Marchington Barracks - August 08

NobodyGirl · Aug 17, 2008

The History

Royal Army Ordnance Corp Marchington, was built around 1957 and dealt with the supply and maintenance of weaponry and munitons and various other military equipment until 1993 when the corp amalgamated with the Royal Logistics Corp.

It was also a Central Vehicle Depot during this time until the barracks closed in 1970, and the Territorial Army took over until finaly closing the site in the early 1980s.

Marchington also housed the Army`s fleet of Green Godesses which came under the jurisdiction of the Office Of The Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).

Marchington gives an eerie presence with its perimeter fencing and symetrical layout, reminds you in some ways of Chernobyl or some post apocolyptic scene from a film set.

It is a cool place though and very imposing, its well worth seeing as its gained some what of an iconic status amongst the urban exploring community.

There is rumours of the entire site being demolished to make way for yet more new houses but so far the planning applcation has not gone through.

I visited here today with OdeonMaster who has an extensive knowledge of the place, it was great to be shown round by someone who knows so much about the place, you get a very good feel for what the place is about. Before we left to visit the place he showed me some fantastic pictures that were taken some 20 years ago of the place and it is incredible how much a place can change in that short amount of time.

I was extremely impressed with this place, just wished I would have seen it sooner!

On with the photos:

The Cinema room

OdeonMaster

Many thanks to Odeon Master for taking me round!!

odeon master · Aug 17, 2008

marchington camp

great photo's, you'v created a real atmosphere with them.
it would be good to see a then and now post showing the same location 20 years ago with the photo's i have from 1988.

NobodyGirl · Aug 17, 2008

odeon master said:
great photo's, you'v created a real atmosphere with them.
it would be good to see a then and now post showing the same location 20 years ago with the photo's i have from 1988.

We will have to sort out a thread for it. Send the photos through to me and I will photoshop them and put them next to each other for a then and now thread. Ill post them back to you and you can post the then and now thread. Your the one who knows all the ins and outs of the place

Example

Odeon's photo - 20 years ago ------------------------------------------------------- my photo - very recent

explosive · Aug 17, 2008

Raoc Twickenham mate,here.

Like the photos. :mrgreen:

explosive · Aug 17, 2008

Added some of my own,from May 2008.

Hope you do not mind.

NobodyGirl · Aug 19, 2008

explosive said:
Added some of my own,from May 2008.

Hope you do not mind.

Of course not, nice snaps! Loved them trashed toilet rooms!

odeon master · Aug 19, 2008

NobodyGirl said:
Of course not, nice snaps! Loved them trashed toilet rooms!

didnt know you went to the camp explosive?
what did you make of it? :mrgreen:

havoc · Aug 19, 2008

Haha nice history lol. :mrgreen:

Bax__ · Jul 13, 2009

just found these pictures on another website......

http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number18278.asp

http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number18279.asp

http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number18281.asp

http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number18280.asp

I guess it's a fairly big warehouse!!!!

odeon master · Jul 13, 2009

interesting to see these fire engines in the B depot vehicle sheds, i often heard the sirens being sounded when maintenance was carried out on the green goddess engines whilst on the camp.
The large sheds are identical to the vehicle sheds at the former Hilton camp, now Hilton Depot.
Not sure who uses these Marchington sheds now the home office have moved out of them.
The green goddess fire engines had been at Marchington since the 80's, before that they were kept at Central ordnance depot Burton On Trent Staffs, which i still believe is partly being used by the home office.

THE ODEON

Bax__ · Jul 14, 2009

Odeon,

I think they have pretty much all been sold off or gifted to 3rd World Countries now, some people were buyng them for the old 3 letter & 3 digit style registrations they had and were then scrapping the actual fire engines.

smiffy · Jul 14, 2009

If there are any of them left they'd be squirrelled away in somewhere like the the Ashchurch Depot near Tewksbury..... :lol:

..I had to go in there about 16 years ago to price a dismantling job ...
Its like a 50 or so acre 'Aladdins cave' for any military vehicle enthusiast.......
........every conceivable vehicle for military use is or was stored there,,,,everything from tanks and armoured cars to bulldozers,landrovers, trucks and ambulances even down to the humble bicycle......
.........I was escorted through the base by a soldier cos although its now ran by a civilian contractor on behalf of the MOD back then it was still a100% military operation...........I was all eyes as we wandered through the place and couldn't believe just how much was stored there....
....the weird thing was this.....
.... one of the huge sheds was filled and I mean filled nose to tail and wall to wall with black Austin Maxis cars............. this remeber was many years since they had been built..........I think production of Maxis (a truly crap car of the British Leyland era by the way!!! )........ must have stopped about 1980 -ish???????..
Well...........whatever.....in about 1994 there were still I guess about 400 of them of them in MOD storage at Ahschurch Depot...all more or less brand new and spanking clean and unused..........
....................christ knows whatever happened to all of them???????? :lol:

tbkscott · Jul 14, 2009

Nice report and great looking site NBG - love the photo's

Bax__ · Jul 14, 2009

Smiffy,

The government could get 2 grand each for those maxi's and replace them with new ford under the scrappage scheme!!! :lol:

Random · Jul 17, 2009

smiffy said:
.... one of the huge sheds was filled and I mean filled nose to tail and wall to wall with black Austin Maxis cars............. this remeber was many years since they had been built..........I think production of Maxis (a truly crap car of the British Leyland era by the way!!! )........ must have stopped about 1980 -ish???????..
Well...........whatever.....in about 1994 there were still I guess about 400 of them of them in MOD storage at Ahschurch Depot...all more or less brand new and spanking clean and unused..........
....................christ knows whatever happened to all of them????????

Ah, the Austin Maxi. Designed to be the opposite number to the Mini, one of the world's truly innovative and ground breaking cars. True to it's name, the Maxi was the complete opposite of this. Designed for people who like having their car in the garage half the time, and only narrowly pipped to the post as the world's shittest car by the bastard child it spawned, the Allegro.

ricasso · Jul 17, 2009

smiffy said:
If there are any of them left they'd be squirrelled away in somewhere like the the Ashchurch Depot near Tewksbury.....
..I had to go in there about 16 years ago to price a dismantling job ...
Its like a 50 or so acre 'Aladdins cave' for any military vehicle enthusiast.......
........every conceivable vehicle for military use is or was stored there,,,,everything from tanks and armoured cars to bulldozers,landrovers, trucks and ambulances even down to the humble bicycle......
.........I was escorted through the base by a soldier cos although its now ran by a civilian contractor on behalf of the MOD back then it was still a100% military operation...........I was all eyes as we wandered through the place and couldn't believe just how much was stored there....
....the weird thing was this.....
.... one of the huge sheds was filled and I mean filled nose to tail and wall to wall with black Austin Maxis cars............. this remeber was many years since they had been built..........I think production of Maxis (a truly crap car of the British Leyland era by the way!!! )........ must have stopped about 1980 -ish???????..
Well...........whatever.....in about 1994 there were still I guess about 400 of them of them in MOD storage at Ahschurch Depot...all more or less brand new and spanking clean and unused..........
....................christ knows whatever happened to all of them????????

You'll have to talk to my lad, he works at Ashchurch depot, and has access to all areas,jammy git!!!

Marchington Barracks - August 08

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