Cordite Explosives Factory HOLTON HEATH PART2 **BUNKERS**

The Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath (RNCF) was set up at Holton Heath, Dorset, England, in World War I to manufacture cordite for the Royal Navy. It was reactivated in World War II to manufacture gun propellants for the Admiralty and its output was supplemented by the Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent. After the end of World War II, the explosive manufacturing areas of the site were closed down and some areas of the site reopened as an Admiralty Research Establishment. A major part of the explosives site became a nature reserve [1] in 1981. Other parts of the site were converted into an industrial estate; and some may be used for housing.
The Admiralty Research Establishment became part of Defence Research Agency (DRA) and DRA Holton Heath finally closed in the late 1990s. None of the site is now owned by the Ministry of Defence.
Google maps pins here for your mobile: goo.gl/maps/4L...
for part1 see here:
• Cordite Explosives Fac...
Cordite docu trailer here:
• Royal Naval Cordite Fa...
My Instagram: / mattswilli
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email me at [e-mail] or [e-mail]
Also present on this explore were
Exploring Within - / richtea8
Hidden History with Ray - / beale7125
Equipment used:
Sony A7s ii with Samyang 14mm full frame lens
Dji Pocket 2 camera
Insta 360x R
Adobe Premiere Pro 2020
Ryzen 3950X
65GB Ram
Windows 10 (No Apple shiz here)
Nvidia RTX 3090 GFX

[@ChronicExe]

Wish I could of went with you for this, I had messaged you but oh well, I know an insane amount of information for this place. I have all the ordnance surveys, photos of my great auntie inspecting nitroglycerin tubes etc. Where you entered, there are small cell like bunkers dotted all up the road. They are completely covered up by vegetation though. The place blew up several times causing multiple deaths. My auntie and great grandad worked there too. When my dad was a kid, the entire area was a no go zone for decades. You had to have a pass at certain check points on roads around wareham. No pass = shot on site. This place was one of Britain's biggest secrets. Other than this factory, there was only 1 other that could produce the amounts needed, which was in wales i believe. Which also ended up taking over manufacturing entirely at some point but I forget when the transition was. This place is also the birth place of the water bed, submarine development and many... many explosives. The entire place is a no go zone due to the amount of cordite, nitrate and acetone contamination in the area. It's also home to a white deer family. You have missed so much. One small tower is home to a barn owl too. The mounds you mention are also bunkers and tunnel systems or are air raid shelters. All needed to be covered as the trees in the area were either newly planted or still growing. The mounds also helped hid from people who were able to go past check points to enter stoughborough or sandford. The reservoir is double barrelled and identical. The entire place is often frequented for raves. Those two welded doors are the entrances to the reservoirs. They were on the floor when I went in 2013. Place has changed so much due to the elements flooding the place entirely. Some nissen huts are entirely underwater. There is many ROC posts dotted about. 2 at lulworth, 1 at wareham near the river, one at langton matravers. All these would unknowingly meet up to blow up several routes including wareham bridge. Only the wareham roc post has been completely filled in though the entrance still exists and a telephone pole. The other ROC posts are fine and well kept. Arne was aquired and was made as a decoy site to protect Holton. Safe to say, Arne did its job well. Recieved over 100 bombs from the Nazis on strafing runs and utterly destroyed the town, which has not been inhabited since. Now has been turned into a small museum where you can see the remnant houses. The only place that wasn't bombed was the church and school. Did you explore the other heathland part (the bit thats really destroyed near the roundabout)? Theres a huge mound which turns out to be a massive bunker with a small heavy duty door, its facing the lake. There are also old AA gun towers dotted about near by. 3 still exist that I am aware of, one is behind the actual labs in the heathland. Gore/gosling heath and Knoll house have loads of bunkers and pillboxes too. Many people that worked there were from all over Dorset. Shipped in via train from Swanage, coaches by SeaView coaches and other various public transport dedicated just for the employee's. The majority of the people who worked there in the 1930s died of various cancers by 1960s, including my grandad. The wareham roc bunker also had a death of a dads friend many years ago. They used to take ammo from the bunkers to the post and hammer the bullets to shoot the bunkers door. One day they all returned to finding the lad had hammered a mine and blew himself up into smithereens. Apparently this is the reason it was filled in. If you are ever down Poole again, shout me. I can show you a whole trove of bunkers. Just some are insanely hard to get in. You should check Norden, that has a few secrets waiting.

[@roguewxves]

interesting one. noticed this site seemed to have a bit more secrecy surrounding it than bincleaves and southwell. Made me wonder about chem/bio weapons and the like

[@kennethbarker852]

1st class video to watch thank you take care kind regards from me kenneth👍

[@sarahburton3110]

Epic!👍🏻💛. Nice one mate ♥️

[@roguewxves]

36:40 those metal boxes used to be the way in, the panels were welded on more recently. They look a good size in the video but it was like climbing into a microwave lol, tight squeeze. nice vid lads👍

[@martinsallenger5526]

Hi Matt Steve's certainly took a chance going into the tunnel well done to him. Very interesting place watching the drone footage shows how massive this place was looking forward to part 3 thanks for sharing

[@completetechheads]

36:00 me and my friend spent about an hour wiggling a metal pole in that hole to try and make it bigger before we gave up lol great footage guys

[@crappy_names_left5425]

Matt : Wheres that tunnel go ? Me : That tunnel goes nowhere, it stays there year round ...

