Bunkers

Bunkers, shelters and other buildings
weenie
Posts: 432
Joined: Tue 24 Jun, 2008 4:01 pm

Post by weenie »

please do John safely of course, pics too

John Leeds
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat 05 Dec, 2009 4:16 am

Post by John Leeds »

weenie wrote: please do John safely of course, pics too As alway's , the problem is that metal door and the alarm, I was thinking of trying to contact the guy who own's the land as he actually went into the bunker within a couple of day's of us busting it open.A mate told me the guy who own's the land also owns Alwoodly tennis club or cricket club, some sort of non contact sport.Does any one know who own's the land on the left hand side of Stairfoot Lane if your headinng from Adel to Alwoodly ?.Thanks.

biggee99
Posts: 212
Joined: Thu 08 May, 2008 3:37 pm

Post by biggee99 »

John Leeds wrote: daveharriss wrote: Hi AllNot using my real name for obvious reasons. i grew up in morrtown, and every night would walk all the way to the airraid shelter, in those days, no steel door, but it was open. Urban myths in 1980 was that indeed it was full of grenades and munitions. What i can tell you is this. We were good at chemstry at school, and we learnt about making big holes in things with other things. So the project of the shelter war began.It was indeed on two levels. Although many trap doors, never really worked our why they were there apart from my mate gashing his leg on one. So two floor laid out the same. they looked like racks which could of held documents, or munitions, we took axes spades, banging things, and dug below the stairwell for ages. Could not get through. Weird thing is this. Small opening, massive inside, almost as if the the original entrance was not in the quarry. Also the bunker on the top you could climb in, and it had a ladder going down into the bunker. Now thenI'd like to talk about the bunker in Adel woods, a few mate's and I were possibly one of the last groups to go in there before the metal alarmed door went on.I was 18 at the time and I'm now 26 so this was 8 years ago in summer, it all started when a friend asked me to show him it as he planned to get in, before the metal door went on the bottom third of the door was covered with soil, the entrance looked more square back then, it was concreted up with re bar running through it we later found out there was a double skinned red brick wall behind the concrete.After a few beers and smoke's we had successfully eyed up the job and decided that there must be another entrance some where, as it would be pretty silly to only have one way in and out, I had a brain wave and the next day we set out with a tarmac bar 2 spades and a bottle jack.If you are looking at the babling baby and you head right toward the Seven Arches after about 20 yards on your left you will see what we thought was a secret exit/entrance, its a pile of rocks that we had jacked off to dig away at the wall at the back of the structure, after nearly a full day of hard graft an old bloke approached us and asked what we were doing, we told him we were looking for an entrance into the bunker besides the one on the opposite side of Stairfooot Lane, what he said really shocked me and still eludes me to this day ?.He told us to go to the water works located at the back of the seven arches as this was a control room for comms and all that lot, we went there, with out getting a STIHL saw or oxy acetylene bottle and a torch we were not getting in, it was at this point that we thought man power and determination would prevail.The next day we went to the main entrance with more gear and more help, this time we had pick axes sledge hammers the lot, we started trying to get through the roof of the pill box this was a waste of time, we then tried smashing the concrete block of the side of the pill box we didn't have much luck with that so we decided seen as there was about a dozen of us then we take it in turns on the main entrance that now has the metal door on.For the next 2 week we went down there daily with our tools until we finally got through the concrete to the double skinned brick wall, a few hours later we had driven the tarmac bar through the brick and was banging it against the interior concrete wall of the bunker, we finally made a hole big enough for us all to fit through, it was roughly a square foot in size.The fun begins !My mate poked his head in first and crawled in, it was kind of hard to get in because of the soil covering the bottom third of the entrance.As soon as you crawl in there is a little square hatch flush with the floor on the left what took you too the second floor, you then turn right and walk forward about 5 feet and hit another wall, we then looked left and walked forward 15 feet ish, to your left you can see the stair way that takes you down to the next floor, to your right is what can only be explained as a lift shaft that is filled with rubble, there is about a 10 feet drop from the floor level to the rubble.We decided to check out the top floor first, its rectangular in shape and split into rows, right at the back of the top floor room there are a few point's of interest, firstly there is a hole in the wall what I assume was for ventilation, I also speculated that this was possibly drawn in from the pill box ?, secondly in the top left and top right corners of the top floor are 2 hatches, these were identical to the one that you see as soon as you crawl in on your left, these hatches are about 15 inch square and have a metal casing that is flush to the floor.We then went down the stairs to the second floor, as soon as we got to the base of the stairs there was corrugated metal sheeting all over the floor, it was a bit of a mess tbh, we walked round as if to follow the stairs down to another level but we ran into more rubble, the hatch on your left when you crawl in is right above you at this point, if you walk the rows of the second level its pretty much identical the the first level apart from a few important thing's.There is no visible intake for ventilation, and in the corners of the room there is evidence of another level , in the left and right top corners of the second level on the floor there are metal squares what are flush with the ground, these are directly underneath the hatches on the first floor and you can see that a ladder or some thing was fixed to the wall in the past, you can clearly see that it has been concreted over as it is newer than the rest of the bunker, and you can still make out the metal frame.We decided to clear out the rubble at the bottom of the stair case to see what we could find, we did this with buckets and rope and lifted it up through the hatch on your left as soon as you crawled in, we found more concrete that was newer than rest of the bunker.After speaking with my uncle he said that there was more than 2 floors as he and his mates used to go down there when they were kids, he then went on to tell me a mate of his who is a sparky was doing some work in the town hall basement, he seen an old metal door and asked the caretaker/guide were it led and he was told its a direct route to the air raid shelter in Adel woods ?.After 2 weeks of digging and a week of scratching our head's we had got bored and decided to leave it alone, shortly after this there was some work done on Stairfoot Lane, we didn't really think much of it at the time, when the work had finished and the road re opened the small dirt track that led to the bunker was wide enough to fit a bus up there so we went to take a look, this is when we discovered the metal door, I reckon with in 6 -8 weeks of us going in there the road was closed for "road works" a small path turned into a road and an alarmed door was fitted. ?What it was used for and how many floors it has still interests me, I know it has more than 2, I have been told, I have seen the metal grates on the second floor and the new concrete on these hatches and at the bottom of the stair case, another thing worth noting is the distance from the base of the top floor to the top of the rubble in the shaft, it is lower down than the base of the second floor .......................................................................................................................@daveharriss......... When you climbed down from the pill box were on the first floor did end up ?, this is baffling me as we never seen any thing that connected the bunker to the pill box ?Has any one else heard rumours that it's connected to the town hall ?.What about the prospect of a control room ?, this would suggest to me that it was a lot more than just a place to store papers ?.Why is there the need for what look's like a lift shaft in a building that only has 2 floors ?.What about the road works that closed Stairfoot Lane for a month to put in a curb on the bridge ?.I think there is a lot more to all this than what meet's the eye, hopefully some one will shed a little light on the matter.Went in this in the 70s and only ever found two floors the lift was to bring the shells up to the big anti aircraft gun on the top, the second floor went that bit deeper for the lift to be serviced, they were more buildings on the top but well gone now went back a few years ago and seen the big metal door and the new track, good place to go when the -hit hits the fan to hide away, food and water could live there for a long time.
biggee

