These pictures show this site in 1998 when used by an engineering company and later in 2003, when used by a military vehicle museum and restoration company. You will notice just a few tyres in some of the later pictures. This is an interesting story on its own! The underground mustard agent storage tanks are now gone (three x 500 ton tanks at this site). What remains are a number of recognisable ex-military buildings and the remains of the rail connection for this site. It is is private hands and you should not just walk around, but as with all private property, ask permission to visit. The tank museum on the site is open to the public at times and is well worth a visit, and will be developing into a much more interesting facility as time goes on.



This map shows both Barnham sites. The bottom of the map shows the chemical site, below the words Little Heath, marked Wks. The dismantled railway line to the right of the site was connected to the site and was part of the general rail network, much of which was removed in the 1960's.

Under the word Heath is the rail access and a large fenced off field. This contains raised areas with a fenced off hole which in this case is part of the original military sewage system. What remains now is only a shadow of what was once here. I am told this area was once used to test bulldozers by the engineering company who used the site, so the land may have been moved about somewhat!

Barnham is a small village near Thetford in East Anglia. It has nothing out of the ordinary about it, to the casual observer. A small farming community, not in any way unusual. However, just outside the village are two extraordinary places. One is well hidden away. some distance from any main road. There was once a connection to the local railway line, but this has long since closed and been removed too. This is Barnham, bottom site. Its official title was No 1 Forward Filling Depot (FFD) Little Heath. It was used to store and fill munitions with mustard agent. It was also used to dispose of these munitions after WW2. The allied nations made and prepared for use huge amounts of chemical weapons but happily these were never used in combat. There was a serious accident in Bari harbour in Italy when a ship loaded with such munitions was bombed and many hundreds died. Little Heath depot finally closed and was decontaminated in 1954, as were numerous other sites in England. This turned out not to be 100% thorough and inspections and remedial work have continued up to very recently. The site is now used, along with most of the original buildings, by a military vehicle restoration company. It is still surprisingly intact and many structures are little altered. The rail connections can still be traced. There is evidence localy of the use of the heathland for military purposes right back to WW1.


There are two actual filling buildings on the site. Both shown here, the rear one has a water tank on the roof, the front one does not. The actual equipment inside has all been removed, so it is not now possible to say if they were for filling different munitions. That is possible, as both bombs for air dropping and spray tanks for dispensing mustard agent were filled here.



This was the bonding building and loading dock, where the filled munitions were sealled and tested for leaks, before depatch to storage.
A few years ago there was a bit of a panic at this and other old chemical stores when they found small traces of the mustard agent left. This site was not one of the worst, as another at Melchbourne is still causing problems. However, the old underground structures here were removed, in the area here with new soil, to the left of the yellow post. The pots were first inspected and partly demolished before being re-sealed in 1991. they were finally removed totally in 1996. Also visible is the remaining rail line which connected this site with the local railway network, also long since closed and removed.


This site had an exciting recent episode in its life where many thousands of used tyres were kept here, and then the people involved were unable to dispose of them as planned. Later pictures of the site feature these tyres quite heavily, so the earlier pictures have been retained for clarity above.

When empty bomb cases and other items to be filled were brought to the site they were processed and brought to the bonding building via a covered passageway. Here is where one covered way entered the bonding building. (two of these covered ways, one for each filling plant).


Here is the exit from to the rear most filling plant. The left door, with its visible traces of the covered way leads to the area with filling cells. The right door leads to a separate area not in direct contact with the filling area, possibly for controlling pumps or instruments?


Here is the exit to the front filling plant. Same design at this point as the rear plant.


Inside would have been cubicles where the empty casings would have been charged with mustard agent. They have been removed now but traces can be seen, across the ceiling down the walls and in the floor.


From above pipes supplied the chemicals to the filling plant via these holes.


The pipes came down from the tanks in rooms above the filling cells, seen here. Note the extractor in the wall. The other plant has a similar one and these may be original.


This is the rear of the above filling building. More scars can be seen of removed parts.


Here is the equivalent view of the front plant.


Inside individual cubicles the munitions were charged after being brought form the case storage building at the rear. Part of this covered way remains. Here though you can see where the wall for one of the filling cells has been removed.


Here is the entrance to the filling building.


Here is part of the covered way remaining from the case storage building.


This shows the outside of one of the charging buildings, with the cells above from where mustard agent was supplied to the filling plant inside. The tank on top is a water tank. The wall facing the camera has a door in it, and you can still see scars on the wall where a part of this building has been removed. There are similar scars on other buildings so they are not exactly as built now.


The map on the Lords Bridge page will give some clue to the types of building on one of these FFD's. Here are some of the remaining buildings.

Toxic change and bath house, for those working with the chemicals. Precautions were fairly basic, with protective clothing being mostly what is known as LPC or light protective clothing, made of oiled cloth much like rain wear of the period. A gas mask was work when leaks were detected.


Boiler house, now empty and altered for its present uses.


Bore hole and pump house.


Toxic and non-toxic mess rooms. Inside are seperate areas for those who work in areas with chemicals and those who do not. The separation seems more notional than actual now.


Inside the mess block. The coloured spots are due to paint balling.



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