# Ottercops Moss Gun Placements Sept 2008



## Sabtr (Sep 14, 2008)

Ottercops Moss in Northumberland has to be one of the bleakest places I have visited yet. Situated right next to the A 696 between Newcastle upon Tyne and Jedburgh, Ottercops Moss is more famous for its former Chain Home radar station.
On this particular visit I travelled with lithium. Our aim for the day was to find out more information about the light anti-aircraft gun placements which once protected this strategic site. Very little remains of the anti-airdraft positions now but we do feel that the heather and moss is hiding a lot more than we saw.
As you will see in this thread we came away with more questions than we started with!
The pics:

Ottercops Moss in all its glory. Just look at those angry clouds.




What looks like a simple manhole actually has tiled (glazed) bricks lining it.




This is the big mystery! Looks innocent enough until you look closer. Notice the shaft down which is covered with an old pallet to prevent sheep entering. The shaft is full of bones, water, some gloves, a folding shovel and other organic goo. It simply goes no-where but I don't know! 




Looking closer from the other side you can see "rails" which have bent bits at the ends. I have placed my DSLR bag next to it to give a scale of size.




Closer again and you can now clearly see a concrete/brick moveable sliding cover for a bunker or something! It looks a bit like a James Bond set!




The concrete cover definately moved at one point because I saw some broken concrete and noticed a steel wheel sitting on the metal rail. It looked like the cover could move in two directions. The wheel:




This concrete thingy looks to us as if it possibly housed a missile but surely not? We can find very little info on this site and would love to hear any info. Lithium has more shots and I'm sure he will post more on here. Oh! - did I mention? Should you choose to visit this site be very aware of the snakes that frequent the site.


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## RAF Millom (Sep 14, 2008)

It is the buried reserve transmiter for the radar station, single door for personnel and the double one for plant/equipment. The one with the pallet over it is the emergency exit.

There are more examples on the subbrit site

Beware they will probably be flooded to the top and dangerous as they will be about 18' deep shafts. 

Regards

RAF Millom Aviation & Military Museum

www.rafmillom.co.uk


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## Bob.J (Sep 14, 2008)

*Ottercops Moss*

This is one of the buried reserves for the Chain Home, there was an underground transmitter room and another one for a receiver. There are several air vents surrounding the hatch and the bases of two 85 foot masts. They would be about a 100 yards between the two. Inside is a large Transmitter/Receiver room, a smaller plant room, a toilet and a lobby with a stair case or ladder to the surface. the large hatch you found is for plant, a smaller personnel hatch should be adjacent. There should also be an emergency escape for each.

Bob J


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## Sabtr (Sep 14, 2008)

Crikey! We were on limited time and the site was spread over a large area so we didn't notice any other similar buildings. There was however lots of evidence of earthed up mounds which I had sudgested was evidence of other goings on underground.
The plot deepens! Pardon the pun!


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## BigLoada (Sep 14, 2008)

Wow cheers guys. That sliding hatch had us puzzled but I have just been reading about the underground trransmitter on the Radar Pages site. Well, that clears that mystery up then!


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## Engineer (Sep 15, 2008)

*Otter Moss.*

I had a search on Subbrit and web, very interesting.
Amazing what is long abandoned but still about.

http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/dunkirk_buried_reserve.htm


http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/s/schoolhill_chain_home/


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## Bax__ (Sep 15, 2008)

There's one just outside Aberdeen at Portlethen, the Police Divers use it for training on a fairly regular basis I believe.


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## Sabtr (Sep 15, 2008)

Engineer said:


> I had a search on Subbrit and web, very interesting.
> Amazing what is long abandoned but still about.
> 
> http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/dunkirk_buried_reserve.htm
> ...



Just had a looky at the pics in the first link and it is amazing. I recognise the white faced bricks - I saw them elsewhere on that site.
I wish there was an untouched one of these so we could have more idea on what it looked like.


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## Engineer (Sep 15, 2008)

*Otter Moss Bunker.*

I wonder if it is full of water, is the ground around it a typical upland bog?


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## Sabtr (Sep 16, 2008)

Engineer said:


> I wonder if it is full of water, is the ground around it a typical upland bog?



I think you're thinking what I'm thinking.  I won't do it though.

The land at that point is remarkably dry. Stone outcrops are all around that point and it is on the side of a steepish hill. The boggy parts of the hill are a considerable distance away. I'm sure that the original builders would have put adequate drainage in place knowing full well what the weather up there is like.
I think we would need the help of one of those endoscope thingys.


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## Engineer (Sep 16, 2008)

*Ottercops Moss Bunker.*

Found this on another forum, looks a bit expensive for casual use.

http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/tegwin/?action=view&current=ROCmoviewebversion.flv


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## Sabtr (Sep 16, 2008)

At this particular site I couldn't see a big enough gap to peek down. Shame really. The snakes (Adders) will give us a run for our money too!

About a mile south of the site we noticed more structures on a hillside. Much like pillboxes but bigger and looking down from a fortified position. If we pass again in that direction (the whole site is off our "beat") we will give it a look over too.


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## Engineer (Sep 16, 2008)

*Ottercops Moss Bunker.*

LOL, Adders, make plenty of ground vibration/noise etc, they tend to avoid humans unless you step on one.

Any point in trying the rancid watered shaft?


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## Sabtr (Sep 16, 2008)

Just a small Adder but Lithium screamed at me to stand still when he saw it - he has lots of experience with them from other activities and if babys around then so is mum, dad and it's cousins! Off topic a bit but that was my first Adder spotting. Quite chuffed!