king 589
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon 28 Dec, 2009 2:28 pm

Post by king 589 »

I went in the Stairfoot Lane bumker in the late 60's - we managed to 'blast' our way in through a bricked up [Ventilation] opening on the RH side of the original door.We spent all our 6/7 week summer holiday with small home-made explosive charges until we gained access - it was about 2-3 ft high and around 18"" wide and about 4ft long with a dogleg half-way through.We entered via a rope into a 8-10ft square shaft at the high level and dropped down around 12-15ft to base level. We beleive we were the first to enter since it went out of use and found 2 floors of rows of iron pipe racking [for what I assume was document boxes] - the only other find was a spade, a dead rabbit and a old telephone directory.Above the bunker was a concrete 'shed' which we traced as a power or air venting system connected by vertical risers from the buried bunker - there was also an old gun emplacement above the bunker with the holding down bolts still in place.Our understanding was that it was built to store Leeds Town Hall archives during WW2.We were chased out many times by a farmer who allegedly owned the land - he blocked the entrance at the end of summer

stutterdog
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Joined: Mon 15 Jun, 2009 4:46 pm

Post by stutterdog »

king 589 wrote: I went in the Stairfoot Lane bumker in the late 60's - we managed to 'blast' our way in through a bricked up [Ventilation] opening on the RH side of the original door.We spent all our 6/7 week summer holiday with small home-made explosive charges until we gained access - it was about 2-3 ft high and around 18"" wide and about 4ft long with a dogleg half-way through.We entered via a rope into a 8-10ft square shaft at the high level and dropped down around 12-15ft to base level. We beleive we were the first to enter since it went out of use and found 2 floors of rows of iron pipe racking [for what I assume was document boxes] - the only other find was a spade, a dead rabbit and a old telephone directory.Above the bunker was a concrete 'shed' which we traced as a power or air venting system connected by vertical risers from the buried bunker - there was also an old gun emplacement above the bunker with the holding down bolts still in place.Our understanding was that it was built to store Leeds Town Hall archives during WW2.We were chased out many times by a farmer who allegedly owned the land - he blocked the entrance at the end of summer According to an earlier thread on this same subject.The bunker at Adel was specifically dug out before WW2 to store important papers and documents for a large insurance company the name of which I forget.It has no bearing on whether there was an anti-aircraft battery in the vicinity.And, as far as I know there was no mention of a secret passage to Leeds Town Hall.People are just making things up and speculating about this so called bunker.It was not a bunker it was an underground storage facility.
ex-Armley lad

