First post! I grew up around derelict military sites so it's fitting that my first report is a dive into Llanberis Bomb Store.
History
This was an old RAF facility built in 1939 in the location of a disused slate quarry. Its purpose was to store 18,000 tonnes of bombs underground, following a similar design employed at Harpur Hill (which interestingly got used later as a mushroom farm). The store is made up of two floors with a small stairwell and three lifts, and each floor is made up of very long halls, connected with sets of arched doorways. The upper halls have very tall arched ceilings whereas the downstairs halls have rectangular construction. A railway runs through the lower level to outside to carry bombs. Originally, the entire complexion would have been completely buried, however in 1942, two-thirds of the structure collapsed as backfill covered it. This collapse engulfed more than 14,000 tonnes of bombs, 14% of the RAF's stock at the time. The collapsed area was cleared out and the bombs recovered.
This map shows the current layout of the bomb store.
Pictures!
Outside of the store (view looking inwards to the collapsed area standing at the bottom end of the map)
On the left, you can see where the railway ran.
Lots of graffiti downstairs.
One of the lifts! Very cool mechanisms.
Upstairs; these halls are incredibly long.
Archways run perpendicular to the long halls.
Brick edge arches.
Everyone seems to leave their bootprint on this wall at the top of the stairs.
Loved this place. Darker than a dark place in dark-town in dark-shire inside. Jumped at my own footsteps.
I intend to drag my photographer mother back here for better photos. Next time I want to crawl through the hole into the tunnel at the top of the map.
- Cathode
History
This was an old RAF facility built in 1939 in the location of a disused slate quarry. Its purpose was to store 18,000 tonnes of bombs underground, following a similar design employed at Harpur Hill (which interestingly got used later as a mushroom farm). The store is made up of two floors with a small stairwell and three lifts, and each floor is made up of very long halls, connected with sets of arched doorways. The upper halls have very tall arched ceilings whereas the downstairs halls have rectangular construction. A railway runs through the lower level to outside to carry bombs. Originally, the entire complexion would have been completely buried, however in 1942, two-thirds of the structure collapsed as backfill covered it. This collapse engulfed more than 14,000 tonnes of bombs, 14% of the RAF's stock at the time. The collapsed area was cleared out and the bombs recovered.
This map shows the current layout of the bomb store.
Pictures!
Outside of the store (view looking inwards to the collapsed area standing at the bottom end of the map)
On the left, you can see where the railway ran.
Lots of graffiti downstairs.
One of the lifts! Very cool mechanisms.
Upstairs; these halls are incredibly long.
Archways run perpendicular to the long halls.
Brick edge arches.
Everyone seems to leave their bootprint on this wall at the top of the stairs.
Loved this place. Darker than a dark place in dark-town in dark-shire inside. Jumped at my own footsteps.
I intend to drag my photographer mother back here for better photos. Next time I want to crawl through the hole into the tunnel at the top of the map.
- Cathode
