Secret Bases/tunnel in the UK

[Daimo]

Someone posted this the other day on one fo the car sites. VERY interesting stuff.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/underground_city/index.shtml

So I decided to continue searching about secret tunnels, old military bases, underground railway networks etc in Kent.......

Typed in google, Secret Tunnels in Kent, and found LOADS of interesting stuff....

Now if the above place was de-classified ages ago, it makes me think, what else is our government hiding in terms of underground bunkers etc..

I remember in my old Air Cadet days, there was massive talk of a secret weapons bunker in Longfield, i can't find anything on it though...

I've also found this.....

http://www.secret-bases.co.uk

Some interesting stuff available on the tinternet, even if the government doesn't want its own people to know.

It also leads me to think. America wanted to know everything about Iraq, does that mean we can go to war on America if they don't allow us into their most secret military installations...... Why not, practice what you preach?

But what about Area 51, ok its public knowledge, but how big really is it underground. How much is still secret, and whats the current big US secret base been hidden now.

Mystery..... But interesting.

I wanna go find my own Dr Evils layer :lol:

[TSM]

we sold one in our company auction, not huge.

We auction some stuff for the mod.

[Cloggsy]

I used to work there... Now't special honest :-$

[GC-SV]

I work for the defence industry and the local paper starting blabbering on a while back about secret firings in underground bunkers.
A complete load of toss.

What we do is fairly classified in some ares but nothing is done in a covert nature.
Tunnels probably do exist here and there but I doubt anything goes on that would be of interest to anyone other than those involved.

About those secret tunnels, say nothing....its a secret.

[cuffy]

The underground tunnels in Corsham spread for hundreds of miles, when i used to be in the fire brigade that was one of our main training areas because it posed the biggest life risk within our area, due to the shear volume of people employed by the MOD.

It was used during WWII as a communications center and was used for the planning of the Battle of Britain, later on during the cold war a Nuclear bunker was installed which would hold the Royal family and the cabinet. this was all very hush hush but now it's all coming to light because the majority of the armed forces have all disbanded, all 3 forces camps were linked by these tunnels and they spread out as far as field to Bath.

Its main role in WWII was as a ammunitions dump, running through the wiltshire country side is one of IK Brunels creations...Box Tunnel...now this runs parralell to the underground base, during the war (uncle albert ) a train full of ammo would pull into the tunnel and stop while another identical train would be reversed out of the secret tunnel to carry on the journey fooling any german spotters that may be keeping tabs on the train.

You used to get the odd looney breaking in to the underground system thinking they kept aliens n spaceships down there...lol

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/manor.html

Thers more detailed info on there.

[Daimo]

Yeah i've just read that site earlier today. Seems a bit geeky those lads, and i'd have certainly argued with the gaurds :lol:

But just normal tunnels and things, not MOD always related, but some are. They are whats getting me, i wanna go explore things :lol:

[Cloggsy]

Apparently (although I've never don't it myself...) You can walk from Corsham all the way into the centre of Bath :wink:

[Spiderman]

Funny cos for many years people have said about secret underground bases and tarins for the royals to use if there is a nuclear attack..... yet most people would laugh at you and call you a conspiracy theorists, or even an idiot.

Thats why its makes me sick the way this govt lied about the lead up to the invasion of Iraq and all of us sensible people who say it was for many other reasons than democracy are shouted down and told to stop being conspiracists. :roll:

I can appreciate that they cant just admit to secret military installations but it just goes to show thier attitude towards the rights of voters to have the most transparent govt possible, while maintainung security for the country.

Apparently, the US Stealth fighter is still a calssified project and if you make enquiries about it you get told that they dont know what you are talking about. Yet just the other day i saw a documentary on National Geographic about the reasons why it was designed and how the technology works :shock:
Pathetic eh?

[empty]

Apparently (although I've never don't it myself...) You can walk from Corsham all the way into the centre of Bath :wink:

You can, but not below ground. Corsham is on a hill, all the quarries stop when you get to Box (which is a deep valley, and where Box Tunnel comes out). There are further quarries under bits of Bath IIRC, there were a few collapsing bits a while back (seem to remember someone walking out the front of their house to find a 30ft hole). The network of quarries under Corsham and surrounding area is vast, I'd highly recommend NOT going down into them without a guide. There used to be a quarrying museum in Corsham where you could go underground into the some of the tunnels, but it closed quite a few years back.

The BBC site is very interesting, I think my parents also have a DVD of a tour of the facility (my Mum works for the MoD in Corsham) and/or the WW2 areas. I believe bits of it are likely to be sold off, since the MoD don't want it any more, although since the rocks it is built in are limestone, there are significant damp problems in a lot of the tunnels. I know a few years back that the stores there (Copenacre) was scaled back significantly due to the costs of running it.

