# RAF Staxton Wold - Driffield site



## cactusmelba (Nov 17, 2008)

I know it's only just been done by Kaputnik, and excellently so too, but just thought I'd add my ten cents worth..

Opened in 1936, originally called RAF Driffield, changed hands to the Transport Corps in 1977 and renamed Alamein Barracks, until it eventually became RAF Staxton Wold in 199, then closed in 1996.

Half of the site is still active, with the army practising driving on the western part. 

If you start at the Eastern end, there are numerous buildings to explore, some with quite grand fireplaces, MOST with broken windows. The married men's quarters, about 30/40 terraced houses are mostly accessible but broken up, very little sign of life left. 

The 'H' block buildings are interesting, I think all four have cellars with esape hatches leading outside the buildings. 

All the buildings have fences around them but most are broken/accessible EXCEPT the dining hall (I think) which has a wire fence all around AND signs saying trespassers will be prosecuted etc.. This is the only building with unbroken windows too, so maybe Strawsons have plans for it..(?) 

The gym at the far end is as far as I got, men working in the next yard were quite visible, but the whole gym has been turned into an impromptu skate park by industrious skaters, complete with half-pipe! well done!

Of particular interest to me was a small fenced off area that proclaimed a 'confined space', with steel ladders going down into the ground past a metal hatch, and a vent pipe was clearly visible a few metres away, I need to go back another time I think!

It is rumoured that the SAS visited the site in the late 1990s, using several buildings to practice the rapid entry of blockaded rooms using explosives. The Prison Service has also used a number of accommodation blocks, to train officers in riot control and prisoner restraint techniques. That may well explain the presence of rubber bullets here and there.

anyways, there's a VERY comprehensive website detailing the history of the place http://www.driffieldaerodrome.co.uk/ here, and you can view a PDF of the site brochure when it was for sale too here.. http://www.driffieldaerodrome.co.uk/future/brochure.pdf

on with the pics..

unsafe building.






Married mens quarters





the entrance hall with warping floor





nature's taking over, the creeping plant's come through the window and making its way to the kitchen for a sarnie..





Spot the urbexer!





I forgot to keep the light pointing AWAY from the lens!





Urinals. Scary. (only cos you might bump into George Michael..)





LOVE those taps!





Half submerged boiler room. No i didn't go in.





Pin-up from 'dry stone waller' magazine. yummy!





H&S should run field trips to this kitchen.





2nd Salamanders!!?





Kitchen machinery. These levers operate the RAF moustache hair filters on the cookers.





Lovely old instrumentation. tells you when your chips are done.





Bedding store and biohazard. synonymous?





Blinkin diabetics and their nasty habits...





One of the cellars. so quiet you could hear a mouse fart. In fact I think I did.





The 2nd exit from the cellar. Comes out a few metres from the building.





Door on the right leads back up to ground level.





Next time I'm bringing a repair kit and using this to get about the site on!





Abstract composition, 'car door on neat pile of logs' I call it.





Someone's been meeting here... unnerving..





Halfway resting point..





odd booths.. 





bar. dry. poop.





Whoever wallpapered the ceiling should be shot. oh they probably were.





What are these brick enclosures?





Industrious skateboarders...





I know Kaputnik posted this pic too, but it just looks superb. It was all I could do not to salute ..





danger confined space... . ? GREAT!





fenced off..





Note vent shaft.. there MUST be something under that grass.....





Thats it, further reports when i get underground!


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## shatters (Nov 17, 2008)

cactusmelba said:


> What are these brick enclosures?



Small bore rifle butts ?

Phil


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## Foxylady (Nov 17, 2008)

cactusmelba said:


> What are these brick enclosures?



They look similar to the kind of entrance you'd find to underground bunkers or ammo stores.
Enjoyed seeing more of this interesting site...and your wry comments.


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## Kaputnik (Nov 17, 2008)

glad you got to visit the place, mate, and get a few piccies.
think those enclosures are actually part of a dog training course, where they near the gymnasium, and some different height scrabble walls, and bars of various heights?
that underground bit def needs a further look, maybe a shelter of somekind
good stuff


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## cactusmelba (Nov 17, 2008)

Foxylady said:


> They look similar to the kind of entrance you'd find to underground bunkers or ammo stores.



That;s what I thought they looked like too.. possibly wishful thinking though, as Kaputnik says, they WERE near the scrabble walls and obstacle course stuff... might go back with a spade!!!


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## cactusmelba (Nov 20, 2008)

*Re-visit Nov 08*

Popped back, scraped the grass away from the hatch.
There are two handles, and it's hinged on one side. 
It's either welded shut, or rusted shut. I couldn't move it at ALL..
anyway, a few more pics here..


the Hatch of mystery..





the power station.





suprised this hasn't been weighed in yet.. should fetch a few squids..





the table's not there but the antique scoreboard is..





probably the worst bar in the world....





could be worth knowing this... for frequenters of needle infested dereliction..





sign still being obeyed.. no cars for miles around.





the dry boiler room, picture me running round like a LOON trying to light up the whole place with my tiny maglite for thirty seconds... idiot. MUST buy a good torch.





non-slip adhesive? i thought that was the general idea of ADHESIVE. that it's non-slip.. i love that old oil can in the back.





there's quite a big hall next to a hangar with loads of furniture in it, light fittings and so on, and sat on the floor, an ancient stretcher.. 





an old record player. I'll take my val doonican vinyl with me next time...





the famous painting, happily untouched by chavdom.





iconic Glitto with bleach. didn't do a very good job on that sink.





huge immovable doors


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## RAF_Firenat999 (Nov 20, 2008)

Thanks for a great expo, i just LOVE military sites, for obvious reasons. i especially like your boiler room pic, it looks like something out of a frankenstein movie! the murals are lovely too.... if walls could talk and tell us all the tales of the past, we'd be smitten!


