Pretty secretive place Sopley, Dorset UK

I'm sticking this in because i can't think of a better place for it. please feel free to move it mods if it's not right!

linkk

I drive past down this tiny road every couple of days as a shortcut from my company yard @ hurn airport to get to the other side of christchurch and there is this small, white innocuous looking building on the right hand side. the ground around it doesn't look quite right but i can't quite place whats wrong. it sits inside a very tall fence which rings a suspiciously large area. the building looks military (well, ex military) and there are always more cars parked there than people who could concievably work in such a small building. something smells like fish! Oh, and there is *always* a truck from a well known records management company parked outside I've also looked it up on google earth and realised it's just yards from the end of the runway that used to be part of RAF winkton. even more suspicious. At this point i can't decide why the truck is there all the time, a building so small could never generate that much paper that requires removal. then i have a brain wave. maybe the records are not going out, they're coming in... I went and googled the owners and met a nice website that tells you nothing. then along came googling raf winkton, and then raf sopley and eventually, doncha know it... this:

www.subbrit.org.uk...

there's the place! I was right! it did smell of fish!

I'm very excited, i found a bunker!

(yeah, ok plenty of people knew it was there really, but i'm still excited.)

Plus as i have a professional contact within the organisation that owns the site i'm going to try a massive blag and try and arrange a visit. I'll let you know how that goes (it appears it has not had outside visitors since 2000!)

Rat

[edit on 18-7-2008 by asala]

Number of outside visitors sounds a bit ominous!

If you do get in and feel the need to tell us about it though - u might wanna do it under a different username. I dont think the 'powers that be' would appreciate you shooting your mouth off if you were so easily identifiable as the first visitor there since 2000!

Hmm... anyone for a game of 'spot the leak'?

hey, I get the irony, but the number of visitors is so low, a different username isn't going to help!

who's for a game of spot the guy trying to pretend he's not the leak!

seriously though,

I'm not going to be trying to fool anyone to get in and i will play by the rules of the owner. i don't what to screw up the relationship between the owners of these sites and the likes of the guys from sub-brit.

i will ask to take photo's and if they say yes i will ask what i'm allowed to take photos of, and what i'm not. if they say no then i'm not about to run down to the spy store and buy a covert cam.

i'm interested in the state of up keep of the bunker more than whats in it to be honest. these places may be in private hands but i firmly believe that as they were built with public money that they should be preserved for the people. (one day when the current owner outgrows the place maybe i'll do something crazy and buy it as a museum - the kelvedon hatch of the south? )

Given that i have a personal knowledge of the owners business (they have been customers of the company i work for on several ocasions) i have a pretty good idea of what they are puting in there, and to be honest it's not very interesting.

thats the plan. i've sent an email to my contact and i'll wait to see what happens.

Rat

reply to post by rat256


Ok, an update... the current owner has politely but firmly declined my request for a visit imminently but apparently at a non-specific time 'in the near future' (when pressed for a more meaningful time scale the answer was 0-48 months) the bunker will have the majority of it's contents moved to other facilities to allow contractors to do major work on the air handling and electrical systems, my contact has said that there will be no problem with me visiting during that time, and in fact invited me to organise a group to visit. They have promised to be in contact again when the time comes with enough notice to organise a trip.

further details when I know them!

You may be interested in this site:

homepage.ntlworld.com...

The chap has gone to great lengths detailing all the "secret" facilities in the UK, which itself is quite amusing, as if you keep you eyes peeled, most places are well signposted and in full view, if you know what your looking for.....

reply to post by stumason


dude, that site is on the top of my favourites list!!!

Good, isn't it?

Makes these long night shifts a little more bearable....

reply to post by rat256


please please please keep us posted !!!


i actually work in one of these old bunkers at a secure facility in Lincolnshire.

i have been fascinated by them for a number of years.

thanks for the thread.

snoopyuk

You'd be better off trying to find the disused ones, apparently quite a lot were built and just forgotten about.
You should be able to find one within 5 miles of where you live.

www.subbrit.org.uk...^OPEN

reply to post by Dar Kuma


Sorry, you misunderstand, this is not an ROC post, this is a pukka, fully paid up moderately blast proof radar bunker!

