Secret and Not So Secret UK Bases and Installations

Felt compelled to post here. Coming from a small area of Leicestershire I'm feeling a small road trip coming on to go and check out the places listed.

All I know of military movement is the vast amount of military aircraft we get hanging around. I've heard about them using the old pitbanks as 'bombing' ranges, but living quiet close I've never experienced anything, the only thing that makes the houses shake around here are the explosives at the quarry pits. Don't know exactly where they're coming from, guess I can find out more.

Usually these aircraft are plain black, just the other week I was out and about standing in a carpark in a small village on high ground, and the helicopter seemed to just chill out above the field next to the car park for over half an hour. No clue what they were doing, they started to circle for a while before darting off.

Just to also add, I do a lot of work with OS and Aerial Mapping, along with historical mapping taken from Ordinance Survey, Landmark and Getmapping (we hold 'rights' to OS & Landmark but not Aerial data from getmapping) so I'll have to check out some of these areas on the data I have.

[edit on 13/8/10 by stefplz]

reply to post by philosopher king

reply to post by philosopher king

reply to post by philosopher king


your uncle is quite correct, there are definitely bunkers within the cliffs at beachy head. they were accessible until the late eighties but all entry points have now been secured. i know people who have been inside. there are also many clues of their presence above ground. one entry was via a point just to the back of a mark known as the sugar loaf, another entry was opposite the pub on beachy head. there are the remains of concrete buildings within 30metres of the cliff edge and recently installed manhole covers where there are no current buildings or requirement for utilities.

reply to post by SimonGray


This seems to be a very random list. For example I have worked on a building site in the Arborfield base which is a normal army Reme base. I wasnt even screened before I started working there, just wasnt allowed to if I had a criminal record. There is VERY lax security and we frequently wandered about and never encountered security or even got asked what we were doing away from the site. I can honestly say that is just a very bog standard base that trains mechanical engineering soldiers.

Just thought I would mention because it might damage your authenticity to just list bases implying they are something more than they are. IF you didnt mean to then why even mention a base like this in the first place? Makes me wonder if the resk are just regular military bases too...

I never knew this place existed - Garvie Island up in NW Scotland is the only place where British and Nato Aircraft can drop Live ordinance and weapons.....

Little video link to show you some 'action'...

www.bbc.co.uk...

PDUK

Originally posted by SimonGray
Reply on the old board by SimonGray

I feel so proud to be British

Also, as I live in Wiltshire and have visited almost all of those sites you mention here, I just want to point out that Rudloe Manor does look like a massive hotel, but its operations are underground. This is one of the UK's most secretive facilities that is in the public's view.

Also, RAF Machrihanish in Scotland is a Navy SEALs base location in the UK. It has also been linked to the Aurora and F-117a's.

Reply on the old board by Bagpuss iam not impressed i have friends at some of the locations have you forgot about the ira

My brother works as a groundsman for Rudloe Manor....

He tells me there is a secret pipeline linking all government sites in the UK along with a transport network. Apparently helicopters fly along the route of the tunnel 24/7 to ensure there are no suspicious activities. This is a major fuel line for the Army and if someone where to destroy / blow it up there would be catastrophic consequences.

Reply on the old board by Reso

Kent: Army - Sir John Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe Camp, Folkestone

I've been there quite a few times. It's a training camp.

There are two more camps I've been to in Kent as well.

Invicta Barracks, Maidstone, Kent - a large Royal Engineers camp with a lot of equipment and vehicles. Currently undergoing a lot of building work. Some Gurkas (sp?) are aslo stationed here.

Rifle and tank range, Hyth, Kent - I don't know it's official name though.

I've also been to some other training areas throughout the South East but I don't remember their names :-/

Reply on the old board by phait

Do you know how old this list is?

I just wondered as it has RAF Cottesmore down as a station for Tornado's but it stopped being the training base for the tri-lateral Alliance(UK, Germany, Italy) a couple of years ago and is now home to the No.1 Squadron of Harriers:
www.raf-cott.demon.co.uk... />
There is also no mention of Staxton-Wold up near Scarborough, Yorks.
www.raf.mod.uk... (scroll to bottom of page). Its the oldest operational radar site in the world apparently.

