The white pipeline markers around our village are a
familiar sight. They indicate a system serving many parts of the country which
started out as a closely guarded secret.
Britain’s oil pipelines were planned in 1936 when it was
realised that supplies to the RAF might be vulnerable in time of war . The
first was completed in 1938 and linked the ports at Avonmouth and Liverpool
which at the time were the principal oil importation docks. It would allow delivery of oil by road and
rail to continue should one of the terminals be out of action.
With the outbreak of war in 1939 it was decided to
build a number of underground oil storage facilities linked directly to the
pipeline which would then extend eastwards to supply the key airfields in East
Anglia, Lincolnshire, Essex, Kent and the south Midlands . Work was carried out
at dead of night lest the Luftwaffe should see what was going on.
It was re-named The Government Pipelines and Storage
System (GPSS) and in anticipation of the invasion of France was extended
further with additional storage depots. RAF and USAF bases could now be fully
supplied as could the English Channel pipeline, Operation Pluto.
With the end of the war, ownership passed to the Oil
and Pipelines Agency (OPA), part of the Ministry of Defence and whilst remaining
secret, private use was encouraged. The pipeline was extended as a result, to
serve each British oil refinery as well as major airports and that passing
through Furness Vale, supplies Manchester Airport. Following fuel protests in
the year 2000 and blockages of refineries, it was decided by the M O D to
further extend the network.
March 2015 saw the system privatised when it was
sold for £82 million to the Spanish company Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos
(CLH)
Until the sale, the RAF flew the entire 2400 km
length of the pipeline each day to check for damage.
There are only two reported incidents, one at
Patchway near Bristol in 1998 and another in 2000 when some workmen severed the
pipe at Yeardsley Lane. The event prompted a live TV news broadcast while
residents were evacuated from their homes.
Here is one of the few places where the pipeline is exposed as it crosses Furness Clough. There is another white marker at the top of the bank.
PLUTO, is about the only thing I can remember from school history lessons...
ReplyDeletePipeline Under The Ocean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pluto
DeletePrivatised and sold for £82m. More infrastructure paid for by the taxpayer sold off at bargain-basement prices. Try installing a 2400km pipeline in the UK today for £82m. I hate this government, I really do.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem grossly undervalued John but I don't know the terms of the sale. Might well be that CLH are committed to make large investments in the infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteNot only was it sold for £82 million the MoD then also took out a contract with CHL to continue to be supplied with fuel through the pipeline!
ReplyDeleteBefore I went to school in Buxton I spent the first 13 years of my life living in Dove Holes and that really is my specialist historical subject. Some Dove Holes historians aren’t really historians at all. But a few are very knowledgeable about the village.
ReplyDeleteI lived at number 4 Cross Cottages which later became 65 Meadow Lane which was a real shame but some things you can’t change.
When we went to Dove Holes C of E School we would always be early because our parents used to have to go out to work so a gang of lads used to set off and we would go over the railway bridge and past the 3 massive hills and onto the A6 and then up to the school. We later found out the hills were a petrol dump. It had spiked railings all the way around to stop people getting in. I can’t recall ever seeing anyone in there. We would run down with a stick hitting each rail as we went. Rat at tat tat and this multiplied by six or seven lads. What a noise.
Later we found out that these green hills were massive steel holding tanks covered in turf so the Germans wouldn’t notice them.
Some times if we were a bit late we would climb over the wall at the far end of the railway bridge and run down the well worn track and over the sidings where the train tankers brought the fuel and we would emerge on to Alexander Road. I suppose it was a bit dangerous but we never worried at the time and it would make up a few minutes in time to get to the school playground for a quick kick about before assembly. What we didn’t bargain for was the headmaster, Mr Evans, hiding just around the corner outside Williams and Deacons Bank. As we went past each one of us would get a clip around the ears and were told we would be dealt with after assembly.
After assembly we were called out to the front, bent over and given a minute’s worth of thrashing with the slipper.
Years later a few of us were riding our bikes down Dale Road towards Peak Dale and just past the Dove Holes sewerage works on our right was an old wagon track opposite the entrance to the RMC Plant. None of us had ever been up that track before but for some reason on this particular day we decided to have a look.
There in a hollow, out of site of the road, were the very same black railings and the very same 3 green hills.
Eventually the three hills in Dove Holes were demolished and Horseshoe Avenue was built on the site. During the demolition an old school friend of mine approached the removal contractors and said he had lived there all his life but had never been inside and could they show him round. One of the men agreed and invited him in.
He then said come and have a look at this and took him to a doorway that went into a tunnel. They went down into the tunnel and there was a roadway from the Dove Holes site to the Dale Road site.
Apparently it was big enough to take large vehicles from one place to the other.
The tunnel must have gone under the A6 and as far as I know it is still there.
Tony Beswick
I believe the Horseshoe Avenue site was used for storing heavy oils EG lubrication oil. It was directly over the railway tunnel, and I heard that it leaked oil which eventually reached the tunnel, where it could be distinctly smelt.
ReplyDeleteThe Dale Road site was most likely for petrol. I read somewhere that it could hold about 80,000 tons (unverified). Imagine that going up!
Thanks Kurt. There are all sorts of fascinating stories about Dove Holes. I have a newspaper cutting somewhere about somebody who drowned in a tank of petrol at Dovve Holes Station !
Delete