# Brasside Munitions Dump, Co. Durham, May 2009



## zimbob (May 11, 2009)

Visited this with my brother, much to my amusement, as he is a _very_ upright citizen, so persuading him to ignore all the signage, and over the fence took a little doing 

Twas a purely spur-of-the-moment thing, as I had no plans to explore during my brief sojourn in the North, and spotted this on the way to Finchale Priory for some night-time photography malarkey.... as soon as I spotted bunkery-looking mounds I lost all interest in ruined priorys 

There seems to be very little history on this place available, all I can tell you is that is a 1940's munitions dump, apparently built by the Army, but used for Naval armaments  It's also very near HMP Frankland and YOI - so that ramped up my brothers nerves 
There are the remains of tracks which appaently connected it to the main line. There were also 2 bungalows nearby, which appear to have served as gaurdhouses, one is completely fooked, t'other is a private house..


Flashearth here

First view :







Say 'Awww' 






Entrance, with loading bay :











Some of the 'bunkers' had no vehicle access, as above, some did, as below 






There were some _seriously_ thick blast walls seperating the entrances :






They were a bitty graffed inside sadly 











And all identical, with the remains of benches under the windows :











Handy method of transport, as it was a big site 






Looking over the site :











Bits and bobs :











Looking back :






Enjoyed this, although I _so_ wasn't dressed for the brambles ​


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## jonney (May 11, 2009)

Me and Daddybear were going to pop over here last night but run out of time. The land around the area was owned by the government so thats why they were able to build the prison where they did (and probably why there isn't much info about it on the net). VeeEight did a post on here http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=4856&highlight=brasside and there are a few posts on 28dayslater about the site. I knew we should have poped over there but thats life...


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## Seahorse (May 12, 2009)

zimbob said:


> Handy method of transport, as it was a big site



Junior Pikeymobile????


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## Lightbuoy (May 12, 2009)

No. 7 stands out for me. Looks like a good relaxed explore.

Cheers ZB


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## Dirus_Strictus (May 12, 2009)

The site was not a 'dump', this is why you might have had trouble finding info on the net. It was a Ministry of Supply Ammunition Depot.

Amongst the available info on line, there is a direct reference on the RAOC website - RAOConLine.

quote -

It was a Ministry of Supply Ammunition Depot for new ammunition and bulk explosives for and or produced by the Royal Ordnance Factories during WWII and was manned by civi's. Apart from a few Ammunition Examiners (AT's) it had nothing to do with the RAOC

There is also a large complex with its own depot that was ROF Thorpe Arch (nr Wetherby), which is spread over several 100 square acres! as well as a small depot which used to be OSU Hessay (nr York) both of which are now an industrial estates.

end quote.

The window lit 'benches' were obviously where the munitions were examined or repacked etc


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## Parkus. (May 12, 2009)

Lightbuoy said:


> No. 7 stands out for me.



Some of the graffiti is actualy quite good there, probably because it's a little out of the way. Probably don't get too many daftys knocking about, especially with the prison being so close.


Good report though, some good photos 
I've been a few times, living just on the other side of Durham City. Was a sweet sunny day and all of a sudden - snow storm. The missus wasn't impressed, to say the least


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## missfish (May 12, 2009)

Some nice images there, looks like a promisiing little place.


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## littlelaura (May 12, 2009)

Very good find, liking the size of it too ! 

(and feeling sorry for that poor poor teddy thing)


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## Foxylady (May 14, 2009)

Nice find, Zimbob. 
If your brother is anything like my oldest sister then I know exactly what you were up against, so very well done!


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