North Luffenham in Leic. did also several years ago do some sort of special training, although I cannot confirm it was definitely SAS.

cheers

Liked the list though, will give me some new places to check out.

iam not impressed i have friends at some of the locations have you forgot about the ira

luckily they will never find our secret base

Sorry for the bump here, I was searching Google for information on Chetwynd barracks in Chilwell Nottingham uk. I work literally right next door to the Base, and it has long been rumored to be involved in communication spying for the GCHQ.There are many locals in the area that talk of the rumors of underground sections of the Base also. Bear in mind that these aren't your typical ATS users speculating, this is just local rumor known amongst the local populace. I may start a thread with pics of the Base etc. Again, apologies for the bump

a reply to: pigsy2400

There is underground, and then there is underground. It isn't all that unbelievable to have a tunnel here or there. It is the wide and deep underground bases that cause me to roll my eyes.

Disneyland has tunnels. Las Vegas has tunnels. The old Jehovah's Witness campus in NY has tunnels. There are buildings with half a dozen levels of underground parking.

Infrastructure like tunnels and such are taxed in the US. Now I suppose the military can avoid the tax man, but it is hard to avoid the plan checks and union mandated safety procedures.

A few years ago they were funding all sorts of underground stuff around the US capital for some construction around Tysons Corner.

www.washingtonpost.com...

a reply to: SimonGray

Innsworth in Glos is no longer RAF mate.
It's now Imjin Barracks, NATO ARRC.

a reply to: pigsy2400

Hi Pigsy,

I've spent a bit of time at Chetwyn over the years, but I've never heard of any GCHQ activity other than normal crypto/network related IS projects.

However, I thought I'd check on GE. I can't see any evidence of interception equipment (dishes, antenna etc) or underground facilities (vents, ramps, passenger lifts)

Sorry.

Your closest intercept station is Menwith Hill and there is plenty of interesting stuff going on in Lincolnshire.

Cheers
Robbie

a reply to: stratsys-sws

Thanks Robbie, it's quite funny when we get new starters where I work as they train new recruits on the firing range practicing and when I am stood outside you having a cigarette you can see and very much hear them, the new starters where I work always look a little startled. As for underground areas there, I do have to agree with you. They are in the process of shutting down as it's all being sold off housing in the next few years

a reply to: pigsy2400

The camp you are referring to is (or was) the Mission Training and Mobilisation Centre (MTMC). It was used to get Army Reserve units and Regular individual reinforcements who are not part of a formed unit ready for deployment on ops. They would turn up, draw weapons/ops kit and do a couple of weeks of basic mandatory and bespoke theatre training immediately prior to deployment. All of this is in the public domain.

originally posted by: fritz
RAF Thatcham was in fact MOD Thatcham. A major storage facility that provided everything from tentage to weapons and from vehicles to ammunition.

I am sorry but you are very wrong. MOD Thatcham was in fact an RAOC supply depot. RAF Thatcham was a small fenced off self contained unit within the RAOC depot, I know because I was stationed there but that is all I am at liberty to say.

This age old OP has me thinking this was a fishing exercise

originally posted by: Anonymous ATS
Why would secret bases be know to any of you?! As civilians you are not given information regarding any establishment or facility that falls under military law or protection.

For example, Ordernance survey maps are blank on maps to prevent knowledge of "base" and "camp" details. To prevent terrorist activity etc. You might as well say that Dartmoor is a gigantic Nuclear establishment as there are signs telling you to remain on the footpath.

Civee wannabees!

Because UK secrecy laws and bases have terrible security and it's riddled with holes.


Look at OS maps prior to 1979 to see what the blank space covers up.

Many of the secret places are listed in the yellow pages. Though if you turn up in person they deny all knowledge and police move you on.

It's perfectly legal to obtain blueprints of many secret, sensitive areas that have no excuse not to be covered up - 10 Downing Street blueprints are as easy to get as a walking into a council office.

Secret pipelines etc.. connecting sites have named and numbered markers on public roads with obvious abreviations - i.e Oil Pipeline is OP...

(personally worked to warn advise authorities on these massive security lapses in the past when I've come across them).

thanks for posting this

There are infact a good few thousand installations missing from this list.

One of the most obvious is RNAD facilities (Royal Naval Arms Dumps) like the one in Beith, Scotland.

there is also the hollowed out scottish mountain range that is now a series of underground storage facilities, they were hollowed out to get the materials to build the channel tunnel, the mod moved in after the extraction works had been completed and built the facilites. I have a list of what is stored there but i am not allowed to share it.