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## Scotty (Nov 20, 2008)

Thats a cracking site, loads to see. 
Real wish i was closer so i could take a look.

you need to get this open.
Go back with some WD40 or 3in1 and open it


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## cactusmelba (Nov 20, 2008)

Scotty said:


> you need to get this open.
> Go back with some WD40 or 3in1 and open it



will do buddy.. if it's only rusted shut then a metal bar might lever it open. in my mind that's not breaking and entering, just opening and entering!

next week i reckon!


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## Scotty (Nov 20, 2008)

thats not a exit shaft from the celler is it?

also, why is there a handle on the same side as the hinge?
you was not trying to lift it from that end


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## LiamCH (Nov 20, 2008)

Oh, nice bicycle. A Raleigh Twenty, I believe. Those are quite valuble now. What do you reckon it's doing there?

Very nice site by the way. I love the flooded boiler room. How did that happen? I love flooded places.


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## Seahorse (Nov 20, 2008)

cactusmelba said:


> That;s what I thought they looked like too.. possibly wishful thinking though, as Kaputnik says, they WERE near the scrabble walls and obstacle course stuff... might go back with a spade!!!



Don't bother, they're part of the obstacle course.

I've done my fair share of running up those kind of things. 

Sometimes the point of them is to err, just run up them and jump off. Sometimes there's a water pit on the other side. And sometimes there a rope swing type of affair, so you have to run up, jump off, and swing over the water.

Those crazy military types... whatever will they think of next for fun?


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## cactusmelba (Nov 20, 2008)

Scotty said:


> thats not a exit shaft from the celler is it?
> 
> also, why is there a handle on the same side as the hinge?
> you was not trying to lift it from that end



Hi scotty, no, the exits from the cellars are much closer to the buildings, and the cellars don't seem to have a vent shaft like this hatch does.. 
I THOUGHT it was weird there being handles next to the hinge as well as the opposite end too, but no i wasn't lifting from that end!! can't explain it sorry!





LiamCH said:


> Oh, nice bicycle. A Raleigh Twenty, I believe. Those are quite valuble now. What do you reckon it's doing there?
> 
> Very nice site by the way. I love the flooded boiler room. How did that happen? I love flooded places.



not a clue about the twenty mate, but it'd be dead handy to get around on, the site's quite big! 
If I had some waders I'd venture into the boiler room, but I haven't so I won't! It's a bit lower than the rest of the building, JUST under ground level, so it must be natural flooding.. hopefully it's not the accumulated wee of a thousand chav visitors..




Seahorse said:


> Don't bother, they're part of the obstacle course.
> 
> I've done my fair share of running up those kind of things.
> 
> ...



HAhahaa, LOL, they ARE a bit mental, all that running and jumping and all that.. Thanks for the heads up, I won't bother digging them up then! (although if no-ones looking i MIGHT run up one and jump off while pretending to shoot a tommy gun.....)


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## Seahorse (Nov 20, 2008)

cactusmelba said:


> HAhahaa, LOL, they ARE a bit mental, all that running and jumping and all that.. Thanks for the heads up, I won't bother digging them up then! (although if no-ones looking i MIGHT run up one and jump off while pretending to shoot a tommy gun.....)



Oh, look. Here's a bunch of us having fun on something similar back in 1978. 

We must have been having fun, cos out PT intructor told us to all smile for the camera. 






Oh, damn. I've come over all old again.


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## cactusmelba (Nov 20, 2008)

Seahorse said:


> Oh, look. Here's a bunch of us having fun on something similar back in 1978.
> 
> We must have been having fun, cos out PT intructor told us to all smile for the camera.
> 
> ...



hey, that actually DOES look like fun...

not quite as much fun as this though...http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=34591


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## Seahorse (Nov 21, 2008)

cactusmelba said:


> not quite as much fun as this though...http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=34591



OOOOH, yeah!!! And it's not like they didn't take their safety seriously too, so fair play to them.


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## cactusmelba (Jan 5, 2009)

Scotty said:


> Thats a cracking site, loads to see.
> Real wish i was closer so i could take a look.
> 
> you need to get this open.
> Go back with some WD40 or 3in1 and open it



Returned this week, got it open too! 

BUT.. completely flooded unfortunately.. there's a ladder that goes maybe 15/20 rungs down, some pipes and valves visible near the top, and the diameter of the shaft is bigger than a roc post, possibly four foot across... there's gotta be a room down there, cos of the vent shaft about ten feet away from the entrance, but unless someone's got a heavy duty pump they wanna loan us, we'll never see it!

I wonder if it's just a maintenance room for the pipework/valves etc.. (although there are already a few boiler rooms on the site..) 

I'll pop back and try get a picture of it open..


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