ROC bunkers in Shropshire
Stan Mould
Last night I found the web site and then this group, and ran up a huge bill
searching through it all.
I live in Wolverhampton, and decided to have a look for the Pattingham and
Bobbington ROC posts.
The Pattingham bunker was easy to find. Take the Bridgnorth Road from
Wolverhampton out to the Fox pub at crossroads just before Shipley (about 8
miles from Wolves, and a mile or so beyond Lealan's Nurseries on the right
and another nursery on the left about a mile before that).
At those crossroads turn right towards Pattingham. Fork left towards Rudge
after a few hundred yards and continue
for about a mile. The road rises and becomes a cutting. Towards the top of
the hill on the left you'll see a chipped white-painted handrail and some
steps. There's a sort of pull-in about 30 yards further on where you can
park - the lane is very narrow.
Go up the steps to a white painted picket gate reminiscent of an old country
railway station (I can imagine those old ROC types popping up one evening to
proudly give it a lick of paint). The entrance part of the post is
padlocked up, but
still painted khaki.
Nearby is a wooden hut with a sign on the door saying something like 'Danger
Chlorine Keep Out'.
Naturally I went in, to find mainly rubbish, like old paint tins (fairly
recent ie some years old), and other bits.
On a shelf was an ANCIENT tin of grease with a faded, obviously MOD style
label.
On one side of the door was a plastic conduit coming out of the ground with
mains wiring lying loose, or at least a red and black wire. No earth wire
visible, and there had obviously been an electric socket attached to a board
on the wall because the mark where it had been attached was visible. A
single metal socket was lying on the other side of the hut. A white cable
with a 13 amp plug attached was dangling from the ceiling.
On the other side was a further conduit, this time with obviously signal
cables of various colours coming up, and lying unterminated.
One small coil of cable had a data-type plug attached, marked 'Inmac' and
looked as if it might have come from something like a telex. It was close
to the power socket, which might add weight to this idea.
I saw no signs of radio aerials or anything that might support them. Nor
did I see the telegraph poles that the website said were still there.
Strewn around the post were various bits of paper, such as bits of the
Sunday Sport from sometime in June and a torn up girlie mag, still readable
in places.
On the side of the hummock made by the post the grass had been very recently
flattened, and I wonder if some couple had found a nice place to enjoy
themselves in the recent hot weather! It was a real suntrap, and I noticed
there were excellent line-of-sight views to Brown Clee Hill with its masts,
and also to (I think) Sedgley Beacon, again with masts. This would be
excellent for VHF radio traffic, and I wonder if the power and signal cables
in the hut were for VHF.
The Bobbington post was another matter.
Whoever had posted details on the
website had got the grid reference about a 1,000 metre square out. It was
quoted as SO 811911, but in fact is at SO 816908. The first reference
seemed likely
because it was at the back of the village hall and school, and not too far
from the tiny village telephone exchange. I could
expect that they'd build a post near something like that.
In fact, it was obviously built on the old part of Ha'penny Green airport,
(now grandly termed 'Wolverhampton Business Airport' and where the local
police helicopter is based).
The post is close to an old part of the runway, still in the farmers beet
field opposite the current airfield, on the other side of Crab Lane.
The easist way to find it is to go along the A 449 from Wolverhampton south
towards Kidderminster until reaching the first set of traffic lights at
Himley (there's another set 250 yards along the A 449, but it's not these).
This is the Bridgnorth Road and passes close to Wombourne, (and be careful
of the nasty left hand bend after the industrial estate, near a
Readymix-type place).
Keep heading for Ha'Penny Green and Bobbington.
After a few miles, pass the Royal Oak pub on your left (food and kiddie's
play area) with car park on opposite side of the road) with some funny road
junctions, but just carry on towards Bobbington. The pub is at one end of
the airfield. At the crossroads at the other end of the airfield, turn left
up Crab Lane towards the main
entrance to the airfield. Don't go on as far as Bobbington. If you miss
the cross-roads, turn around. It's a bugger to find the ROC post from the
Bobbington end.
After turning left, after a few hundred yards, turn right into a tiny lane,
signed Leaton Lane.
Again, after a few hundred yards, two metal gates appear opposite each
other, where the old concrete runway reaches the lane. Stop there, and look
over the right hand gate - to the north. The post can be seen about 150
yeards from the lane, close to a small wood with a pool in the trees. Walk
through the beet currently in the field to the post. You could open the
gate and park the car inside on the concrete.
The hatch on the post is loose and can be raised to see inside. I did not
go down as it was flooded and I had no torch, as well as being alone should
I slip or whatever down there.
The paint has gone, the wooden louvres have fallen off and it seems in poor
condition.
As well as the Royal Oak pub at Ha'penny Green, there is another nice pub
for kids in Bobbington. I think it's called the Red Lion and not only has a
kiddies play area, but also has an old Russian tank (T-54?) in the garden
for them to climb all over!
Is there an email I can send corrections to?
Whoever is in charge of updating details of the sites should update the
directions and the NGR for Bobbington.
As far as I could tell, it's at SO 816908. I used the OS Pathfinder map,
sheet 912, Wolverhampton (South).
Looking at that grid reference on that map, I can see a tiny blue dot, which
I think is the pool inside the little wood, the trees obscuring the water.
The post is no more than 30 yards from the trees.
I hope to look for the Walsall post in a few days time and will post
anything I discover on this NG.
I took photos of both places, not digital, I'm afraid. Is there anyone I
can send the pix to for scanning in for the website?
And if anyone wants to visit any of these places, let me know. I could take
them there.
ATB
Stan
Stan Mould
Stan Mould <ad...@ukgateway.net> wrote in message
news:8m249u$8f0$1...@lure.pipex.net...
> Hi, I'm a newbie to this NG, but was delighted to find that it
exists.
> Last night I found the web site and then this group, and ran up a
huge bill
> searching through it all.
>
> I live in Wolverhampton, and decided to have a look for the
Pattingham and
> Bobbington ROC posts.
Since posting the above (long) message, I realise that the subject
line is not quite right.
In fact, the Pattingham bunker is only about 500 metres into
Shropshire.
The Bobbington bunker is JUST inside Staffordshire, by about 400
metres.
Stan
Stan Mould
exists.
> Last night I found the web site and then this group, and ran up a
huge bill
> searching through it all.
>
> I live in Wolverhampton, and decided to have a look for the
Pattingham and
> Bobbington ROC posts.
Well, it was a bit long, and I didn't introduce myself very well, but
it seems my post didn't go down a treat, did it?
At least someone did email me with an offer to scan in my piccies.
Thanks, mate.
I had thought of visiting the sparsely-detailed Walsall site soon, but
is there any point, I ask myself?
Stan
Mike Blanche
Member of Parliament for uk.rec.subterranea made the following policy
announcement...
> exists.
> > Last night I found the web site and then this group, and ran up a
> huge bill
> > searching through it all.
> >
> > I live in Wolverhampton, and decided to have a look for the
> Pattingham and
> > Bobbington ROC posts.
>
>
> it seems my post didn't go down a treat, did it?
>
> At least someone did email me with an offer to scan in my piccies.
> Thanks, mate.
>
> I had thought of visiting the sparsely-detailed Walsall site soon, but
> is there any point, I ask myself?
Hi Stan,
I'm interested, and I'm sure many more are. Most people lurk here unless
they have something useful to say, and visiting ROC posts is useful. (and
fun! Not something I've had time to do yet...)
Nick Catford is the one who is cataloging the whole country's ROC posts,
and has run up thousands of miles visiting posts all over the place.
There's also a web site with the details of all the posts he's visited so
far, I can't recall the address but you'll find it by searching
www.deja.com/home_ps.shtml
mike
Stan Mould
Mike Blanche <mi...@no.spam.digiserve.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.13f00f9a6...@auth.news.easynet.co.uk...
> In article <8m4svb$8a$1...@lure.pipex.net>, the Rt Hon
ad...@ukgateway.net,
> Member of Parliament for uk.rec.subterranea made the following
policy
> announcement...
> >
> > Stan Mould <ad...@ukgateway.net> wrote in message
> > news:8m249u$8f0$1...@lure.pipex.net...
> > exists.
> > > Last night I found the web site and then this group, and ran up
a
> > huge bill
> > > searching through it all.
> > >
> > > I live in Wolverhampton, and decided to have a look for the
> > Pattingham and
> > > Bobbington ROC posts.
> >
> >
but
> > it seems my post didn't go down a treat, did it?
> >
> > At least someone did email me with an offer to scan in my piccies.
> > Thanks, mate.
> >
> > I had thought of visiting the sparsely-detailed Walsall site soon,
but
> > is there any point, I ask myself?
>
> Hi Stan,
>
> I'm interested, and I'm sure many more are. Most people lurk here
unless
> they have something useful to say, and visiting ROC posts is useful.
(and
> fun! Not something I've had time to do yet...)
>
> Nick Catford is the one who is cataloging the whole country's ROC
posts,
> and has run up thousands of miles visiting posts all over the place.