MT (Grew up in Corsham)

[tigersaw]

I was stationed at Bletchley Park from 1980-82. It was a evening pastime to roam around in the basements of the old accomodation blocks, picking locks, tapping walls, trying to find 'secrets'. There was plenty of rooms and corridors down there, and some sealed off we never managed to access - but it was great fun trying!
There was one room at the far end of a corridor of a long fogotten/lost part of the complex that was just perfect for brewing moonshine :D I imagine the smell still lingers down there 25 years on...

[Anonymous]

I was stationed at Bletchley Park from 1980-82. It was a evening pastime to roam around in the basements of the old accomodation blocks, picking locks, tapping walls, trying to find 'secrets'. There was plenty of rooms and corridors down there, and some sealed off we never managed to access - but it was great fun trying!
There was one room at the far end of a corridor of a long fogotten/lost part of the complex that was just perfect for brewing moonshine :D I imagine the smell still lingers down there 25 years on...

I know what you mean. Whilst not so "secret" when i was a FSC at 642 VGS RAF Linton on Ouse, we used to run a 2 week "easter course" for the cadets doing their BGT (now called IGT).

Unfortulately we couldnt fly from Linton all the time as the Tin Cans fly during the week so we had to transit to Church Fenton and fly from their. As anyone who has been to Fenton will tell you, its a completely derilict airbase now. The tower still operates as do the aprons and runways etc, the beyond the flight line, its dead.

So we would spend hours, days exploring the old buildings, seeing what little gems we could find stashed away. It was amazing! Saw somethings which i probably shouldnt have seen... but that good ol Official Secrets Act comes into force. :wink:

[thor]

http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/images/secret_nuclear_bunker-thumb.jpg

[sharriso74]

Been past that a few times. But the Russians are furious they spent millions on spy satellites and all they had to do was read the road signs

[Anonymous]

Been past that a few times. But the Russians are furious they spent millions on spy satellites and all they had to do was read the road signs

Its a REAL sign? I thought it was a good photoship jobby.

:lol:

[thor]

Been past that a few times. But the Russians are furious they spent millions on spy satellites and all they had to do was read the road signs

Its a REAL sign? I thought it was a good photoship jobby.

:lol:

Yup, seen it myself! :lol:

[Demonz]

underground tunnels and houses - bit like Coober Pedy :lol: Dont tell anyone but there is also a "top secret" US base in Alice Springs called Pine Gap.

[Nick762]

I remember in my old Air Cadet days, there was massive talk of a secret weapons bunker in Longfield, i can't find anything on it though...



Not sure about that one but I heard many stories of people out walking in Cobham (Cobham in Kent that is) Woods who were confronted by (allegedly) MOD Plod and asked politely to leave the area as "an exercise" was under way. Last time I heard anything of this sort was around '87. There was supposedly a Regional Seat of Government thereabouts and although I thought I knew the area extremely well I haven't got a clue where it could have been hidden.... :shock:

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/ is a real gem for this sort of stuff.

Slightly O/T, anyone see the C4 programme on the Home Guard on Monday night?

[thor]

Slightly O/T, anyone see the C4 programme on the Home Guard on Monday night?

Yeah. The rollerskating divison! LMAO

[Daimo]

I remember in my old Air Cadet days, there was massive talk of a secret weapons bunker in Longfield, i can't find anything on it though...



Not sure about that one but I heard many stories of people out walking in Cobham (Cobham in Kent that is) Woods who were confronted by (allegedly) MOD Plod and asked politely to leave the area as "an exercise" was under way. Last time I heard anything of this sort was around '87. There was supposedly a Regional Seat of Government thereabouts and although I thought I knew the area extremely well I haven't got a clue where it could have been hidden.... :shock:

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/ is a real gem for this sort of stuff.

Slightly O/T, anyone see the C4 programme on the Home Guard on Monday night?

Interesting. A friend of mine has told me about some caves in Greenhithe, but sound like they've been blocked when inside. Boooo.

Cobhams not that far, hmmmmm

[Grinch]

You should try all the stuff under Portsdown Hill in Portsmouth. There's miles of it so they say, there are tours to some of it but not much. You can even see Churchill's war office just as he left it.

[Warren]

Been past that a few times. But the Russians are furious they spent millions on spy satellites and all they had to do was read the road signs

Its a REAL sign? I thought it was a good photoship jobby.

:lol:

its def real, i live down the road from that sign.

[northwind]

There's something irresistable about secret tunnels isn't there? Not justmilitary ones either. I was working in an old church in Ediinburgh one day, and when we were clearing out some space in a sub-basement, we found a wee door. Opened it up, and here's a ladder and a pretty large tunnel. Followed it a wee bit, and it forked, went down a wee bit more and found we were in one of the bits of the edinburgh cataccombs that's open to the public. Went back to the fork, went down the other bit and found ourselves in the back room of Nicol Edwards' pub! Unfortunately there was a grille between us and the bar ;)