history:
The Central Ammunition Depot Corsham is an amazing labyrinth of air-conditioned tunnels and chambers, one hundred feet below ground, and extending under some 200 acres of north Wiltshire countryside in four separate sub-depots, which between them housed over 350,000 tons of ammunition. The depot was served by arterial networks of railways and conveyors, and had it's own system of underground powerhouses to provide electricity for the 100,000 lamps that lit it's streets.
In 1937 the Royal Engineers moved in and started the laborious task of removing the loose floor and laying it on the surface. All but the strongest pillars were removed and new ones put in their place whilst concrete was pumped around the mine to render the walls. The ceilings were strengthened where required and a new flat solid floor laid. The whole mine was then painted white. Machinery was fitted such as conveyers and fans plus many thousands of light bulbs.
At Tunnel Quarry a branch from the main London to Bristol railway line, diving mysteriously into the hillside at the eastern portal of Brunel's Box Tunnel, penetrates into the heart of the depot and terminates at a breathtaking, half-mile long underground railway station.
Another rail link served the depot, there is a tunnel connecting the depot with the main line railway at Ashley. The tunnel is over a mile long and straight and runs from a designated platform near the railway in to the sub-depot at Monkton Farleigh. A conveyor belt was used to move the ammunition underground between the top of the hill and the main line. The tunnel is so shallow in some places that it can be seen from across the valley as a strip of dry uncultivated grass. Before the tunnel was built an aerial ropeway was used over the surface.
Ridge Quarry was used by the War Department much earlier than the other sub-depots, When the First World War started it was requisitioned by the War Department. They cleared out the waste stone and shored up the roof and ammunition was then stored in the mine. Electric lighting and tramways were installed but little evidence remains today. Conversion was never completed to the same standard as in other quarries.
Eastlays Quarry has remained much the same since it’s time as an ammunition depot, he was bought fairly soon after it became surplus and was converted in to a wine store. The depot now rather than storing valuable explosives for the nation’s protection now stores valuable liquids for the nation’s enjoyment.
sub-depots:
The mine consisted of two main areas. The main storage area, districts 12 through to 18 and districts 19 and 20. Each storage district was divided up in to numbered storage bays, main haulage ways were fitted with conveyor belts to transport crates of ammunition around the mine. The storage districts were well lit by thousands of lights and air conditioned. The complex had it’s own underground power station.
At Tunnel Quarry a branch from the main London to Bristol railway line, diving mysteriously into the hillside at the eastern portal of Brunel's Box Tunnel, penetrates into the heart of the Corsham ammunitions depot and terminates at a breathtaking, half-mile long underground railway station.
Ridge Quarry is situated at Neston near Corsham, it is average in size but has changed considerably since quarrying finished in 1914. When the First World War started it was requisitioned by the War Department. They cleared out the waste stone and shored up the roof and ammunition was then stored in the mine. Electric lighting and tramways were installed but little evidence remains today.
Eastlays Quarry has been used since 1988 for secure, controlled wine storage. Handling over four million cases of wine a year, Octavian has the capacity at the Eastlay cellars to store over 800,000 cases in ideal conditions, 90 feet underground, constant year round temperatures, absence of ultra violet light, no vibration and full humidity control.
