Report - ROF 53 Bridgend Tunnels ( Interior) NOV 2013

[Lenston]

Visited with cunningcorgi

This place has a pretty amazing history, first time i have been right through these since a kid and much has changed since then.
Still today Bridgend holds the record for the largest factory in Britain, at its height in WW2 42000 worked there.

Located on the North side of Brackla Ridge, locally known as the "8x's", the 7 massive underground magazine storage tunnels complete with platform were cut deep into Brackla Hill. Guarded by pill boxes overlooking the hill, they would protect the high explosives held within. An aerial image below gives the approximate position of the entrances to the chambers, numbers 3 and 4 later becoming the headquarters for the Welsh RGHQ in time of nuclear war ( http://www.bracklaordnance.co.uk/RGHQ.htm.)

Today, numbers 1 and 2 have been filled in, only their vent shafts remaining and a little concrete, 3 and 4 being maintained to this day, numbers 5, 6 and 7 filled in, but with a lot of evidence still remaining.
More History here from a friends page

www.bracklaordnance.co.uk

From above

Building the tunnels

Entrance

1940S glass

 

[Hans Nenbar]

I used to play in these tunnels when i was a kid, my dad was stationed at the nearby REME depot 1966, we lived on Joslin Rd, our back garden overlooked then derelict but still standing Brackla Ordnance depot, complete with its causeways and ammunitions magazines, th place was an adventure for me and my friends