The watered and palleted shaft had nasty organic goo down there. Bones, wool etc. I think many sheep had fallen and melted down there. I did see a pair of rubber coated work gloves and a broken foldable shovel too. Someone had been trying but I think gave up when they contracted typhoid or something. The goo level was about 7 feet down and given that the depth of the shelter is much more than that I would give up before I tried!
I did notice that there were no ladders in this shaft which must have been removed to prevent access. One of the vent shaft covers had been removed too - I think whoever was attempting access had removed this too.

I think we will have to wait until the frost removes the course of bricks which are sealing the main staircase sliding shaft cover thingy.


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## Engineer (Sep 16, 2008)

*Ottercops Moss.*

Comparing the Subbrit pics with yours it seems that they have laid a few bricks around the 3 hatches and laid concrete over the top.


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## Foxylady (Sep 16, 2008)

Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes? 
Really interesting site, chaps. Some excellent links posted too.


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## Neosea (Sep 16, 2008)

Foxylady said:


> Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?



Where are the photo's of the snakes?


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## Urban Mole (Sep 16, 2008)

There are some over here on the Island, up at the old RAF Ventnor site, maps show them, but they arnt visible, so they either wernt made, or they have been covered well...


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## BigLoada (Sep 16, 2008)

Check out the last photo on this link, that is what it should look like. 

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/s/schoolhill_chain_home/schoolhill15.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/s/schoolhill_chain_home/&h=517&w=598&sz=82&hl=en&start=96&um=1&usg=__KrFuGkD_KFsp9jd68Lq47GAdtAQ=&tbnid=S1_ingfO0ml9ZM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchain%2Bhome%26start%3D80%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN 

Unfortunately the one we found is seriously bricked up. I think another, more prepared trip is definitely necessary!


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## sqwasher (Sep 17, 2008)

Great find you guys! It's great finding the possible history of this type of place develop too!


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## jonney (Jan 25, 2009)

*snakes and boxes*

Hi people I'm just new on here so hello everyone. My father-in-law used to own the quarry at the back of ottercops and let me tell you the snakes are pain in the a... especially in the summer, they are everywhere so be carefull. Working in the quarry we had to pass this chain home site every day and have recently been trying to research it. There are some good photo's of it on http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=raf ottercops&[email protected]&m=pool It was an early warning radar site for the industrial cities of the North East and reported administratively to H.Q., 73 Wing, which was then at Malton in Yorkshire, and later at Boston Spa. Operationally, it reported to the 13 Group Filter Room at Newcastle. What I would like to know (if anyone could tell me)is what stood on the top of the pill boxes as the tops of allof them are covered with reinforcing rods.

Cheers Jon


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## Sabtr (Jan 26, 2009)

Hi jonney, welcome to the forum. 

I have seen those pics of the site on Flikr - they just tease me more! Adders? Beautiful wee thingys. Quite a nasty bite but lovely all the same! It was my first one and the markings on it were stunning. No pics I'm afraid.

It's funny that you should mention that quarry..... the land over that way is littered with them. Google Earth shows that up. I would have visited the quarry sites but as I have said in earlier postings this whole area is a bit off our "patch".


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## the|td4 (Jan 26, 2009)

Sausage said:


> I think many sheep had fallen and melted down there.



lol

Lovely pics on this post and a place that I've driven past many times and never stopped. I'm sure you can see another pair on the southern side of the Tyne valley when heading past Prudhoe etc on the A696.

I could always go back there and try to get our wireless NV CCTV camera down a hole on a bit of string? I can do that anywhere now as I have my baby laptop rigged up to receive signal and record directly to HD.

(RE that wireless remote control vehicle I keep sending down pipes etc)


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## Sabtr (Jan 26, 2009)

the|td4 said:


> lol
> 
> Lovely pics on this post and a place that I've driven past many times and never stopped. I'm sure you can see another pair on the southern side of the Tyne valley when heading past Prudhoe etc on the A696.
> 
> ...




Interesting. What will it fit down? Have you got the dimensions of the vehicle? I find stuff all the time but dismiss it as being too tight for me!


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## the|td4 (Jan 26, 2009)

Sausage said:


> Interesting. What will it fit down? Have you got the dimensions of the vehicle? I find stuff all the time but dismiss it as being too tight for me!



Hi mate, here's a link to my build thread on difflock. The camera can be removed from the car....


http://forum.difflock.com/viewtopic.php?t=31922


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## numbersix (Feb 3, 2009)

I've been there too, we were having a shot at digging it out (with the landowners permission) and we got rid of a lot of mud and dead sheep in that shaft before we found it was flooded as well. The plan is to go back with the LPP from my Green Goddess and get it pumped out. The only problem though is that is utterly, utterly stinks and if you crawled in you'd end up smelling like an abattoir!


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## BigLoada (Feb 3, 2009)

numbersix said:


> I've been there too, we were having a shot at digging it out (with the landowners permission) and we got rid of a lot of mud and dead sheep in that shaft before we found it was flooded as well. The plan is to go back with the LPP from my Green Goddess and get it pumped out. The only problem though is that is utterly, utterly stinks and if you crawled in you'd end up smelling like an abattoir!



That would excellent getting it pumped out mate. When me & Sausage went, I did want to try and somehow get the concret hatch slid back.

By the way I dont mind the reek of abbatoirs if it means getting down there


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