Firstly I’m going to start by saying this is in no way a guideline for others, as this was my first ever actual planned trip, and by what I’m about to tell you, you’ll be able to cringe at my inexperience throughout.
The history of this place has been googled many times, so to save you from that I will tell you about our most troubling problem which was the quarry. Obviously I assume the site looked much different than it does now, but apparently quarry works had been roughly started since 1940 but didn’t pick up properly until 2001. In 1956 parts of the airfield were leased by Marconi Radar for the installation and testing of radar equipment, with there use ceasing as Blackwater Aggregates (the people in charge of the quarry now) gained permission to commence the excavations on part of the site. It is actually one of the largest sand and gravel quarries in the country.
quite beautiful if you ask me.
In terms of gear all I had was my phone, some water, and the most protective clothing I could find... shorts and a tshirt. Looking back I don’t know what I was thinking, maybe a walk in a park. But as any decent urban explorer would know, this was a poor choice of clothing and I’m sure after many more reports I’ll come back to this one ashamed.
the first and easiest thing you find at this site, is I believe one of the main hangars. The issue I had is from a distance it looks still in really good shape, so for a while we thought it was still in use and wasn’t what we was looking for. It’s obviously maintained but after scouting around we couldn’t find access in there.
this was the outside, and the inside looks Much better but was no entrance.
We really thought we had hit the jackpot, and was getting our first taste of the adventure so whilst the morale was high we started looking around for actual buildings we could get into. The morale soon died as we spent the next 30 minutes walking in circles with no idea where to go next. The problem was that there is quite a lot of rubble where buildings used to be, and as inexperienced as we were we really thought that was all that remained of the once very active site. The only options left was to either cross the biggest quarry in the country, or turn back. And you can guess what we chose.
In hindsight, for the experienced guys on here. You will probably be laughing at our terrible choice of route. It was unnecessarily more dangerous, but in terms of adventure, it was definitely more exciting. The fact is how we found the place was completely by chance, both of us making decisions that ultimately lead us here. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t a planned route which most of you have, we got lucky, but everything that happened lead us here.
from trekking the quarry, we made it to literally the site entrance to it, where all the active offices are. This didn’t exactly go well With us because we were definitely in a place where we shouldn’t be. Cameras galore, and big vehicles. Was just a recipe for disaster.
After scouting around, my friends supersonic hearing heard a car which caused him to start running, where the missing braincells In me thought it was a aero plane (ironic) then before you know it I was face to face with a car. Adrenaline kicked in which as I’m writing this is now replaced with regret, as the poor choice of clothing lead to the many cuts and stings I have on my legs, and the fear of not getting caught lead us straight through stinging nettles deeper into the woods.
So you get a rough idea, on one side of the quarry is the hangar, and the other side is just basically a woodland area.
me and my friend are 26 years old, and we were currently sitting in stinging nettles, in the middle of the woods besides two quarry’s. We had no escape and no excuse. For those that don’t know, the quarry itself is obviously patrolled by security, so the idea is to avoid that which those of you with experience already know that. As we were inexperienced, we chose the hardest route possible which was straight through the quarry.
After 20 minutes of hiding, we made the decision to go further in. In all honestly I thought this was a bad idea, but this single decision was probably the one that lead us straight to it.
after going further in, we had lost all morale but the excitement was still there, as everyone loves a little chase. In trying to get back to the road, we was literally in the middle of no where with nothing but farms and woods around us.I really didn’t think we was near it anymore, but made the decision to check out the last little bit of woods , as it was also in the direction of heading back. My shortsighted eyesight didn’t pay off here, but as we got closer my friend suddenly was filled with excitement, there was a derelict building in the woods we was heading.
the story is basically over now, so here was the pictures I managed to get. Hopefully a bit different but you’ve probably seen most of them.
Then as we got further in it got so much better. Sorry for the lack of knowledge of what’s what, but it’s my first report and I’m still learning the ropes.
it’s crazy to imagine this was once a full operational site.
for the experienced users, you may be able to locate where I was for the photos.
highly doubt it’s alive now
Rusty pipe work.
Maybe an old library?
One of the entrances
A sign everyone ignores.
And that was pretty much all we got. If there’s more, would be interesting to know. As I said this was my first report, so I’m open to constructive criticism. I’m not sure if you all was interested in a story based report, but all in all I had a good time for my first ever actual planned trip, and look forward to more. On the way back we learned the route most people probably go, it’s 100 times safer and easier, but the kid in me probably wouldn’t of changed the way we got there. I did also have some good videos, but not sure how to post them, but anyway. Hope you all enjoy!
