RAF Rudloe manor

[jjandellis]

I know this has been done before but hopefully i have a few different angles and those who have seen it before can see what state it now lies........ I could of kicked myself as i went recently there were blatant access point however when i went the 2nd time the manor was boarded up ....this seems to be the story of my urbex life .... a little history ladies and gentlemen and then the goods...........

The Rudloe Site was formerly RAF Rudloe Manor, which was established during the Second World War as a non-flying station for administrative and command & control purposes. . By 1998 it had become mostly administrative, housing the RAF Provost and Security Services, which dealt with security and criminal investigation services. It closed as an operational site in about 2000.

The base has two main buildings – a manor house and a purpose-built operations building. There are several smaller, newer buildings scattered around the site too.....

 

[jjandellis]

NB ...note to self ...learn to spell Rudloe..... i can change it ...???

 

[Incognito]

NB ...note to self ...learn to spell Rudloe..... i can change it ...???

there is an edit button at the end of your post for such moments lol

Nice pics another place I really want to get to. The pics could do with a space between them so it breaks them up a little, IMO.

 

[bonecollector]

Nice pics of a nice place mate.
Next time your around that area you should get yourself underground.

 

[borntobemild]

I've heard there are tunnels leading to Box and Corsham quarries.

My cousin was in the RAF and was stationed there for a while in the late 80s. He never talked much about what he did so I assume it was fairly 'hush hush'.

 

[oldscrote]

Glad to see you got there J.J.It's a nice site.I used to pick up the occasional passenger from there when the R.A.F. used to have the odd wild night.They must of been upper ranks as there was always a stretch limo or two there.The actual site doesn't connect to the underground part directly I believe they went in to the control centre through Tunnel Quarry.The end of Browns quarry is only a few hundred yards from being right under the surface part but it was deemed to expensive and slow to mine the passage .There's a couple of pictures and a map of underground Rudloe here


http://www.monkton-farleigh.co.uk/sc_rudloe1.htm

 

[krela]

I've heard there are tunnels leading to Box and Corsham quarries.

My cousin was in the RAF and was stationed there for a while in the late 80s. He never talked much about what he did so I assume it was fairly 'hush hush'.

My aunty was in BHS and heard the assistant managing marzipan manufacturer say that BHS is actually a cover for MI5 spying on our shopping habits.

Don't believe everything you hear.

(almost) Everything about Corsham is known now and in the public domain if you google for it, there's no tunnels in this particular bit. (alas).

Thanks for posting my favourite site jj, good to see it again.

 

[spitfire]

Does this dispel the possible urban legend once and for all that this is/was a secret UFO research lab?

 

[jjandellis]

well having been there on a non specified tuesday and the manor being accessable, and then returning on a non specified monday and everything being boarded up, I can only come to the conclusion that it is infact a ufo hotspot and the aliens must have read my mind from the manor and alerted their security maintanence to board the place back up with their hi-tec sci-fi 6ml ply wood ..... its the only explanation.....
Strangely enough i was thinking the other day following a report saying that in the UK there are 3 UFO sightings a week ....how come (if there were aliens out there) that none of them are captured on camera... I mean technology allows nearly all members of society (apart from my mum) to have a camera or camcorder on them at all times ....yet still the hypothetical aliens evade capture !!!!!

 

[jjandellis]

here is some more pictures ...as you can see the place is completely trashed and barely a window remails intact .... the manor house looks totally unstable and security to be honest was non exsistant ....

 

[Munchh]

.................assistant managing marzipan manufacturer................

now there's a job description

Strangely enough i was thinking the other day following a report saying that in the UK there are 3 UFO sightings a week ....how come (if there were aliens out there) that none of them are captured on camera... I mean technology allows nearly all members of society (apart from my mum) to have a camera or camcorder on them at all times ....yet still the hypothetical aliens evade capture !!!!!

One of those 3 sightings a week may have been my DSLR flying off the edge of a quarry a while back. Strangely, I wasn't able to get a photo of it.

Interesting explore and report, wonderful architecure.

 

[krela]

The Provost & Sec forces were indeed responsible for investigating UFO sightings. That does not however make this a secret UFO lab. It just means some poor sod based here had to drive around the country listening to drivelling loonies and drunks ramble on about bright lights and sore asses.

 

[klempner69]

Sore Asses?..dogging down Rudloe way maybe!

 

[fluffy5518]

My aunty was in BHS and heard the assistant managing marzipan manufacturer say that BHS is actually a cover for MI5 spying on our shopping habits.

Right !! That's the last time i nip in there for my stollen cakes !!! Hang on a minute..........BHS dont have a food section so they wouldn't have a marzipan manager ........Your just makin' this up !!!
DONT BELIEVE ALL YOU READ !!

 

[tommo]

its a great site the manor, its a shame its gone to the chavs in parts............but its the local kids that go drinking in the underground section on a friday night that have all the info more like air raid shelters consisting of a couple of big rooms will get some pics next time we are over there



did u see the expensive looking CCTV around the edges of the site

 

[hydealfred]

Pic 6 scares me beyond belief - the word presentation has me running towards the exit at full speed. Nice post

 

[Foxylady]

Pic 6 scares me beyond belief - the word presentation has me running towards the exit at full speed...

LOL! I'd agree with that...just the thought of a corporate/office job leaves me a gibbering wreck!

Great to see Rudloe Manor again. I especially like the last set of pics, particularly the one of the view through the two little stone-carved windows. Nice one, jj.

 

[krela]

After an enquiry from oldscrote last night about if I knew anything about the history of the manor itself, I uncovered these little gems of files...

An archaelogical report on the site:

http://www.krela.co.uk/rudloe/22190_60.pdf

and

A wonderful history report:

http://www.krela.co.uk/rudloe/22190_64.pdf

Both files are 20+ MB mind so you're best off right clicking and saving them rather than trying to open them directly.

Thought I might as well share here as well as directly to oldscrote.

Fear my mad research skillz.

I'll just add a couple of internals of my own, unfortunately the majority of my photos of the site were lost in a HD crash, clearly a reason to go back!

Main staircare:

Timber framed roof (the picture REALLY doesn't do it justice, it's amazing):

The top of the staircase:

 

[Munchh]

Wonderful Cruck beam and braced roof krela, I would love to see that in the flesh. Here's a similar one from my personal collection, taken by a colleague undergoing major renovation, again only able to be fully appreciated as a whole;

 

[tommo]

@ krela, check u out with posting some pics up lol may be we can hit this after the "woods" trip next time just for old times sake lol