Tales of the Urban Explorer: Ministry of Supply Munitions Factory

I had no idea what this was until we arrived. A large section of dense trees with a couple of buildings on Google Maps looked quite suspect and so I noted it down for a visit.

On arrival, we had a lot of trouble getting close to the target and after a traipse through some wet woodland following an unending section of unyielding pallaside fencing we were about to give up.

“Here’s a loose one”, yelled @anidiotexplores while scrambling through the small fence gap.

My tingling increased and I felt that familiar sensation of excitement as I squeezed through and found myself on a rabbit path.

Hang on, why is there a rabbit path here? That means it has been set foot on recently. We are looking for mysterious buildings not seen in centuries and there's a fucking worn path?

The tingling immediately vacated my body, like a male porn star who's about to enter a most delicious vagina suddenly overcome with a bout of brewers droop.

“So how do we get in”, I said to @anidiotexplores clearly flustered by the lack of ancient Inca temples in my sights.

I gazed over two lots of severe fencing at what looked like a derelict Butlin's Holiday camp..., at the time having no clue what it was.

The M.S. (Ministry of Supply) Factory, Valley was a Second World War site that was used for the storage and production of mustard gas. It was later also used in the development of the UK's atomic bomb project and finally a Cold War storage site.

Source

If I had known at the time I may have perked up to be even half-erect, but was instead hoping the ghost of Billy Butlin might emerge with a tribe of Redcoats as some form of visual compensation.

A lot had happened here, Mustard Bombs is serious chemical warfare and Atom Bomb production, yikes!

The obtrusive fencing turned out to be a non-entity as we walked to what was the old entrance and found the gates wide open.

Walking through like we owned the place, it was a case of systematically looking for old bombs or at least some evidence mankind had ever stepped foot within.

A dog walker emerged on the outside of the fencing but paid no heed to us. We must have taken the extra hard route to get here… again.

There is mention here that the site was used as a Heritage centre until the 1990s. This evidence shows but at the time the sign freaked me out; Bats?

Some buildings were quite inaccessible due to the massive amounts of foliage growing around their edges.

There was a surprising lack of graffiti, though this building was on the outside of the fencing. I wonder how long those front gates have been wide open?

Did heavy tanks once roll down these cracked roads? Perhaps the cracks are a consequence of those monstrous vehicles. (I do hate tilted pictures).

Inside was quite bleak with a few wall markings and lots of green sludge to slide in.

What’s sealed in those bags? It could have been a bomb, but we didn’t care to look.

We wandered from building to building in search of something other than fresh air.

There was little to see but it was a big place and I was wondering if it was worthwhile walking down the endless cracked road.

Working here in the war years can't have been fun, it was flat, depressing, and quite lifeless.

A, B, C, D again at the far end of this one. I wonder what they signify.

Not as creepy as an abandoned hospital by far but similar in some respects.

I do love creepers crawling through old window shots.

A not so comfortable looking chair, I dared not have a breather in case it collapsed under my arse. I would bet many a soldier has sat here.

We gave up after a while looking in the endless buildings that were the same as the last one.

Retreating back to the entrance I noticed the building on the left contained some herras fencing around it. Surely there was a discarded Atom bomb inside?

As we closed in the tension heightened...

The fencing was not as intact as we thought on closer inspection, a severe blow to expectations.

If the bomb was in the bag, then it was a missed opportunity.

This one had great history but was ultimately quite dull as explores go. We left via the same route and hoped 'Grandad's House' was going to be more exciting.

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