[@BlytheWorld1972]

hats off to the guy who went into that muddy hole

[@rossstenner4402]

Cordite is a propellant it was the first British 'smokeless' propellant & was used for everything in British service from revolvers & rifles to 16 inch Naval guns from the late1880's until the late 1950's or early 1960's. Based on a stabilised form of nitro glycerine it was extruded under pressure into 'sticks' or 'tubes' of varying sizes depending upon its use, some shells & rifle ammunition used sticks tied in bundles. Cordite sticks resemble dry spaghetti in size & colour. 28:08 could possibly have been where the nitro glycerine was incorporated with other ingredients or where the mixture was extruded by hydraulic pressure, soft walls on 2 sides to blow out in case of accident.

[@BlytheWorld1972]

That guy Steve was a legend well done you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@martinsallenger5526]

Hi Matt,that tunnel looks very dangerous,well done Steve's for getting in must be a risk taker. Very interesting video and when you see the drone footage it shows the immense size of Holton Heath site,looking to part 3

[@chrishensby6250]

Another great flogg very entertaining cracking job

[@H9Gamings]

Google mapping the area and I thought I recognised it, that active part you walked past in Part 1 at 6:10 was the camp they used for the TV show Bad Lads Army series 4. As for the railway you think may had been there, there is a website called rail map online (all one word) and it shows you all the historic railways in the area.

[@johnscales1895]

Fantastic. Keep. Up. Good. Exploring matt

[@MelJ44]

Thanks Matr for all hard work you do enjoy watching all time cheers again 👍

[@BlytheWorld1972]

Love all the extra information you give out ...

[@granstandann28]

Excellent

[@TheProdigy1982]

I really enjoyed that ,I can’t not wait for part two. 😁

[@stevesvids]

Great explore. 👍

[@lynnmorgan4782]

Well mat you know your history keep going love your videod

[@megamills150]

Nice one 👍👍👍

[@johnfrench428]

I think you were standing on atop of the underground reservoir when figuring out the hatches in the the old valve house foundation.

[@DazGeary]

The ants here in Australia are 4 times that size and sting like a bee. Nice explore boys

[@sarahperks4581]

I'd love to visit Australia but would need anxiety meds with all your creepy crawly stuff lol 👍

[@Seat1AJoe]

Ha! Matt did a Taffy laugh!

[@columbo7927]

Thank you Matthew. I watched that trailer earlier on today. The full version was not available to watch.

[@gs425]

Purbeck is full of those wood ants Matt.

[@jd3497]

A late fall explore when all the leaves are gone would reveal a lot more features.Wouldn't there be a map of the place as it's historical and now decommissioned?

[@BlytheWorld1972]

why is there 12 dislikes i don't get it Anyway i will like the video cant wait to see part 2

[@sarahperks4581]

I know some people are sad acts Matt is a legend 👍

[@BlytheWorld1972]

@@sarahperks4581 he is authentic tells it like it is out spoken and makes great videos .

[@sarahperks4581]

BlytheWorld1972 I'm with you he's also a mind of knowledge 😊👍

[@BlytheWorld1972]

@@sarahperks4581 yes very interesting.

[@jjskn93]

36:00 wood ants m8. Best to leave them be. They'll ruin your day! No sting but quite aggressive and capable of shooting formic acid.

[@PrivateJellyJose]

Love your videos mate, keep them coming

[@scottybee8]

First part was good looking forward to this 2nd part You might wanna fix end of vid this is part 2 not part 1 😀

[@harryswains7005]

The does behind the wall at 43:15 is now half bent open

[@JasonJohnson-yu8zf]

That pulley system might have been for moving rail carts around rather than use a small steam or diesel locomotives, it would be safer if the carts were loaded with explosive

[@BlytheWorld1972]

Steve was game good for you no use going for an explore if you are not going to try and get in

[@harryswains7005]

Those hatchets at 36 mins in on side is now open

[@georgesmith8113]

👍👍😎

[@petera8083]

Interesting upload. 👍 ‘ Moaning part now’ (sorry Matt) A little too much time was spent filming ppl trying to get thru holes and walking around getting to other bunkers which could’ve been shortened.

[@ronwilson9855]

Shame you didn't do your homework before you made these videos, you would then have known what the buildings, tunnels etc were used for, there are hundreds of photos of the place showing production, also a scale model 9f the site, so you could have been precise and accurate with your comments, I stead of wildly guessing and being so wrong.