The history of this place has been googled many times, so to save you from that I will tell you about our most troubling problem which was the quarry. Obviously I assume the site looked much different than it does now, but apparently quarry works had been roughly started since 1940 but didn’t pick up properly until 2001. In 1956 parts of the airfield were leased by Marconi Radar for the installation and testing of radar equipment, with there use ceasing as Blackwater Aggregates (the people in charge of the quarry now) gained permission to commence the excavations on part of the site. It is actually one of the largest sand and gravel quarries in the country.
quite beautiful if you ask me.
In terms of gear all I had was my phone, some water, and the most protective clothing I could find... shorts and a tshirt. Looking back I don’t know what I was thinking, maybe a walk in a park. But as any decent urban explorer would know, this was a poor choice of clothing and I’m sure after many more reports I’ll come back to this one ashamed.
the first and easiest thing you find at this site, is I believe one of the main hangars. The issue I had is from a distance it looks still in really good shape, so for a while we thought it was still in use and wasn’t what we was looking for. It’s obviously maintained but after scouting around we couldn’t find access in there.
this was the outside, and the inside looks Much better but was no entrance.
We really thought we had hit the jackpot, and was getting our first taste of the adventure so whilst the morale was high we started looking around for actual buildings we could get into. The morale soon died as we spent the next 30 minutes walking in circles with no idea where to go next. The problem was that there is quite a lot of rubble where buildings used to be, and as inexperienced as we were we really thought that was all that remained of the once very active site. The only options left was to either cross the biggest quarry in the country, or turn back. And you can guess what we chose.
In hindsight, for the experienced guys on here. You will probably be laughing at our terrible choice of route. It was unnecessarily more dangerous, but in terms of adventure, it was definitely more exciting. The fact is how we found the place was completely by chance, both of us making decisions that ultimately lead us here. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t a planned route which most of you have, we got lucky, but everything that happened lead us here.
from trekking the quarry, we made it to literally the site entrance to it, where all the active offices are. This didn’t exactly go well With us because we were definitely in a place where we shouldn’t be. Cameras galore, and big vehicles. Was just a recipe for disaster.
After scouting around, my friends supersonic hearing heard a car which caused him to start running, where the missing braincells In me thought it was a aero plane (ironic) then before you know it I was face to face with a car. Adrenaline kicked in which as I’m writing this is now replaced with regret, as the poor choice of clothing lead to the many cuts and stings I have on my legs, and the fear of not getting caught lead us straight through stinging nettles deeper into the woods.
So you get a rough idea, on one side of the quarry is the hangar, and the other side is just basically a woodland area.
me and my friend are 26 years old, and we were currently sitting in stinging nettles, in the middle of the woods besides two quarry’s. We had no escape and no excuse. For those that don’t know, the quarry itself is obviously patrolled by security, so the idea is to avoid that which those of you with experience already know that. As we were inexperienced, we chose the hardest route possible which was straight through the quarry.
After 20 minutes of hiding, we made the decision to go further in. In all honestly I thought this was a bad idea, but this single decision was probably the one that lead us straight to it.
after going further in, we had lost all morale but the excitement was still there, as everyone loves a little chase. In trying to get back to the road, we was literally in the middle of no where with nothing but farms and woods around us.I really didn’t think we was near it anymore, but made the decision to check out the last little bit of woods , as it was also in the direction of heading back. My shortsighted eyesight didn’t pay off here, but as we got closer my friend suddenly was filled with excitement, there was a derelict building in the woods we was heading.
the story is basically over now, so here was the pictures I managed to get. Hopefully a bit different but you’ve probably seen most of them.
Then as we got further in it got so much better. Sorry for the lack of knowledge of what’s what, but it’s my first report and I’m still learning the ropes.
it’s crazy to imagine this was once a full operational site.
for the experienced users, you may be able to locate where I was for the photos.
highly doubt it’s alive now
Rusty pipe work.
Maybe an old library?
One of the entrances
A sign everyone ignores.
And that was pretty much all we got. If there’s more, would be interesting to know. As I said this was my first report, so I’m open to constructive criticism. I’m not sure if you all was interested in a story based report, but all in all I had a good time for my first ever actual planned trip, and look forward to more. On the way back we learned the route most people probably go, it’s 100 times safer and easier, but the kid in me probably wouldn’t of changed the way we got there. I did also have some good videos, but not sure how to post them, but anyway. Hope you all enjoy!
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