RNSD Topsham /
Account written by: Groobs
What a fool I am. After
moaning about the apparent lack of anything derelict to explore in Devon, I’ve
found a whole bunch of abandoned hangars and buildings!. Ha! I’d been
considering going out in the car for a random search for any potential stuff
for a couple of days, but I’d been put off by typically stinking weather. It
turned out that the weather broke for a little while, giving me the necessary
inspiration to get out and find something that might interest me. I’d been so
shut in and frustrated by all the rain that I already had my gear packed and
ready. I was out the door in three minutes flat.
The weather
soon un-broke itself though, and it started lording it down with rain again. I
had absolutely no idea where I was going, I drove around for only a little
while before I noticed a water tower not far away, these things often being
situated near defence or medical buildings, I was drawn to it like a politician
to a rentboy-related controversy. Well, it wasn’t quite as obvious as I had
thought, the water tower was not directly connected to this site, but it did
lead me in the right direction. I soon noticed a single hangar not far away and
pulled in to the most likely access point I could see, the parking area of a
nearby NHS administration office. I casually surveyed the base for breaks in
the fence, trying not to look as sinister as I so frequently do. It was obvious
at this point that it was a fairly large site – there were actually several of
those hangars. I’m pretty excited at this point – simply because this impromptu
trip is steadily turning into one of those rare, unfathomable successes.
In no time at
all, I had found a stupidly obvious break in the razorwire and was walking
around without a care. A few cars passed along the perimeter fence, the
occupants of which clearly not bothered that I’m wandering about in MoD
property. Initial impressions suggested that it was an old RAF base, what with
the hangars and all – but I was soon proved wrong when realising there was no
airstrip, no control tower J and the hangar doors were nowhere near
wide enough to accommodate any kind of aircraft, despite the overall size of
the buildings. Walking to the top of the hill to try and get some perspective
on the largest of the hangars and general layout of the site, I found that the
base was right next to a railway (still in use) suggesting it was some kind of
supply depot perhaps. I spent about two hours wandering about, looking for some
clue as to what the hell this place was used for exactly, usually only
discovering the leftovers of the last teenage party. Huge panels of corrugated
steel were being bashed around every now and then by the wind, and the rain
started pouring down all over again. Being the stealth ninja that I am, and not
wanting to draw any attention to myself, I put up my umbrella. (To avoid being
detected from above by satellite of course?!)
It turns out
that there doesn’t appear to be an awful lot to this site, sure – it’s a big
enough place, but it really is just a series of hangars. I’d say it’s certainly
worth a second visit though, to give it the full [S-P] treatment, especially
considering that I only managed to explore half of the site. Once I’d got back
home, further research revealed a little history and I learned that it was in
fact a Royal Navy Supply Depot, fully operational until around 1986 and finally
decommissioned following declined use in 1997. It was originally built and
operated by the US Navy and allegedly supplied troops deployed on the D-Day
operations. Wow. Development tenders for yet more houses have since been
submitted to local council in 2000 and… subsequently declined in 2003!