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Report - - Llanberis Bomb Store, Llanberis. Feb 19 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Llanberis Bomb Store, Llanberis. Feb 19

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LittleOwl

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
The backlog continues. I know this one is regularly done to death, so I won't bore you with too much history.

History

On 18th August 1939, the Air Ministry sought approval to acquire the disused Glynrhonwy Isaf slate quarry which had closed in 1930; the quarry, near Llanberis in North Wales, was deemed suitable for the storage of 18,000 tons of bombs. It consisted of a number of deep open pits, linked together by tunnels. Following the apparent success of the design employed at Harpur Hill in Derbyshire, the air ministry decided to use the same technique at Llanberis, converting the eastern pit into an underground depot, but because of the great depth of the quarry the design was adapted to produce a structure with two floors throughout. The lower level and a conventional flat reinforced concrete ceiling which also formed the floor of the upper level which had an arched roof like that at Harpur Hill. Standard and narrow gauge railway lines entered the lower level of the depot through the original quarry access tunnels, while three electric lifts transported bombs to the upper floor. The deep pits to the west of the depot were later used for burning and dumping redundant and dismantled ordnance.

The Report

I was excited to visit Llanberis as I'd yet to do an underground explore and military and industrial sites hold a particular interest for me. The layout of the bomb stores is overly simple and yet, entirely disorienting. Corridors stretch endlessly in every direction into the darkness and very few of them differ in shape, size or layout aside from the odd lift or staircase. I've been attempting to upload the blueprints into this report but haven't had any luck.

Apologies for the shit photo quality. Though I was prepared with torches, I'd totally underestimated the level of darkness in this place and would have been way better equipped with a floodlight instead of my phone and a piddly torch. A lot of my shots here were anywhere up to 2 minute exposures just to get any sense of what it looked like, so I was there a lot longer than first planned.

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Unfortunately, a lot of my shots of Llanberis are missing thanks to an SD card malfunction after I'd left the site, so I had to take the below shot from the internet. This tiny hole in the blast door was about the size of an A3 sheet of paper, as anyone who's visited here before well knows. Thankfully, Llanberis is regularly used for local raves (you can imagine why) and some of the ravers had kindly propped a pallet up against the door which allowed me to climb through the hole (only just!) and into the mines that previously succumbed to the cave-in. Needless to say, my mother kicked the living shit out of me once she found out where I'd gone (this was a solo explore, I don't recommend doing as I did) but it was absolutely worth the uncomfortable squeeze and dropping my tripod down a mine shaft. And yes, I did manage to get it back thankfully.


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Although I'm gutted about my lack of preparation and relatively shit photos, I thoroughly enjoyed Llanberis in its simplicity and for once, was grateful that I'm small. At least it meant I got to explore those fantastic mines. The mine itself is relatively short and only stretches on for a few hundred yards before leading outside again into a small lake that feeds into the store.

It's particularly interesting going to sites like these due to the uniformity of the place. It's an unusual and almost spooky feeling, knowing that every part looks almost identical butoverall, a great first underground explore. Next time I'll be going better equipped!

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Shaun

28DL Regular User
28DL Full Member
this place as become a local tourist trap recently, imagine that someone will probably try and make tours out of it, it dose not feel like urbex anymore sadly
 

pirate

Rum Swigger
28DL Full Member
Was there years ago,a lot more graff........don’t know how I missed that yellow door
 

mw0sec

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Was there years ago,a lot more graff........don’t know how I missed that yellow door
I suspect, because it is a late installation. There was no earlier problem in walking through to the back quarry.
 

Oswaldo Mobray

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I camped there after a hike when a guy I met on the hill showed me in. I saw that blast door but never attempted it. Can you tell me, was it a real struggle? And was the quarry a nice place to explore? Can you exit from the quarry??
 

LittleOwl

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I camped there after a hike when a guy I met on the hill showed me in. I saw that blast door but never attempted it. Can you tell me, was it a real struggle? And was the quarry a nice place to explore? Can you exit from the quarry??

Sorry for the delay - not been online much. Not gonna lie, the blast door was an absolute bitch to get through. The hole is about the size of an A3 piece of paper and I only just managed to get in thanks to the pallet ladder propped against it and because I'm a bit of a contortionist anyway. A smaller bloke might be able to get in too but it's better suited to kids and women otherwise. The quarry itself was also pretty ace, had a nose around looking for the entrance for ages but there was more than enough to look at. I bumped into a couple there who were looking for an underground waterfall but I have no idea if or where it exists. And you can exit from the quarry, aye. Quite a few holes in various fences round the place.
 

Oswaldo Mobray

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Sorry for the delay - not been online much. Not gonna lie, the blast door was an absolute bitch to get through. The hole is about the size of an A3 piece of paper and I only just managed to get in thanks to the pallet ladder propped against it and because I'm a bit of a contortionist anyway. A smaller bloke might be able to get in too but it's better suited to kids and women otherwise. The quarry itself was also pretty ace, had a nose around looking for the entrance for ages but there was more than enough to look at. I bumped into a couple there who were looking for an underground waterfall but I have no idea if or where it exists. And you can exit from the quarry, aye. Quite a few holes in various fences round the place.
Forgive me too for a late reply. This helped. Ended up getting bunked up through the hole, nearly went arse over tit a couple of times but managed it with the help of a crate on one side and a log placed against the blast door on the other. Fantastic tunnel but was flooded at the end, waded through up to my thighs getting my boots wet which in all wasn't worth it, I mean I suggest it but not if you're walking back to nant peris to camp. I got excited what can I say. Amazing site
 

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