# Cremyll WWII Underground Oil-storage depot, near Plymouth, July 2019



## HughieD (Sep 21, 2019)

*1. The History*
Searched high and low for info on this place but found absolutely nothing. Not a single shred of info anywhere on the internet. It's located over the Tamar from Plymouth and is actually in Cornwall rather than Devon. The only other thing I know about the site is that it dates back to World War II and has been abandoned for some time.

*2. The Explore*
Previously I had explored a fuel storage site closer to Cremyll. It’s above ground and easy to reach, if nothing spectacular. However, subsequently saw a very old report on 28DL on some underground tanks in the vicinity. What followed was a bit of research and thanks to good old OS maps, I managed to locate the four tanks. Hence on my next visit to Plymouth I took the ferry from Plymouth over the Tamar to Cremyll and then made the mile or so hike to where the path veered off the main road into the woods. It was easy enough to find the mound of tank no.1, although the entrance was a bit concealed. Having gone through the door it’s a left turn into a small valve room. There’s then a circular portal that you can climb through into the tank, presumably where a pipe would have been. Inside the vast tank was flooded with 7-8” of water. Hence it was a wellies jobbie which I’d thankfully packed in my back.

Inside it was pitch black and very, very echoey. The concrete ceiling was held up by a series of metal pillars while the sides were constructed of iron sheets. In the centre was what appeared to be a spiral heating element – probably to keep the oil pumpable. After a bit of light painting it was time to squeeze back through the portal and move on to tanks 2 and 3. These were relatively close together. The layout was pretty much identical to tank 1 although these two still had some of the hatches, pullies, valves and other bits of ironwork on the top of the tanks. There was also a nice winch outside tank 2. Both were again flooded and looked identical to tank 1 so didn’t go into these. Then it was back on the track and up the hill to tank no.4, the highest tank of the four. Again, a similar lay-out. However, this one was much dryer plus didn’t have the circular heating element. So, after more light painting it was time to pack up and walk up the hill, back to the main road and off to the next site.

Overall this was a really different place. Pretty much off the radar due to its rural location in woods. It’s the sort of place that you need good location intel on, but all-in-all, worth the effort.

Finally - thanks to Newage who got there just before me and confirmed that they were indeed where I thought they were!

*3. The Pictures*

The valve room here is the most complete:


img1866 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Into the tank we go:


img1858 by HughieDW, on Flickr

That spiral heating element:


img1856 by HughieDW, on Flickr

No scope for putting stuff down or knocking tripods over:


img1860 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Either the ‘out’ pipe or ‘in’ pipe:


img1862 by HughieDW, on Flickr

On to tank No.2:


Cremyll 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Complete with winch:


img1881 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img1882 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The rusted entrance door:


img1875 by HughieDW, on Flickr

In addition to the valve room there was another empty storage space:


img1883 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The valve room was more far gone than the first and the worst condition of the four tanks:


Cremyll 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The entrance to tank no.3 was the cleanest:


img1884 by HughieDW, on Flickr


Cremyll 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr

But the valve system is in a poor way:


Cremyll 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr


Cremyll 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr

But it had the most metalwork on the top:


img1885 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img1887 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img1888 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img1889 by HughieDW, on Flickr


Cremyll 09 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The value system is far less in-tact and very rust on this one. To the right is the hole you have to climb through:


img1900 by HughieDW, on Flickr

You can see the water is much shallower here. As I walked across the tank floor in one place the floor did a very disconcerting wobble!


img1893 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img1898 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Back out again and here’s another hand winch:


img1906 by HughieDW, on Flickr

This is also the only tank to retain its metal service staircase:


img1907 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And finally, some more hatches, valves and pipes:


img1908 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img1910 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img1911 by HughieDW, on Flickr


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## BikinGlynn (Sep 23, 2019)

Interesting that. love the helix tube thing that looks great. Did it stink down there?


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## HughieD (Sep 23, 2019)

BikinGlynn said:


> Interesting that. love the helix tube thing that looks great. Did it stink down there?



