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This is the result of weeks of research to find the lost Aviation fuel depot in Buxton that was the template for Much Wenlock
There is still a way in but it looked tight and I have pulled my shoulder so didn't fancy getting the ropes out Located in a worked out limestone quarry the depot was one of two in the country which was designed and built artificially underground as protection from enemy air attack.
Horseshoe section tanks 100 feet long were assembled on the hard quarry floor and covered with concrete arches to support overburden of waste quarry stone.
The depot was built in two stages:
Stage 1 - D2 tanks total capacity 20,000 tons.
Stage 2 - Eight horizontal D2 tanks 30'-6" diameter by 179' long. Total capacity 20,000 tons.
A good rail connection ran nearby and there would have been a siding to enable transfer by rail tanker train.
The remains of pillbox at the entrance (filled in)
The fence remains
This entrance is buried under lime dust but could be dug out, sliding over the mound the top of the door was just visible
 Edited by user 02 July 2011 15:55:54(UTC)
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Hello All
Although this subject is Buxton and not Whaley we run the risk of H. E reprimanding us but now that it has been raised here is the small piece I contributed to this years Buxton Wells Dressing Festival Programme which touched on this subject, because of The Fly Past on Carnival Day of The Lancaster Bomber " City of Lincoln" , this is partly a tribute to Scott Taylor the Buxton Marine killed in Afganistan last year and to all the local people who have fallen & also Buxton's connection with The RAF. There were tonnes of ammunition stored at Harpur Hill so much that a lot was stored under camouflage nets alongside the Leek road up Axe edge.
Many people may not remember the RAF base at Harpur Hill, built on the site of an old quarry, work started in 1938 but because of bad weather it didn’t become operational until mid 1940 and it was at one point the largest underground munitions storage facility in the country, covering close to 500 acres, the site included storage of German Gas weapons and V bombs.
Harpur Hill was one of the RAF’s UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) or X stations which was manned by a bomb disposal unit who specialised in disarming German gas bombs, they had to dispose of the mustard gas and phosgene on the hills around Buxton by burning it with bleach, this was a most unsatisfactory method as large volumes of smoke was produced, and not all the mustard gas was consumed. Some remained as vapour distributed into the atmosphere, it also killed all the vegetation around, also stationed here were the RAF Mountain Rescue team who attended many air crashes in the hills around.
Although the site closed in 1960 there are still townspeople who served in the RAF and were stationed at Harpur Hill and there is a reminder of their presence with the road names such as Trenchard Drive, Tedder Avenue & Harris Road.
I do believe that a similar facility modeled on Harpur Hill was also built at Lanberis in North Wales and that this was found by The Germans and severely damaged. |
Shallcross |
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shallcross wrote:
I do believe that a similar facility modeled on Harpur Hill was also built at Lanberis in North Wales and that this was found by The Germans and severely damaged.
The Llanberis site was not found or damaged by the Germans. Due to Treasury cost-cutting during construction it collapsed in January 1942 and buried 14,000 tons of bombs (14% of the total RAF bomb stock). It took a lot of time and effort to dig it all out again!
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