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View Full Version : RAF Staxton Wold (Driffield site). Nov 2008



cactusmelba
28-12-2008, 05:47 PM
Opened in 1936, originally called RAF Driffield, changed hands to the Transport Corps in 1977 and renamed Alamein Barracks, until it eventually became RAF Staxton Wold in 199, then closed in 1996.

Half of the site is still active, with the army practising driving on the western part.

If you start at the Eastern end, there are numerous buildings to explore, some with quite grand fireplaces, MOST with broken windows. The married men's quarters, about 30/40 terraced houses are mostly accessible but broken up, very little sign of life left.

The 'H' block buildings are interesting, I think all four have cellars with esape hatches leading outside the buildings.

The gym at the far end is as far as I got, men working in the next yard were quite visible, but the whole gym has been turned into an impromptu skate park by industrious skaters, complete with half-pipe! well done!

Of particular interest to me was a small fenced off area that proclaimed a 'confined space', with steel ladders going down into the ground past a metal hatch, and a vent pipe was clearly visible a few metres away, I need to go back another time I think!

It is rumoured that the SAS visited the site in the late 1990s, using several buildings to practice the rapid entry of blockaded rooms using explosives. The Prison Service has also used a number of accommodation blocks, to train officers in riot control and prisoner restraint techniques. That may well explain the presence of rubber bullets here and there.

anyways, there's a VERY comprehensive website detailing the history of the place http://www.driffieldaerodrome.co.uk/ here, and you can view a PDF of the site brochure when it was for sale too here.. http://www.driffieldaerodrome.co.uk/future/brochure.pdf

on with the pics..

unsafe building.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2880.jpg

Married mens quarters
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2908.jpg

the entrance hall with warping floor
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2850.jpg

Spot the urbexer!
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2884.jpg

I forgot to keep the light pointing AWAY from the lens!
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2882.jpg

Urinals. Scary. (only cos you might bump into George Michael..)
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2888.jpg

Half submerged boiler room. No i didn't go in.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2841.jpg

Pin-up from 'dry stone waller' magazine. yummy!
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2866.jpg

H&S should run field trips to this kitchen.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2876.jpg

2nd Salamanders!!?
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2875.jpg

Kitchen machinery. These levers operate the RAF moustache hair filters on the cookers.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2891.jpg

Lovely old instrumentation. tells you when your chips are done.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2900.jpg

Bedding store and biohazard. synonymous?
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2909.jpg

Blinkin diabetics and their nasty habits...
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2910.jpg

One of the cellars. so quiet you could hear a mouse fart. In fact I think I did.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2912.jpg

The 2nd exit from the cellar. Comes out a few metres from the building.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2913.jpg

Door on the right leads back up to ground level.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2917.jpg

Next time I'm bringing a repair kit and using this to get about the site on!
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2919_20_21.jpg

Abstract composition, 'car door on neat pile of logs' I call it.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2923.jpg

Someone's been meeting here... unnerving..
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2924.jpg

Halfway resting point..
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2925.jpg

odd booths..
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2927.jpg

bar. dry. poop.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2928.jpg

Whoever wallpapered the ceiling should be shot. oh they probably were.
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2932.jpg

What are these brick enclosures?
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2933.jpg

Industrious skateboarders...
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2936.jpg

It was all I could do not to salute ..
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2939-1.jpg

danger confined space... . ? GREAT!
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2906.jpg

fenced off..
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2907.jpg

Note vent shaft.. there MUST be something under that grass.....
http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr242/cactusmelba/IMGP2941-1.jpg

Thats it, further reports when i get underground!