Abandoned Wiltshire: RAF Yatesbury
We drove along a road that looked as if it led to nowhere in particular; windscreen wipers struggling to keep up with the torrential rain. Curious locals seemed to detect we were outsiders and glanced in our direction as we parked. Or perhaps this abandoned RAF base is the only reason people drive up this particular road and so they knew we were “Bloody Urban Explorers.”
RAF Yatesbury dates back to WWI- In 1916 the Royal Flying Corps began pilot training on the site. In the interwar years it was used as a civilian pilot school, before being taken over by the air ministry in 1939 for the training of airborne wireless operators.
After the war, flight training resumed for two years from 1945. During the Cold War, radar operators, mechanics and fitters were trained on the site. With the cooking of global tensions RAF Yatesbury closed in 1965. Since then parts of the site have reverted back to farmland, another section is used for Airsoft, and some of the hangers seem to be in use, but much of the site remains crumbling.
Remnants of the RAF base were scattered sporadically around the area, alongside private housing, the airsoft centre and storage units. We wandered in the rain, taking each path to see what we’d come across- peering through trees and through hedges to see what was ahead. Some buildings had very few remains- a concrete base and a few mangles iron bars protruding from the ground. A row of huts (which looked as though they were once a storey higher) caught our interest- switches, sockets and cladding clung onto the crumbling walls as the building collapsed in on itself.
Another highlight was a concrete pilbox, which was nestled within some trees, this solid structure had stood the test of time; its solid construction not looking too disimilar to the day it was build, bar the discarded tyres and graffiti.
Dotted across the site, many buildings are in an extremely dilapidated state, having succumbed to the elements and been sprawled with graffiti. Other buildings are today a mere skeleton, barely noticeable amongst the growth of plants and trees that have ruptured through the concrete ground and begun taking over the site. A few of the intact buildings are either completely bricked up or sat behind robust fencing, close to the parts of the site that are in use.
In March 2022 plans were submitted to convert the land into 43 homes. The two groups of hangars built in 1916, and the former Officers’ mess are Grade II listed, so some of the planned development will convert rather than demolish these buildings.
Last Updated on 19 August 2024 by Michael
