trolley as part of an exhibit.


Looking at these two (which are inert training rounds) you will see that the one on the right is like the B version shown above. It has the narrow cover on the outside running along the casing, probably covering wires running between batteries, arming and fusing devices in the front and rear of the casing. The other bomb, on the left has a shorter body as can be seen in the other pictures and is the A version, which was a different internal design and has no external wire or pipe covers. The weight of the A version is around 600 pounds and the B version around 950 pounds.




What is visible in these bombs is the radar transparent window on the nose which is presumably for a radar altimeter or proximity fuse to allow the weapon to register its height above the ground for fusing purposes. These bombs also had a parachute within their tail assemblies.

The WE177 family were highly adaptable as regards fusing options and all could operate in various modes, from parachute retarded or balistic trajectory, air burst, ground burst, laydown in water or on land, timed or depth operation. The yield (with the A version) and operation mode would be set by equipment in the ground control unit on the individual bombs, by a key held by the plane captain. Further options were set from a panel on the aircraft, either plane or helicopter as required. The Royal Navy exclusively used WE177A. The RAF in the UK used both the A and B versions. The RAF in Germany used A and later C versions. There were also special surveillance rounds to examine the effects of storage and high speed flight on the bombs, which were complete apart from the fissile materials. Each type also had training rounds.

On to the site at Barnham:-

This is England in 1998, not Alcatraz, honest!


Combination lock, alarm, steel door, with that sign, it must be serious!


In that hole, in a thick stainless steel container, was the plutonium core of a nuclear bomb.




These images show a plutonium core being loaded into the first British bomb exploded. This is a prototype of the operational bombs stored at Barnham later.


In this building, one of three, the main bodies of the bombs were kept, on special trolleys. The gantry was for a crane to lift them on and off lorries.


Perimeter fence, along which armed guards with dogs patrolled at all times. Outside, barbed wire, inside, a sanitised zone with trip wires and a concrete wall, topped with more wire. Interestingly the core stores are all served by footpaths with substantial handrails along both sides. I do not know if this was because the area around was also covered with trip wires. However, each separate store has a combination lock on its door and a switch inside the door to sound an alarm and indicate on a control panel that the door was open. These items are still there on each store.


A nice walk in the woods, with even more plutonium core stores (more than 50 of these!)

Inside one of the main bomb stores. The internal walls with green doors were added later. Note the air conditioning vents, for controlled atmosphere for the bombs. Such luxury! The air conditioning system is slightly different at Faldingworth and the design shown on plans for Barnham is the same as Faldingworth. An interesting anomoly.

The above pictures were taken in January and after a return visit in June I thought a couple of new views showing things I missed first time and conveying something of the very different summer atmosphere might be in order. This place is a working environment for a number of small companies and what a place to work! It has mature trees and bushes after 30 years in private hands and is a curious mixture of the harsh cold war realities and pleasant leafy calm. I find it most interesting, but then it is unique.








Nice place to park at work. Trees, birds singing, flowers, watch towers, barbed wire, bomb store, blast walls, revetments!


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