Great Britain Shorts Brother Sea Plane Factory Rochester 2008

[vanishing days]

After spending many many hours down shorts tunnels i went slighltly mad but was well worth it went down one day when it was dark came back out and it was dark again. ive finally sorted through my 10gb of pictures sorry for all the pics. if ive got any of the details wrong let me no and ill change it.

the tunnels were original built for Shorts brothers sea plane factory in pre war times. in 1941 the tunnels were extended to contain the public air raid shelter parts these were around 300 meters long with many entrances and exits they also contain a command centre and a medical centre.

after the war the blawknox took over the sight. in the 1990s the sight was abandoned and left to decay the was a development on the sight as a massive housing complex was built all around it. the sight has suffered from serious vandal problems as of late including a severe fire which resulted in the sight being sealed by the council.

factory parts of the site

im guessing this was the were the genrators were and the mail room

toilets

unfinished sections of the tunnels possibly an extension

this is one of the air shafts and one of the man holes always waned to no were these came out.

on to the air raid sections

i have an obbsesion with the signs dwn here

an interesting attempt at a wall

gun shots

the well

are these stores or bays of some form

medical stations approaching this we could here rushing water and found the medical station partially flooded by a burst pipe

the tunnels had many first aid boxes scatered throughout

the illusive black door

and some graffiti dnt no when its from id like to think the war

the elevator tunnel does anyone no were this came out

sorry for the shear amount of pictures just dnt wana miss anything does anyone have a map of the place?

 

[vanishing days]

yeah sorry for the amount of pics lol

 

[Jesus]

Nice report!

I love this place, would quite happily spend hours down there

 

[Maniac]

I think you managed to photograph everything down there!

Re: the elevator shaft, I believe it went UP and not DOWN. Everyone thinks it went down into the tunnels, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that it actually went up to the factory at the top of the cliff, the only way into and out of the tunnels was by the two entrances that we still see today, although now sealed up.

Maniac.

 

[vanishing days]

ahh cool dnt no that cheers maniac

 

[Mitch]

Nice report mate i have stil gotta see this place

 

[Ryda]

i look forward to getting my chance in here, you've covered it all really well mate, and all are great pictures well worth waiting for

 

[vanishing days]

cheers got some pics ive edited ill put up later

 

[vanishing days]

i cant climb so im in lol

 

[Maniac]

That looks great, is this not the place that some girl burnt down? I am sure it was said somewhere about this tunnel being burnt down?

There was a fire in the tunnels earlier on in the year, local medway idiots that had nothing better to do I expect. The damage was very localised to the area where lots of old paper documents were situated, sadly they were all destroyed.

 

[Wevsky]

Sorry to dig up this old post, but i stumbled across it whilst searching for information on these tunnels.When I was a kid I used to live in one of the houses which were built on the old site of the Shorts Brothers factories and I would regularly venture into these tunnels which I found amazing.

Unfortunately the two main entrances to the tunnels which i used are totally welded shut now. I know there were two other entrances though, one that I ended up coming out of to my surprise, which was in the gated complex of apartments next to the roundabout on the Esplanade at the bottom of Backfields. (had to run out of there with a security guard shouting at me!) and i believe there was an air vent of some kind some way above the main entrances on a bank adjacent to the road behind Fennel Close.

Anyone have any info on the whereabouts of the entrances as my memory is failing me to the exact location of these...

If they did no offence matey your a new member and we wouldnt say anything on an open post anyways!

 

[Wevsky]

Yeh thats totally understandable!I think I've spotted the location on bing maps so I may have a wonder over there this week sometime and see if it's open.

Those of you that have been in there, how far into the tunnels did you get? i remember there were a few walls that had been erected to block off the older longer tunnel. The first few walls you come to have been knocked down, but whoever knocked these walls down obviously tired of the activity as the further you get through the tunnel the less of the wall has been knocked down, until you get to a wall which hasnt been touched. I'm just wondering if perhaps they link up with Fort Clarence and perhaps even the tunnels that are reputed to run under the crypts in the Cathedral and Castle....

Im no expert but from the people who i know who have been all known ways in are sealed. :sad2: