# Farleigh, Wilts, Nov 2010



## Incognito (Jan 11, 2011)

Monkton Farleigh Down Tunnel, Wiltshire.
November 2010

Been done plenty of times, nice little explore even if it is a killer on the legs.
Little bit of history for the area, hopefully its correct.

In 1881 the hills on the North Western side of Monkton Farleigh village were quarried for Bath Stone. By the time the quarries closed in 1930 the whole of the hill was riddled with roughly 300 acres of tunnels.

During the build up to WW2 the War Department decided that there was a need for a large underground ammunitions store. 
It was decided that the required space could be obtained by converting four quarries, these four formed what was collectively known as the Central Ammunitions Depot Corsham. Monkton Farleigh mine was acquired and became the biggest of the four sub components, a total of two and a half million square foot was converted.

The three other sub-depots were Tunnel Quarry at Corsham, Eastlays Quarry at Gastard and nearby Ridge Quarry.

Extensive conversion work was carried out at Monkton Farleigh, existing slope shafts were adapted and four new slope shafts were sunk. Above each of these slope shafts and loading shed building was built. Two service hatches and many air shafts were driven down in to the workings.

The site was served by an aerial rope way which transported the ammo cases from the main GWR line at Ashley. The rope ways needed to be replaced due to it's vulnerability to attacks from air. A straight tunnel was bored stretching over a mile underground between Monkton and Farleigh Down Sidings.

The depot was gradually completed and filled with ammunition district by district until it's completion in 1941, it was able to hold up to 120,000 tons of ammunition.

Huge amounts of funds were pumped in to the site after the war to maintain it's condition until 1960 when it was decided to be surplus. The site was run down over the next few years while the last of the ammunition was depleted.
Other areas of the mine are still in use for storing confidential and non confidential data.


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## bonecollector (Jan 11, 2011)

Its a right killer on the legs.
Did you ride the sheet on the way back down?


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## Incognito (Jan 11, 2011)

bonecollector said:


> Its a right killer on the legs.
> Did you ride the sheet on the way back down?



LOL no riding anything on the way back, it was actually quite busy with people going up and down the tunnel lol.


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## fluffy5518 (Jan 11, 2011)

Incognito said:


> LOL no riding anything on the way back, it was actually quite busy with people going up and down the tunnel lol.



WHAT !! You big Jessie !!! Newage and i spent hours flying down the rollers on our razor sharp metal sheets !!! (......and if you believe that ..........!! ) Nice report. It is a good little explore but as BC says it does make your legs realise why they have muscles fitted !!


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## Incognito (Jan 11, 2011)

fluffy5518 said:


> WHAT !! You big Jessie !!! Newage and i spent hours flying down the rollers on our razor sharp metal sheets !!! (......and if you believe that ..........!! ) Nice report. It is a good little explore but as BC says it does make your legs realise why they have muscles fitted !!



There was nothing there to use for riding on or I may have jumped on lol, next time i'll have to take the sledge and try it out lol


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## oldscrote (Jan 12, 2011)

I do love this place having spent 12 years of my life living in Monkton Farleigh,so always grateful to see pictures of the old place.
A bit of information on the tunnel,The design was completed by December 1938 and the 1 1/4 mile long tunnel was completed to rough stage by by May 1940 it was finally finished with conveyors running in April 1942.

It runs at a steady gradient of 1 in 8 1/4 in the main tunnelled part [hence knackered legs] and slightly less in the cut and covered section at the bottom.It was constructed by the Cementation Company,and at it's deepest point it is 180 feet below ground.It was built not only for safety and secrecy but also to speed up ammunition handling as the overhead ropeway was fairly slow.The ropeway was retained and was used in conjunction with the tunnel in1944 to facilitate the large issues of ammo required for the Normandy landings.There are at least 8 of the ropeway tower bases left in place and probably more hidden in the woods.


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## godzilla73 (Jan 12, 2011)

Nice to see some autumnal shots here. I loved this place when me and Fluffy went earlier in the Autumn. It was a hike, and I nearly brained myself falling over, but it was a terrific explore. Great history to it too. Thanks for sharing
GDZ


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## Bunker Bill (Jan 13, 2011)

Planing on a visit in a couple of weeks, not been before , looks good, pic's are great.


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## vwdirtboy (Jan 13, 2011)

Cracking mate


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## Incognito (Jan 13, 2011)

vwdirtboy said:


> Cracking mate



Cheers, I even managed to slip in a HDR shot even if it is very subtle lol


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## vwdirtboy (Jan 13, 2011)

Incognito said:


> Cheers, I even managed to slip in a HDR shot even if it is very subtle lol



number 4??


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## Incognito (Jan 13, 2011)

vwdirtboy said:


> number 4??



