History
Farleigh Down is a tunnel connecting the Monkton Farleigh ammunition depot with the main line railway at Ashley. The tunnel is over a mile long and straight. A conveyor belt was used to move the ammunition underground between the top of the hill and the main line.
The tunnel was designed to handle 1000 tons of ammunition wach day, it provide a secure route for the ammunition in to the site and it was practically invisible from the air. A 30 foot deep slopeshaft was sunk at the sidings which became the start of the tunnel which connected at quarry floor level in the depot on one of the main haulage ways. The tunnel is at a constant gradient as it travels up the hill to the depot.
Half of the tunnel was bored nearer the top of the hill where it met a depth of roughly 180 feet below ground, half way down the technique was changed and a trench was opened in to this square box sections of tunnel were laid and re-covered. Most of this section of the tunnel was barely underground, some of it was even partially above the surface level and had to be disguised by forming gently sloping mounds of earth over it.
A conveyor belt was installed in the tunnel which could transport the ammunition at 250 feet per minute, at the siding’s end of the tunnel was an underground marshaling yard where the ammunition would be loaded on to narrow gauge carts and then taking up the slopeshaft to the platform aided by a mechanical tram creeper. The ammunition could then be moved from the carts in to railways carriages for distribution.
The aerial ropeway to the depot continued to be maintained after the tunnel came in to action. This was in case the tunnel’s conveyors ever broke down and a backup was needed. Approaching D-day with high flows of ammunition the tunnel and the rope way was used to handle the massive amounts of ammunition required for the invasion of Europe.
The Explore
As we was in the area we thought we would pop here and check it out. Apart from it being utterly trashed with sh*t graffiti and rubbish it is a pretty decent place, if you are feeling fit enough the tunnel is just over a mile and a quarter long so brace yourself, it does take a while to get from one end to the other and back again. The end is backfilled from the Monkton Farleigh Mine side which is now run by a private storage firm. There is a hole at the end but you need to be paper thin to get though and even then it is very unstable so I wouldn't bother trying it. Visited with @Porker of the night
Diagram
On to the pictures
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Cheers for having a ganders
Farleigh Down is a tunnel connecting the Monkton Farleigh ammunition depot with the main line railway at Ashley. The tunnel is over a mile long and straight. A conveyor belt was used to move the ammunition underground between the top of the hill and the main line.
The tunnel was designed to handle 1000 tons of ammunition wach day, it provide a secure route for the ammunition in to the site and it was practically invisible from the air. A 30 foot deep slopeshaft was sunk at the sidings which became the start of the tunnel which connected at quarry floor level in the depot on one of the main haulage ways. The tunnel is at a constant gradient as it travels up the hill to the depot.
Half of the tunnel was bored nearer the top of the hill where it met a depth of roughly 180 feet below ground, half way down the technique was changed and a trench was opened in to this square box sections of tunnel were laid and re-covered. Most of this section of the tunnel was barely underground, some of it was even partially above the surface level and had to be disguised by forming gently sloping mounds of earth over it.
A conveyor belt was installed in the tunnel which could transport the ammunition at 250 feet per minute, at the siding’s end of the tunnel was an underground marshaling yard where the ammunition would be loaded on to narrow gauge carts and then taking up the slopeshaft to the platform aided by a mechanical tram creeper. The ammunition could then be moved from the carts in to railways carriages for distribution.
The aerial ropeway to the depot continued to be maintained after the tunnel came in to action. This was in case the tunnel’s conveyors ever broke down and a backup was needed. Approaching D-day with high flows of ammunition the tunnel and the rope way was used to handle the massive amounts of ammunition required for the invasion of Europe.
The Explore
As we was in the area we thought we would pop here and check it out. Apart from it being utterly trashed with sh*t graffiti and rubbish it is a pretty decent place, if you are feeling fit enough the tunnel is just over a mile and a quarter long so brace yourself, it does take a while to get from one end to the other and back again. The end is backfilled from the Monkton Farleigh Mine side which is now run by a private storage firm. There is a hole at the end but you need to be paper thin to get though and even then it is very unstable so I wouldn't bother trying it. Visited with @Porker of the night
Diagram
On to the pictures
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Cheers for having a ganders
I
the up hill is a nightmare 
thank god it didn't hum o_O