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

stutterdog wrote: king 589 wrote: I went in the Stairfoot Lane bumker in the late 60's - we managed to 'blast' our way in through a bricked up [Ventilation] opening on the RH side of the original door.We spent all our 6/7 week summer holiday with small home-made explosive charges until we gained access - it was about 2-3 ft high and around 18"" wide and about 4ft long with a dogleg half-way through.We entered via a rope into a 8-10ft square shaft at the high level and dropped down around 12-15ft to base level. We beleive we were the first to enter since it went out of use and found 2 floors of rows of iron pipe racking [for what I assume was document boxes] - the only other find was a spade, a dead rabbit and a old telephone directory.Above the bunker was a concrete 'shed' which we traced as a power or air venting system connected by vertical risers from the buried bunker - there was also an old gun emplacement above the bunker with the holding down bolts still in place.Our understanding was that it was built to store Leeds Town Hall archives during WW2.We were chased out many times by a farmer who allegedly owned the land - he blocked the entrance at the end of summer According to an earlier thread on this same subject.The bunker at Adel was specifically dug out before WW2 to store important papers and documents for a large insurance company the name of which I forget.It has no bearing on whether there was an anti-aircraft battery in the vicinity.And, as far as I know there was no mention of a secret passage to Leeds Town Hall.People are just making things up and speculating about this so called bunker.It was not a bunker it was an underground storage facility. There's always speculation in these discussions stutterdog as you say, but quite often something new can be deduced too. Many newer contributors have little idea of what has gone before and this site is not the easiest to navigate historically, leaving finding things much to chance which is a shame, but it remakes the point that it is well worth folk taking the time to look back at what has been posted before - as you know there has been much substantiated fact recorded on this particular topic in several threads.

Leafheads
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Joined: Mon 03 May, 2010 6:31 am

Post by Leafheads »

I remember digging with Johny D`s grandads bar. Jonhy D, Peter S, Digger Phil, Paul.... I cant remember who else! (feel free to remind me if any of you read this.) There was clearly more floors lower than the second. With the lift shaft and stairway filled in, we did try getting down in one of the croners aswell (digging into the floor), if you were to go now there id a 'small' dent in one of the far corners of the lower floor ! My older brother went in years before us and gain entrance not via the sealed door but up to the right side of the entrance. I think a mark is left there but again if you had a spare week or two as we did am sure you could gain entry by digging back open this hole. Leathley!!

Jimmy
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Joined: Tue 24 Aug, 2010 1:01 pm

Post by Jimmy »

I went down the Adel Woods/Scarefoot Lane bunker in the mid-90s - we used to camp out near there. Me and a friend went in the entrance above the quarry (at the base of the concrete, cube-shaped building that looks like a small domestic air-raid shelter) not the lower entrance, which - as I recall - is built into the side of the bank as you scramble down into the quarry below. Anyway, we saw what looked like bunk beds in there, though it's not unfeasible that these might actually have been used as racks for documents. We believed it was built as a hideout for militia/resistance in the event of invasion, so we interpreted the racks as bunk beds at the time. What I do remember is there are definitely more then 2 floors! I went down to 3 (if we're counting level 1 as the top level) before I totally shat myself and came back up. Each floor was, I think, essentially the same layout as the one above. I do remember seeing something like a small lift-shaft as well (like a dumb waiter?) filled with rubble, and this seemed to connect all the levels. I think that was at the back. Sorry for the sketchiness of this....As other people here say that the stairwell below level 2 was filled in with rubble before and after the period that i went down, I can only assume that someone dug out the stairwell a bit, sometime in the mid-early nineties?

claireblue
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Joined: Tue 03 Jul, 2012 2:21 pm

Post by claireblue »

Searched the site but can't see that this bunker has been mentioned. On Meanwood Ridge past the cricket ground, would it have been a WW2 air raid shelter for the public? it seems small compared to others pictured on here.][/url]        

claireblue
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Joined: Tue 03 Jul, 2012 2:21 pm

Post by claireblue »

outside../][/url]    

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