Number 10, probably not the most intersting thing to HDR lol but wanted to get more depth and light, i said it was subtle lol


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## vwdirtboy (Jan 13, 2011)

Incognito said:


> Number 10, probably not the most intersting thing to HDR lol but wanted to get more depth and light, i said it was subtle lol



Can just about see it lol!

try this if you haven't already.. bit processor hungry but excellent. and the beta download is free FTW!

http://www.oloneo.com/


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## Incognito (Jan 13, 2011)

i have been using photomatix pro ver 4, tbh the program is fine but as i can't shoot in raw it can only do so much. I'll check out that software cheers


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## jjandellis (Jan 18, 2011)

ok .... I went very very recently and about a mile into the tunnel (with my totally sh*t torch ) bottled it ... and swiftly headed back ......what did I miss ...whats at the end ????


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## krela (Jan 18, 2011)

jjandellis said:


> ok .... I went very very recently and about a mile into the tunnel (with my totally sh*t torch ) bottled it ... and swiftly headed back ......what did I miss ...whats at the end ????



A breezeblock wall... as seen in pic 9 I believe.

I have fond memories of raves here.


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## jjandellis (Jan 18, 2011)

krela said:


> A breezeblock wall... as seen in pic 9 I believe.
> 
> I have fond memories of raves here.



i would of fitted in well with my surgeons mask and day glow clothes then .....im just a few years to late....i thought it was ...but i just couldnt push myself that bit further.....tut tut ...


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## Incognito (Jan 18, 2011)

Yep pic 9 is the end, although you couldn't haven't been that far from the end after walking for a mile. It's certainly a work out on the legs lol


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## TeeJF (Mar 3, 2011)

I'm not sure but isn't Monkton Farleigh the place the late Harry Patch (the last WW1 vet who died very recently) used to get called upon to guide surveyors round because he had such an intimate knowledge of the tunnels? Entry looks easy.... is that so?


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## dobbo79 (Mar 3, 2011)

Great Pics.
I actually like the ghost graffiti...lol


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## sheep2405 (Mar 3, 2011)

TeeJF said:


> I'm not sure but isn't Monkton Farleigh the place the late Harry Patch (the last WW1 vet who died very recently) used to get called upon to guide surveyors round because he had such an intimate knowledge of the tunnels? Entry looks easy.... is that so?



Not good to talk about xs, im sure if you took a trip you would find out. Its well worth it.


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## tommo (Mar 3, 2011)

yeah the siddings are an easy explore and wide open and its a killer on the legs to reach the top but the hole at the top doesnt go any where any more just in to deads and scrap, its blocked of from the rest of MF so u wont get any where

but its an interesting part of the history of the area and worth a visit if your passing by


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## Incognito (Mar 5, 2011)

Just like tommo said the site is wide open and is a bit of a tourist spot TBH we met a family down complete with their dog lol. Its a fair old walk just to find its a brick wall that has been backfilled with carp but its still worth doing atleast once


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## oldscrote (Mar 5, 2011)

Incognito said:


> Just like tommo said the site is wide open and is a bit of a tourist spot TBH we met a family down complete with their dog lol. Its a fair old walk just to find its a brick wall that has been backfilled with carp but its still worth doing atleast once



sounds a bit fishy to me back filled with carp


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## FLEXX (Mar 5, 2011)

oldscrote said:


> sounds a bit fishy to me back filled with carp



i was there less than a month ago did stick my head through the hole but couldnt see a great deal there are rumours that the other side is still in use by the MOD wether this is true i do not know maybe just here say?


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## oldscrote (Mar 6, 2011)

FLEXX said:


> i was there less than a month ago did stick my head through the hole but couldnt see a great deal there are rumours that the other side is still in use by the MOD wether this is true i do not know maybe just here say?



The M.O.D. left in the 60s it was abandoned for a while then became a museum for awhile in the 80s.It was well trashed by the pikeys for the considerable amount of copper before being taken over by Wansdyke Security as another of their secure document stores.

http://www.nettleden.com/documents/monkton-farleigh-storage/

This is a reasonably accurate history of the mine

http://www.nettleden.com/articles/monkton-farleigh-history/

and yet again a link to Nick Mc camleys site

http://www.monkton-farleigh.co.uk/sc_monktonfarleigh2.htm


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## Incognito (Mar 6, 2011)

oldscrote said:


> sounds a bit fishy to me back filled with carp


LOL



FLEXX said:


> i was there less than a month ago did stick my head through the hole but couldnt see a great deal there are rumours that the other side is still in use by the MOD wether this is true i do not know maybe just here say?



You wont see much unless your head is 6ft long and only a few mm wide lol. The other side of the wall is used by a documents storage company, and obviously they dont want you in there.


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## TeeJF (Mar 6, 2011)

I've got to go see what it's all about and I've been trying to find the place for like 5 years now! I've got my little Google earth map sorted!


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