RAF West Raynham, Norfolk

Hello!!
It's been a while, but to be fair its also been bloody horrible weather!!! the Team have been out exploring anyway and even encountered some almost-snow on our last explore!

Without further ado, here is: RAF West Raynham

History
RAF West Raynham was built between 1938 and 1939 about 2 miles west of the village of West Raynham in Norfolk, seeing action for the first time on 4th July 1940. During WW2 the base was provided with a control tower for very heavy bomber stations, this was one of only four ever built.

RAF Scunthorpe and RAF Great Massingham were both built as sattelite bases for West Ryanham but eventually grew to house their own squadrons.

The Site was used post-war for training and in the mid-1960s the East Side was developed as a SAM (surface to air missile) site and equipped with radars and a Bristol Bloodhound Mk2. Between 1963 and 1982 RAF West Ryanham hosted annual summer training camps for the Royal Observer Corps. the camps lasted for 8 weeks and had upto 500 observers attending technical training sessions.

The base was officially closed in 1994 and kept but the Ministry of Defence who later decided it would be of no further use in 2004. The associated houses were, at first, left to fall into disrepair but 170 were later sold as civilian housing after a petition by the then MP for North Nofolk, Norman Lamb who pointed out there was a lack of affordable housing yet these houses were unoccupied.

Since 2005 the site has had a number of owners, The Welbeck Estate Group & Hodge Homes (2006-2007), Tamarix Investments (2007-?) and the side is now owned by FW Properties of Norwich, acting administrators for Moore Stephens.

there has been various planning proposals and acceptance, including building an eco-village on the site but no building work has taken place. Two of the hangers have been brought by a company called Norfolk Oak, previously owned by Anmer Hall.

Explore
We had a great time on this explore but it was slightly married by the freezing cold weather and the pissing rain constantly! I got about 15 minutes flight time with my drone (footage below) before the heavens opened and we were forced to retreat into the car to wait for the worst to clear. Thank the gods for car heating systems!!! Aside from the horrendous weather though it was great, once we were inside the control tower it was fairly dry and shielded from the worst of the wind! Just as we were driving away it did start to fall with some snow which quickly turned into sleet, so we were glad we cut the explore short with just the control tower!

We didn't encounter anyone else on the explore until right on the end where we had a bit of a hair raising experience. The main gate had been open when we arrived so we drove right up to the control tower, but it was padlocked shut when we went to leave! Luckily for us though, a kindly chap pulled up behind us and opened it back up. We sped off without saying a word but nodding a thank you in appreciation!

Photos
Whole set can be found here: https://goo.gl/photos/xVXBympyBvXCBhj39
Don't forget to checkout the video of this one!!

Unintentionally vintage, rainy lens!	Love this shot!	Stairs from the top of the roof
	Huge site	Love the lighting on this one
	So much fun to play in!

Prisoner of War Camp 116, Essex

The Explore:

We visited this site in Hatfield Heath on a cloudy day in July 2014, we dropped in before going off to the Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelvedon Hatch! :) Access is very simple and there's lots more to explore to this site than we got around to be honest.


The History:

There's not much history to this camp that I could find online other than it was a Prisoner of War camp for non-Nazis during WW2 (mostly Italian soldiers).

Interestingly enough it was a camp where the prisoners could leave during the day and work on the local farms, they were picked up by the local Land Girls in the morning then dropped off in the evening! There are a few remains of some lovely cars from the 50s(?), I've seen some great pictures of them on other reports of this site, but sadly they were not much but shells when we went! The entire site is pretty much a decaying mess... but it was fun to wander around!

The Photos:

At this point I didn't have my lovely DSLR camera or tripod so these were all taken on my phone. I had also not learnt anything about composition or light or any of that fun stuff that I'm just learning about now... so please excuse the poor quality of these shots!

Full set: https://goo.gl/photos/TozPQ52G18VsT6Ga8

Cliffe Fort, Kent

This explore was a bit different! There was a meet-up for members of a few different UrbEx online communities. I'd been along to one a few weeks earlier with Funky Moped along for the ride, but she was working this time and I knew Professor Dart would love to go! It was a great evening, saw some new friends, and met new people. Great music and a good explore! We stayed overnight and had a fun party, sadly ruined by an almighty migraine I had, but otherwise it was lots of fun! :)

The next morning everyone was up early(ish) (or did we not sleep?) and packed up ready to leave. Access to the site is gained via a long road (feels like MILES!) which was a bit of a pain when angry secca came driving down to see a line of maybe 40 odd weary and hung-over explorers wandering back down to the cars... hey ho!


The History:

(stolen from Wikipedia because honestly I couldn't have written it better!)