I've already researched all the ROC posts in my area and have a visit planned on new years day to two of the intact ones.

I was about to make a post here actually... my contact with the owner has said that her estimate on the timescale for a visit is looking towards the 48 months scale rather than the 0. so i shouldn't expect the 'come and have a look' call any time soon.

keep watching this space!

Just for your info, I have been on the 'camp' and inside the very big underground bunker and know what it was used for.

Flt. Sgt.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


well ....are you going to tell us any more ??/ or is that it ???

snoopyuk

reply to post by snoopyuk


I've not heard any more from the site owners recently...

but as for anonymous, I know what the site was, i know someone who watched them build it! and I know what it is now (its full of documents!) what i'm interested in is how well they are looking after something that really should belong to the people who's money built it.

Hi

When I saw this thread, I was quite intrigued. It is true that there once was a military bas in Sopley, and there is some military personel still there, but that it is a top secret base I highly doubt.

My argument for that is. I live in Bournemouth, not far away from Sopley and attend a university called The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, where I study film. Now, the film course has a close relation to this 'abandoned' area. Consisting of bunker, barracks and other things found on a military base and we use it for alternate studios all the time. You know, when our studio in uni is fully booked, or we simply need a larger space to build a set. So we use it all the time to shoot films of all different sort.

So, why would a top secret base let a bunch of film students so close? Especially when they bring with them high end camera equipment and lots of creativity.

Hi again.

Now this is slightly funny, or scary.. Or maybe not either, but rather interesting, or just a slight coinsidence. Anyway, I got this e-mail today from one of our tutors:

Dear All



As many of you will have already heard, we are no longer able to use Sopley as a location for AIB films because of very serious safety concerns which only became apparent today. Unfortunately, these concerns are so serious that we cannot ignore them. This means that we have had to cancel the two I&E shoots which should have taken place at Sopley on the I&E unit: Barracks and Wartime Story. Both the crews involved already know that this is the situation.



---- would like me to reassure you all that we will reschedule the two films affected for shoots at the beginning of December (precise dates to be arranged) and that the projects will not suffer financially or organizationally. ---- has also made it clear that extensions to hand-ins for those affected by this will be agreed.



I am sorry to be the bearer of such disappointing tidings but I hope that you will understand that this is a situation which is outside our control and that your safety and wellbeing has to be our first concern at all times.



If any of you need to discuss this whilst I am not here later this week, please see ---- or ----.



Bests




Mysterious innit?

reply to post by Fergu


Are you referring to sopley camp in your posts? I am well aware of the AIB as several of my friends have graduated from there in the last couple of years... one of them in film! or are you referring to Qinetiq?

Sopley camp/ merrifield park has basically been shut down by the Health and safety executive for a number of reasons. one, the owner has broken about every rule in the book with regards to declared use and planning permission, two, he has failed to removed hazardous materials from the site (namely asbestos) and three, he has failed to keep the units in a safe condition (roofs falling down etc.)

Qinetiq at hurn are a nightmare for changing their mind as to what they will allow on their sites. up untill about 2000 they allowed motorsport, cycling and cross country running events to be organised on their land, then they said no to everything, and now they seem to be allowing some stuff to happen again.

If you need filming locations give me a shout on U2U because I know quite a few places where you could apply to film which would have the right character.

I went on a tour of it when it was up for sale a long while ago. Big underground complex, used post-war for secure document storage for third parties. I believe potential buyers were planning to use it for the same.

Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but Sopley Camp is barely top secret...

There's a flower company based there, I believe the Fire brigade uses some of it for training and an airsoft site (very much like paintball) called Ground Zero Urban is run on part of it every other sunday... Which would explain the number of visitors.

Although it is true that the camp has now been declared unsafe, (which I can vouch for personally, the buildings the airsoft site uses are slowly falling apart) and I believe it has been sold to developers or something like that...

It is an interesting place though. The old rifle range at the far end is still complete and almost usable, and from what i've heard there is a bunker underneath, but that is only hearsay at the moment (i've certainly never had the chance to substantiate it). The large building in the centre is used as the base of operations for the airsoft site, and features an enormous mural on one wall that was painted by the garrison there.

The site I linked above has images of parts of the camp.