Corsham

Fotospeed (chemicals, equipment),Unit 6b, Park Lane Industrial Estate, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9LG United Kingdom t +44 (0)1249 714555 www.fotospeed.com. 

The second phase is marked by blind panic and incompetent bureaucratic interference and dates from the autumn of 1940, when the threat defined by the service departments soon after the First World War was at last (and almost too late) recognized by the country at large and by the Supply Departments in particular. Its chief manifestation is in the series of vast underground aircraft engine factories situated countrywide, but, due to a quirk of geology, with its centre of gravity in the Corsham area. 

CAD Corsham and its pre-war army and navy equivalents symbolize the success of engineering ambition tempered only by the exigencies of war. They were built because they were needed whether or not war came and they were built to an agreed standard to satisfy a scrupulously calcu-... 

On 22 November, 1935, the Army Council confirmed that it was committed to underground storage at Corsham and stated that ... 

Unlike the three other quarries that comprised the Corsham CAD, Ridge was never reclassified as permanent storage, and no further devel-... 

As an interim measure the War Office was approached with the request that some of the quarry space under development at Corsham should be temporarily allocated to the RAF until the new Army weapons programme got properly under way. The outcome was that in November, 1936, the RAF was granted the exclusive use of Ridge Quarry, which was then approaching completion. Some time later a substantial part of Eastlays Quarry was also seconded to the RAF to supplement the Ridge holding. 

Large issues continued throughout July and the early part of August, the space vacated being filled by huge quantities of imported TNT from the United States and Canada, and eight tons of French manufacture and dubious nature hurriedly recovered from the continent. Administrative responsibility for all Air Ministry bulk explosives stored at Corsham was transferred to the RAOC in January, 1941, and independent accotmts of receipts and issues disappear from the record book from that date. 

Storage conditions at that unit appear to be unsuitable for the prolonged storage of wooden items. Destruction of 2,000 boxes was recently recommended in view of an advanced state of decomposition due to wet-rot peculiar to the storage conditions at Corsham. ... 

Tlie end of 1942 saw the standard-gauge railway system and all the major underground building work completed the power-house was operational and all ten storage districts were in use by the Ordnance Corps. Giving an overview of the previous year, the Royal Engineers Commander at Corsham wrote in the War Diary for January, 1943 ... 

The main heading in Brown s Quarry extends for some distance to the north beyond the area occupied by the RAF, and it was suggested that this should be further extended by several hundred yards to a point beneath the surface camp at Rudloe Manor, where a lift shaft would be sunk. Although a little exploratory work was started the scheme was soon abandoned because its cost was calculated to far outweigh the operational benefit. Access to Brown s Quarry is via an electric lift. There is a story (probably apocryphal) that this was requisitioned from Harrods in Knightsbridge when it was found that a new one could not be acquired from the manufacturer at short notice. Unlike all the other surface structures at Corsham, the lift-head building for Brown s Quarry was built... 

During an attack communication between Garrison Commanders and the various defence posts was to be maintained by telephone, but should the land lines become disrupted then responsibility devolved upon a squad of motorcycle despatch riders. As a last-ditch resort, two lofts of carrier-pigeons were kept to maintain communication should even the despatch riders be unable to get through. After some negotiation, the two bird-keepers, Mr Bond and Mr Ashman of Pickwick Road in Corsham, although civilians, were authorized to indent for the birds ... 

We have considered this question fully and do not think that the Corsham CAD should be treated separately from other ammunition depots even though it does hold very large stocks of explosives. The proposals for blowing-in entrances to the shafts sound both dangerous and difficult to apply. We therefore suggest no additional action be taken. ... 

All returns to the CAD were routed by rail to Thingley Sidings, from where they were transferred by road the short distance to Mynte Wood in the grounds of Lord Methuen s Corsham Court for primary sorting. Ammunition in satisfactory condition was despatched directly to store and the balance transferred by road to Monkton Farleigh where a detailed pre-examination was undertaken at a temporary site in... 

Eventually, after analysis of the implications of the various proposals, a decision was made which marked the end of CAD Corsham. In August, 1960, the Cabinet Defence Committee announced that ... 

Once the case for closing an ammunition depot was proved, the War Office found no difficulty in determining where the blow should fall. The underground complex at Corsham, enormous in both its capacity for ammunition and its voracity for public funds, was immediately highlighted. Large enough in which to lose the small residual stocks demanded by the new Army, cumbersome in operation, and fighting a... 

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