"Cliffe Fort is a disused artillery fort built in the 1860s to guard the entrance to the Thames from seaborne attack. Constructed during a period of tension with France, it stands on the south bank of the river at the entrance to Cliffe Creek in the Cliffe marshes on the Hoo Peninsula in North Kent. Its location on marshy ground caused problems from the start and necessitated changes to its design after the structure begin to crack and subside during construction. The fort was equipped with a variety of large-calibre artillery guns which were intended to support two other nearby Thamesside forts. A launcher for the Brennan torpedo—which has been described as the world‍‍ '​‍s first practical guided missile—was installed there at the end of the 19th century but was only in active use for a few years.

Cliffe Fort saw about 60 years of usage as an artillery fort, from its completion in 1870 to its disarmament in 1927. It was repurposed during World War II to serve as an anti-aircraft battery on the approaches to London. The fort's military career ended when it was sold off after the war to the owners of a neighbouring aggregates works. Today it lies derelict, overgrown and heavily flooded. It is not accessible to the public and is in a poor and slowly deteriorating condition which has led it to be listed as an "at risk" heritage asset." (Wikipedia, 2015)


The Explore: 

As mentioned above, Professor Dart and I walked down a looong road towards the site, which sits on some kind of quarry or sand something or other. There were apparently a few different entrances but we had to clamour over a sand dune and squeeze through a tiny arch way to get in. Luckily a few friendly faces were already in so our camping gear was hoisted over the wall from above. I've now invested in a much lighter sleeping bag and sleeping mat which will be really useful next camping season I reckon, no-where near as heavy as my backpack was this time!!

The Cliffe Fort is flooded in the middle but luckily the second level and top level are still very much intact and run all the way around the fort. PD and I only explored the second level as neither of us are particularly good climbers (I feel we need to work on this PD!) but some of the other explorers climbed up to the top and also onto the tower which can be seen in pictures below. all in all we had a great party and the whole thing was really interesting. I'm particularly proud of my sunset pictures! :)

The photos:

Professor Dart having a whale of a time!	As explorers piled in, that party got going! :)
The Tower some exploers climbed
Love this picture: Sunset Explorers	These archways went all around the site	Stinky flooding in the middle, ncie refelctions
This graffiti was really good... and a little creepy at night! :)		There may ahve been an attempt to rig up a zip line from here...

North Weald Readoubt, Essex

Sorry for taking AGES to update... not been out on an explore for a while (hello life...) but also my PC has been out of action due to a heatsink that decided it didnt want to play anymore! Now upgraded the heatsink to a HUGE one and doubled the RAM... new monitors on my Amazon watch list and we're back! I've also found a whole load of filters for my camera, found the quad copter batteries (today!) and even found the head strap and chest strap for my action camera... so hoping to get some nice shots and videos on the next explore!! Now my PC has a new heatsink I can actually do some video too without it overheating and turning off which it did previously!!!

Anyway... onward and upwards....

Visited the North Weald Redoubt in August with a few members of Team DD, and to be honest there really isn't much to see except one of the few remaining Allan Williams Turrets, left to rot and rust on the ground, and a radio mast, also on the ground.

History:

A redoubt (also known as redout) is a military structure usually relying on earthworks, stone or bricks and used as a fort or fort system. These redoubts were used as a defensive system outside of the main defence system to protect soldiers. They were popular in the 17th century but their popularity declined in the 20th century and some, like this one, were left to decay.

The North Weald Redoubt was part of the London Defence Scheme of 13 Mobilisation Centres built between 1889 and 1903. This particular redoubt was the first and only fortified centre to be build north of the Thames and mainly served as ammunition storage, possibly serving nearby Kelvedon Hatch (Secret Nuclear Bunker).

The site was purchased in 1920 by The Marconi Company who set up the Ongar Radio Station (see the mast picture!). Two Allen Williams Turrets were installed on each flank during World War II, the radio station was classed as a vulnerable point and had special Vulnerable Point Troops to patrol the area and protect it.

The site is currently owned by property developers and has been since 1995. Previous to this it was owned by British Telecom, The Post Office, Cable & Wireless and the Imperial & International Communication Company who purchased the site from Marconi Co.

Explore:

The explore was really easy! The site isn't really looked after to be honest and even the dog walkers or cars going up and down the lane didn't bat an eyelid to see folks wandering around with cameras etc.

The entrance to the site is fortified by a huge metal fence, so be aware of this if you're planning to go and have a look, but its very easy to get into.

Other than that we all had a really nice wander! Sadly the site is nearly completely flooded and covered in trees and weeds etc. We went in the middle of summer so it was fully frown and green! There are some vaguely interesting bits, but I think most of the interesting stuff is probably under water.

Onto the pictures!

I actually bothered to align them nicely this time!

Full set: https://goo.gl/photos/pt9u2SeiTXfoLkJF8

One of the much derelict cottages on site
		Radio Mast
Allan Williams Turret	Top of the Allan Williams Turret	So much water...
Obligatory UrbEx chair shot	Rusty fusebox
	There was some nice graffiti, and some rubbish graffiti!	The Bridge