There is also the cog (continuity of government) bunkers, 3 of them are unmanned and are about 4 miles underground, in each of these bunkers lies an AI computer system, originally there was 4 of these systems but only 3 currently remain, each system is for a better word programmed differently (has a different personality) and as such makes a decision based upon a type of majority decision making factor (similar to a democracy), these systems take command over all military and infrastructure during times of war when the prime minister and cabinet along with military command either is no longer communicating or has been wiped out.
The 4th AI system was handed over upon completion to the military for operational use, but, when a rather insane general gave it a series of illegal orders, the AI, not only refused to carry out the orders but also started quoting all the reasons for not doing so as well as quoting the articles of war and all the regulations and laws that would be broken by doing so.
The general in question was so incensed that he ordered the AI's mothballing.
The AI is currently sitting in a very top secret storage facility.

The other facility that sticks out as being not on the list is one of the uk's largest ever constructed world war 2 underground facilities at Irvine, the facility is several miles long and a few miles wide, it was part of the coastal defence system, it also doubled over as a storage facility and warship/sub supply base.
part of this base stretches out under the sea to the old pads which would have lead to gun emplacements and docking facilities, as such, it is dangerous to explore these outer areas as opening certain doors would let the sea water in.
There is parts of this installation that still has power along with a few still working lights, most of the sewerage systems and plumbing systems are also still intact.
There is several entrances to the facility that are still accessible but i have to warn anyone wishing to visit that due to the dumping of rubbish down certain hatches over the years the rats down there can be larger that your family cat not only that but some toxic waste was also thrown down there as well.
more recently the main entrance to the site which is near ardrossan has been opened up and separated from the main underground facility, it is being used as a storage yard with the few remaining outside buildings being used for private storage.

As for what was stated in coulport, the warheads were transported between the base at the top and the docks at the bottom through a man made underground river, this was done to increase security as there would be no need to transport them through expensive vehicle convoy's, all that happens is the water is turned on at the top and the warheads are floated down to the bottom (the water floating them takes a lot of the strain off of the guide rail system). it was quite a feat of engineering to construct, one of the most secret but ingenious wonders of the world.

The old american naval base has on the grounds an icbm silo system that can be seen through google earth, the silo's are currently empty and the site has been sealed.
The interesting thing about the american base is that when they left, what they did was dump off the pier into the water any supplies that they were not allowed to leave behind and or sell, there was reports of brand new scaffolding and fork lift trucks etc just pushed over the edge into the water along with a lot of other more interesting items, talk about a huge waste of money along with the non environmental dumping of supplies into the water.

RAF Machrihanish is an interesting base for ufo hunters, especially a certain section of the runway that has underground hangers and 8 underground levels which are lab's, command and control facilities and storage facilities.
RAF Machrihanish was also the only runway in europe that the american space shuttle could safely land in an emergency and also be recovered and flown back to nasa.
Yes part of the base is still military but a lot of it is currently being used by owners of private and light aircraft.
All underground facilities on the site have been sealed and secured to prevent intrusion, it would not take too much effort to reopen them and yes they did leave quite a lot of stuff down there when they left.

There is also in scotland several underground lab facilities that are for biological and chemical weapons research, most are currently sealed and unused but are fully equipped incase of an emergency, i have an issue though with one in particular as it is beside a primary school, why they would put one in that particular place is unknown but quite worrying when you think about it.

Scotland also has hidden away in a certain location in central scotland the nuclear warhead maintenance facility, the uk government has arrangements with several countries regarding this facility, these select countries actually send their warheads to it for service, maintenance and repair.

well enough of scotland, how about an interesting site that is not on the list in northern england.
The site which is currently not in use houses an experimental cold fusion power reactor.
The problem with the reactor is that they thought (too large scale), the problem was that they didn't realise the full potential of the output power and built one that was too large for the uk power grid to be able to handle.
when the system was run it was quickly proven to be incrementally producing power, so much power that the uk electrical grid would have melted down, they just managed to shut it down before it got critical, when they did the math on the system it was proven that a plant that size would have been able to power about a 3rd of europe at late 1980's power consumption levels.
I am amazed that the whole project was shelved as it had great potential, especially if they had downscaled the size of it.

There is so many secret facilities scattered about and around the uk to mention, the majority of them are currently still either in use or are sealed for emergencies with a few unmanned autonomous sites.

There is an interesting one about the mystery sub around norway a few years ago that they couldn't find.
it was an experimental unmanned, AI controlled, stealth attack sub, it is not russian.
it was sent out on it's first freedom of navigation mission but during the mission lost all communications, the sub was programmed for a no comms event to dive down to the bottom of the ocean and pop up periodically in a different location to try and re-establish comms, if after a few attempts to re-establish comms didn't work it was then programmed to automatically return to base.

The UK government has a great number of secret projects and technological advancements hidden away, some are so hidden that even governmental officials are unaware of their existence and location.

feel free to add to the list above.