> There's also a web site with the details of all the posts he's
visited so
> far, I can't recall the address but you'll find it by searching
> www.deja.com/home_ps.shtml
>
> mike
Hiya, Mike
Thanks for the reply. I was feeling a bit lonely after my rather
large post .. :-) I have the URL for the web site, ta.
Thanks for the info. I suspect I came bashing in with my size 10's
but I was so delighted to find such an excellent web site and then
this NG, I was probably more than a little enthusiastic!!
I did email Nick with some very fulsome praise and, if he'll allow the
liberty, I reproduce my message below -
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Stumbled across this site today.
This is **excellent**!! I am staggered by the amount of research that
has
gone into this - and it really is VERY good.
As it happens, I live in Wolverhampton, not too far from the
Bobbington,
Cheslyn Hay and Walsall bunkers, so if you'd like me to look for them
and
give you an update, let me know.
As it also happens, I am a Geordie who was brought up near the
Kenton/Blakelaw sites and hope to get up there to visit in the next
month or
so.
The Blakelaw thingy was news to me, at the age of 51.
My younger brother worked on the Kenton Gov't site where the dole
offices
etc are, as he was a Radio Interference Officer with BT then the DTI.
I'll ask him what he knows ...
I'm afraid I've been on the dole for a long time so dead skint, but
when I
get some dosh, I shall certainly join.
Well done again, to everyone who has done such a good job.
Stan
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I hope I can contribute as much as possible, to both the NG and the
society.
Stan
Brian Rogers
> Last night I found the web site and then this group, and ran up a huge
bill
> searching through it all.
>
> I live in Wolverhampton, and decided to have a look for the Pattingham and
> Bobbington ROC posts.
Hi Stan
I enjoyed reading your posting too as I suspect have many others. Nick
regularly posts his weekend ROC marathon runs here, but very few of us post
back to show our appreciation. Occasionally one or two will reply to such
posts - (which is nice) :-) but I guess if we all did it would be rather
tedious.
Thanks for the posting, and don't be put off by the lack of replys. (or is
it replies?)
Regards
Brian
Stan Mould
Brian Rogers <ye...@dial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:8m75n5$9b9$1...@lure.pipex.net...
>
>
> Hi Stan
>
> I enjoyed reading your posting too as I suspect have many others.
Nick
> regularly posts his weekend ROC marathon runs here, but very few of
us post
> back to show our appreciation. Occasionally one or two will reply
to such
> posts - (which is nice) :-) but I guess if we all did it would be
rather
> tedious.
>
> Thanks for the posting, and don't be put off by the lack of replys.
(or is
> it replies?)
>
> Regards
>
> Brian
Thanks, Brian. I think my enthusiasm in finding this NG and the
website ran away with me! :-)
I jumped in with both feet and sorta expected some feedback after my
first adventures.
It's just that I live not at all far from the two bunkers/posts that I
decided to have a look for them straight away.
I'll still try to get to the Walsall one ASAP and will post my
findings, but other than that, I think I'll just sit and lurk a while!
BTW, it's 'replies' :-)
Stan
Steve Walker
something to say. Your post was relevant, interesting and not unduly long
for your enthusiasm. Welcome to the group !
Steve Walker
Stan Mould <ad...@ukgateway.net> wrote in message
news:8m4svb$8a$1...@lure.pipex.net...
majik...@cix.compulink.co.uk
wrote:
> I had thought of visiting the sparsely-detailed Walsall site soon, but
> is there any point, I ask myself?
Yeah, go for it.
Cheers
Gary
Stan Mould
<majik...@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote in message
news:8m7nd3$7j3$1...@plutonium.compulink.co.uk...
Yeah, thanks for the various messages. Sorry I dived in a bit quick -
should have lurked a bit first.
Hope to go to Walsall site in the next few days so will post my
findings then.
Stan
Nick Catford
Sorry about the delay in replying to you but I have been inundated with work
over the last few days and I'm trying to fit it in in-between visits to ROC
sites and other interesting underground places. I will reply to you at lngth
in private shortly. Any investigations you do are, of course, much
appreciated.
The Walsall post has, so far, eluded me. The NGR in Attack Warning Red is
wrong (nothing new in that) and I have it down at SJ982001 which would put
it on the south side of Bentley Lane wedged between a cemetery and housing
estate on a bit of waste ground or under a school or its playing field. I
feel this position could also be wrong. It's worth investigating the old
mine dumps on the north side of Bentley Lane (public open space).
Local enquiries may prove useful, or perhaps the local history society,
local library or a letter in the local paper.
Let me know if you find anything.
Nick
