RAF Fauld WWII explosion crater

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18 years 10 months

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What's that all about then? I found a pic on the web, but no story...

Edit:
Thats odd, the pic changed, lol!

Original post

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18 years 10 months

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Thanks :)

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17 years 6 months

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Not sure how it ties-up with the Ordnance Survey maps that you have posted but here is a Google Maps image of the (surprisingly small) crater...

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hanbury+hill,+staffordshire&sll=52.683043,-1.73584&sspn=6.50283,14.084473&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hanbury+Hill,+Hanbury,+Burton+upon+Trent,+Staffordshire+DE13+8TD,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.847286,-1.731033&spn=0.012648,0.043774&t=h&z=15

...there is (or should be) a Wikipedia link in the centre of the crater.

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18 years 10 months

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Not sure how it ties-up with the Ordnance Survey maps that you have posted but here is a Google Maps image of the (surprisingly small) crater...

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hanbury+hill,+staffordshire&sll=52.683043,-1.73584&sspn=6.50283,14.084473&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hanbury+Hill,+Hanbury,+Burton+upon+Trent,+Staffordshire+DE13+8TD,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.847286,-1.731033&spn=0.012648,0.043774&t=h&z=15

...there is (or should be) a Wikipedia link in the centre of the crater.

The pic I originaly linked was a photo of the crater. A few minutes later it changed to what you now see... (they're on to us!)

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A few minutes later it changed to what you now see... (they're on to us!)

I’m trying to find the ‘changed’ location now...

...while listening for the screech as unmarked cars pull-up outside! :D

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Apparently it is the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Burghfield...

...I’m for it now! :diablo:

(Screech!)

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Yoinks!

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14 years 10 months

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A very good illustrated article about the Fauld Explosion can be found in After The Battle #18.....

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18 years 9 months

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Jaw dropping

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Depends on which articles you read but:

Explosion heard 40 miles away, broke windows 25 miles away felt 70 miles away and recorded on Seismograph instruments in Casablanca and Greenland.
All that and the authorities kept it a secret!...how?

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18 years 6 months

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I'm truely gobsmacked after reading about this - and seeing those photos..... :eek:

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In the early 1990s I visited the British Gypsum Fauld works several times to supervise some on-site publicity work. During the tea breaks the gypsum workers recounted many personal stories about lost family members and friends and an event, which at that time I knew little about – the victims were still being remembered with reverence and dignity.

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Explosion heard 40 miles away, broke windows 25 miles away felt 70 miles away and recorded on Seismograph instruments in Casablanca and Greenland.
All that and the authorities kept it a secret!...how?

No internet! And plenty more serious things to worry about...

There was a brief mention of the Faulds explosion in British Archaeology recently - in a piece by Mick Aston where he was looking at the area, and at the use of gypsum particularly. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be on their website - but if a local library takes it...

Adrian

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also a farm dissapeared when it went up as it was built virtually on top.

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Slightly off topic, but there is a story about an as yet unexploded underground mine full of WWI-dynamite below a farm near Messines/Belgium. Unfortunately the exact position got lost during the decades ...

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Messines info

Am I right in thinking that the Fauld site is designated as a war grave?

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Am I right in thinking that the Fauld site is designated as a war grave?

Correct. Also off limits due to unexploded ordinance here and there.

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There was a brief mention of the Faulds explosion in British Archaeology recently - in a piece by Mick Aston where he was looking at the area, and at the use of gypsum particularly. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be on their website - but if a local library takes it...

Adrian

I actually heard a Radio Four programme a few weeks ago on the subject with Mick Aston Adrian. It was on prior to the Archers just before 14.00...err...hurruummpphh.... not that I listen to the Archers.. but poor old Jack Wooley has gone downhill lately..oops!:D