Cheers mate. Funnily enough it was OK. Amazing place but really off the radar. Took two trips to track these bad boys down...


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## Newage (Sep 26, 2019)

Cracking set of pictures mate, still amazed we still missed one of the fuel tanks.

Next time......

Cheers Newage


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## HughieD (Sep 26, 2019)

Newage said:


> Cracking set of pictures mate, still amazed we still missed one of the fuel tanks.
> 
> Next time......
> 
> Cheers Newage



Easily done mate. Plus they are pretty much the same!


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## Toadious (Apr 11, 2020)

You say a flex in the floor..
Would that mean potentially another lower tank below that one? 

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk


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## HughieD (Apr 11, 2020)

Toadious said:


> You say a flex in the floor..
> Would that mean potentially another lower tank below that one?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk



Now there's a thought...


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## Dirus_Strictus (Apr 12, 2020)

Toadious said:


> Would that mean potentially another lower tank below that one?



No. These installations were built very quickly with a limited lifespan envisaged. They were on very poor foundations, which have become undermined with time, in places. This and similar sites around the Country were inspected during the Suez crisis for intended reuse, but were found to be in poor condition.


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## Toadious (Apr 12, 2020)

So that's bad so a cavity due to erosion of some kind beneath it. Makes the whole thing it quite a potential of risk then. 

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk


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## HughieD (Apr 13, 2020)

Toadious said:


> So that's bad so a cavity due to erosion of some kind beneath it. Makes the whole thing it quite a potential of risk then.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk



Only for idiots like me walking inside it


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## damo5000 (May 12, 2020)

did you find the tunnels?


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## explorinwithkier (May 12, 2020)

damo5000 said:


> did you find the tunnels?



which tunnels are you on about damo5000? are you local to Plymouth?


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## HughieD (May 13, 2020)

damo5000 said:


> did you find the tunnels?



Knew roughly where they were but ran out of time so didn't check them out mate...


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## XPLOR33 (May 26, 2021)

Would love to check this one out, it does seem tricky to locate however!


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## night crawler (May 26, 2021)

Does it, I have never been there but looked at the OS map where HuighieD indicated and saw four I suspect tanks.


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## HughieD (May 26, 2021)

Yup...OS maps in conjunction with Google Maps is the way


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## XPLOR33 (May 26, 2021)

night crawler said:


> HughieD said:
> 
> 
> > Yup...OS maps in conjunction with Google Maps is the way
> ...





HughieD said:


> Yup...OS maps in conjunction with Google Maps is the way


I cant seem to see the four tanks - I have been using OS Maps on standard view and google maps


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## Hayman (May 27, 2021)

An excellent group of underground photos, considering the location. You said "Hence on my next visit to Plymouth I took the ferry from Plymouth over the Tamar to Cremyll and then made the mile or so hike to where the path veered off the main road into the woods". Which ferry was that? And what year? As a Devonian in the 1950s and 1960s, I used the Saltash ferry in the days before the construction of the Tamar Road Bridge was completed; then it ceased to run.


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## XPLOR33 (May 27, 2021)

Hayman said:


> An excellent group of underground photos, considering the location. You said "Hence on my next visit to Plymouth I took the ferry from Plymouth over the Tamar to Cremyll and then made the mile or so hike to where the path veered off the main road into the woods". Which ferry was that? And what year? As a Devonian in the 1950s and 1960s, I used the Saltash ferry in the days before the construction of the Tamar Road Bridge was completed; then it ceased to run.


This is what I was slightly confused about, I know of the water taxi (not sure if its classed as a ferry or not) that takes you from Plymouth to Cremyl but the only other ferry I could think of is the Torpoint ferry.


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## Natters5 (May 27, 2021)

I knew of this place but not got round to researching it so great job. The logistics always baffled me as there is no sign of a jetty for ships to unload at and refuel so I assume there is some form of under water pipe to the Harbour the other side. Plus there is the issue of Devonport being some distance up river from here and anyway it had (has) its own fuel depot.

I must get down to that area sometime as loads to see with lots of WW1 gun batteries and earlier forts to explore.


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