# Kelmarsh Fuel Storage Depot - April 2016



## jsp77 (May 4, 2016)

Having been close by I thought i'd have a little nosey round this Fuel Storage Depot. On arrival I could see lots of sheep and their little lambs, wasn't sure what to expect. Don't get me wrong I don't mind sheep, but was a little weary of them because of the lambs. 
So i found my way inside was quite happy taking a few photos of various parts when i noticed the sheep coming closer, was trying to keep a low profile as its so open, then i could hear them BAA BAA BAA. they were worse than a gaggle of Geese and they were homing in on me, so i had to cut short my visit.

I couldn't find much history on this site.

All of the major RAF and USAF airbases around the UK, together with key installations such as AWE Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield, are connected to large oil refineries around the coastline using a massive network of underground high pressure pipelines and Petroleum Storage Depots (PSD), referred to as the Government Pipelines and Storage System (GPSS). 

For safety reasons, the locations of these pipelines are marked with identification posts which look rather like bird feeding tables with brightly coloured roofs. The Depot supplying RAF stations and other military installations in the north Northamptonshire area is located here at PSD Kelmarsh

Heres some photos of what i did manage to take.


IMG_5209 by JSP 77, on Flickr


IMG_5178 by JSP 77, on Flickr


IMG_5194 by JSP 77, on Flickr


IMG_5182 by JSP 77, on Flickr


IMG_5180 by JSP 77, on Flickr


IMG_5201 by JSP 77, on Flickr


IMG_5204 by JSP 77, on Flickr

thanks for looking


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## Sam Haltin (May 4, 2016)

What you did take still made this interesting.


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## Mikeymutt (May 4, 2016)

Enjoyed that jsp77.something a bit different


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## jsp77 (May 5, 2016)

Hugh Jorgan said:


> What you did take still made this interesting.



Thanks Hugh, if I go back it will not be in the Lambing season!!



Mikeymutt said:


> Enjoyed that jsp77.something a bit different



Cheers Mikey.


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## night crawler (May 5, 2016)

Never come across a place like that before, most interesting


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## smiler (May 5, 2016)

Looks worth another visit, carry a sprig of mint, they'll not come near ya, I liked your post, Thanks


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## flyboys90 (May 5, 2016)

Amazing and what a huge site!


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## jsp77 (May 5, 2016)

smiler said:


> Looks worth another visit, carry a sprig of mint, they'll not come near ya, I liked your post, Thanks



Definitely worth trying Smiler, i will go back at some point.


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## druid (May 5, 2016)

Kelmarsh was a distribution depot and had a fairly low storage capacity. It had road and rail tanker loading/unloading as well as the pipeline link to Sandy Heath. A similar depot was Goostrey which has featured on the bulletin board before.

The GPSS was sold off to the Spanish company CLH for around £80 million last year and is now known as CLH-PS. The Linewatch website has generalised maps of the various oil and gas pipelines including CLH-PS but take them with a big pinch of salt...they show parts that never existed and parts that were decommissioned long ago.

For anyone wanting to know about the history and design of GPSS look out for a book by Tim Whittle (who worked for OPA) which will be published in the next couple of months.


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## tumble112 (May 6, 2016)

Never seen this before, very interesting post. Thanks.


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## UrbanX (Jul 7, 2016)

Nice one! Thanks for sharing


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