Can't believe it was so long ago we did this, meant to post it sooner.
Copenacre quarry started life as an average size bathstone quarry that had been quarried for it's stone since around 1850. Quarrying stopped sometime in the early 20th century and in 1940 with an urgent need for more secure underground storage the Government acquired Copenacre for use as a Royal Naval Store Depot.
Two new lifts were installed and a new shaft was sunk to provide access to the centre of the quarry. All the shafte were heavily reinforced with large concerte buildings. The estimated cost to convert the quarry was £192,500, but the Navy demanded the best of everything and within weeks costs had exceeded the agreed budget. Copenacre was put in to use in 1942, mainly providing support for the Navy's electronic equipment with storage and test facilities.
In 1954 with changes in global warfare Copenacre was expanded as the site protected by 100 feet of rock offered much better protection from an atom bomb than anything on the surface, so the site was expanded.
By 1969 Copenacre was a self contained unit dealing with storage and testing for the whole range of electronic kit for the navy. By this time the Copenacre organisation also had storage space in Spring Quarry and Monks Park Quarry.
It was announced in 1972 that Copenacre was to be closed, however this closed a bit of a stir as at the time the Royal Navy depot was the largest employer in North Wiltshire employing 1700 staff. The depot was saved.
Copenacre Quarry finally closed on 30th September 1995 and the quarry was sold off to hanson to be incorporated into the nearby Hartham Park quarry, some 1.0km to the South. However the surface stores and offices continued in use until about 2009.
The Copenacre quarry is now being used to store waste material extracted from the adjoining mine and the tunnels are slowly being back filled. Unfortunately this has advanced quite far, so the actual parts of the Copenacre complex we were able to see was minimal, however it was made up for by the underground workshop and mining equipment that is in use down there.
I made three visits here in total, I can't remember who was with me on the different ocassions, but I've explored it with Frosty, Fortknox, Jesus, Woodburner and Thompski at different times.
We've sat on this for a bit hoping to get back inside and get more people through the door before we publicised it too widely, but the access we used is now well and truely sealed up and the back-filling had advanced so far in between visits that several months later it's questionable how much you would even be able to get to! I know it's been done before by a few people before and since us as well.
Parts of the original copenacre site to start with
Goods Lift
You can see they have backfilled it to roughly halfway, leaving a roadway free for the vehicles. It is intended to be filled all the way to the roof eventually and had progressed quite a bit towards this inbetween visits.
Ventilation plant
And the back of it
Electrical bits and pieces
Looking up one of the shafts
Personnel Lift
Some areas that had yet to be filled
Signage
Bathroom/washroom
And now the part that they are using as a workshop for their vehicles, including a rather impressive collection of underground diesel powered trucks (some of which had been serviced as recently as that day!)
And now it gets a bit more like a Quarry
And this is what they use to quarry the stone, it's basically a giant chainsaw on wheels and runs on quite a hefty electricity supply.
The business end
All in all a fantastic explore, I just wish more people got a chance to see it! I also know there's more down there waiting to be discovered, including some old workings with wooden cranes in and much more, but we never made it that far ourselves
Copenacre quarry started life as an average size bathstone quarry that had been quarried for it's stone since around 1850. Quarrying stopped sometime in the early 20th century and in 1940 with an urgent need for more secure underground storage the Government acquired Copenacre for use as a Royal Naval Store Depot.
Two new lifts were installed and a new shaft was sunk to provide access to the centre of the quarry. All the shafte were heavily reinforced with large concerte buildings. The estimated cost to convert the quarry was £192,500, but the Navy demanded the best of everything and within weeks costs had exceeded the agreed budget. Copenacre was put in to use in 1942, mainly providing support for the Navy's electronic equipment with storage and test facilities.
In 1954 with changes in global warfare Copenacre was expanded as the site protected by 100 feet of rock offered much better protection from an atom bomb than anything on the surface, so the site was expanded.
By 1969 Copenacre was a self contained unit dealing with storage and testing for the whole range of electronic kit for the navy. By this time the Copenacre organisation also had storage space in Spring Quarry and Monks Park Quarry.
It was announced in 1972 that Copenacre was to be closed, however this closed a bit of a stir as at the time the Royal Navy depot was the largest employer in North Wiltshire employing 1700 staff. The depot was saved.
Copenacre Quarry finally closed on 30th September 1995 and the quarry was sold off to hanson to be incorporated into the nearby Hartham Park quarry, some 1.0km to the South. However the surface stores and offices continued in use until about 2009.
The Copenacre quarry is now being used to store waste material extracted from the adjoining mine and the tunnels are slowly being back filled. Unfortunately this has advanced quite far, so the actual parts of the Copenacre complex we were able to see was minimal, however it was made up for by the underground workshop and mining equipment that is in use down there.
I made three visits here in total, I can't remember who was with me on the different ocassions, but I've explored it with Frosty, Fortknox, Jesus, Woodburner and Thompski at different times.
We've sat on this for a bit hoping to get back inside and get more people through the door before we publicised it too widely, but the access we used is now well and truely sealed up and the back-filling had advanced so far in between visits that several months later it's questionable how much you would even be able to get to! I know it's been done before by a few people before and since us as well.
Parts of the original copenacre site to start with
Goods Lift
You can see they have backfilled it to roughly halfway, leaving a roadway free for the vehicles. It is intended to be filled all the way to the roof eventually and had progressed quite a bit towards this inbetween visits.
Ventilation plant
And the back of it
Electrical bits and pieces
Looking up one of the shafts
Personnel Lift
Some areas that had yet to be filled
Signage
Bathroom/washroom
And now the part that they are using as a workshop for their vehicles, including a rather impressive collection of underground diesel powered trucks (some of which had been serviced as recently as that day!)
And now it gets a bit more like a Quarry
And this is what they use to quarry the stone, it's basically a giant chainsaw on wheels and runs on quite a hefty electricity supply.
The business end
All in all a fantastic explore, I just wish more people got a chance to see it! I also know there's more down there waiting to be discovered, including some old workings with wooden cranes in and much more, but we never made it that far ourselves
