Something missing off the map near Burghfield, Reading
Discussion
If you look here: http://multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public& there's a an area where it says Burnthouse Bridge, it's quite blank...
Switch to aerial view and you'll see some sort of compound, neatly laid out.
Cycling past the area, there's a large fence with 'no photography' and 'no stopping' signs.
Looking at Google Earth (go to RG7 1LL and scroll a tiny bit west), there are raised banks and it looks VERY secretive.
What am I living near? I suspect it's something to do with the nearby AWE at Aldermaston?
Switch to aerial view and you'll see some sort of compound, neatly laid out.
Cycling past the area, there's a large fence with 'no photography' and 'no stopping' signs.
Looking at Google Earth (go to RG7 1LL and scroll a tiny bit west), there are raised banks and it looks VERY secretive.
What am I living near? I suspect it's something to do with the nearby AWE at Aldermaston?
We covered this on the Google Earth thread....
If you zoom in really far, next to the assembly building you can see Wedg1e 'adjusting'
something clearly labelled "BOMB" with a four pound lump hammer.
wedg1e said:
A few more..
Notes from "Cold War" by WD Cocroft and RJC Thomas
51°22'5.18"N 1° 8'55.62"W
AWE Aldermaston (ex RAF Aldermaston) -
building A1.1, constructed in 1952 to
manufacture plutonium for the first
British Atomic Bomb.
51°24'26.42"N 1° 1'5.01"W
AWE Burgfield - atomic warhead assembly facilities.
"About the same time that the British H-bomb
was introduced, around 1960, two new warhead
assembly buildings were built linked to other
structures by closed corridors. They were
specially designed to contain the risk of an
explosion during assembly; their concrete
domed roofs, made of steel mesh covered by
sprayed concrete, would minimise the risk of
flying debris. Around the outside is loose
gravel which would fall in to smother an
explosion (hence the domes' colloquial name,
the 'Gravel Gerties'). Architecturally, they
are almost identical to the United States'
nuclear weapons final assembly plant at
Pantex, Carson County, Texas"
( 35°18'26.29"N 101°33'32.40"W )
50°39'40.62"N 1°34'40.16"W
West High Down Rocket Test facility -
1950's test facility for 'Black Knight' and
'Black Arrow' rockets.
>> Edited by eharding on Saturday 31st December 16:01
Aldermaston and Burghfield are clients of mine.
I was under the impression that the first Brit atom bomb material was made at Calder Hall (Sellafield) and put in 45-gallon oil drums to be transported to Aldermaston. Allegedly the 3-tonner got 2 miles down the road and ran into a ditch. Maybe I shouldn't believe everything I see on the telly
If you zoom in really far, next to the assembly building you can see Wedg1e 'adjusting'
something clearly labelled "BOMB" with a four pound lump hammer.
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