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RAF Bowes Moor

BowesMilitary installations closed in 1947Military installations established in 1941Royal Air Force stations in YorkshireRoyal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom
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Former RAF Bowes Moor geograph.org.uk 113536
Former RAF Bowes Moor geograph.org.uk 113536

RAF Bowes Moor was a chemical warfare agent (CWA) storage site run by the Royal Air Force during and after the Second World War. The site was to the north of the village of Bowes in what is now County Durham, England. The Bowes Moor geographical feature runs from the north to the south west of the village. The Royal Air Force used the site to stock its chemical weapon supply, most of which was disposed of in situ by burning. The site, which closed in 1947, is known for the dangerous chemicals which leached into the soil. The only unit to have officially worked at Bowes Moor was No. 81 Maintenance Unit RAF (1941–1947). The Bowes Loop of the Pennine Way goes through the site.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article RAF Bowes Moor (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

RAF Bowes Moor
Clint Lane,

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 54.526 ° E -2.03 °
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(Former) RAF Bowes Moor

Clint Lane
DL12 9HZ
England, United Kingdom
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Former RAF Bowes Moor geograph.org.uk 113536
Former RAF Bowes Moor geograph.org.uk 113536
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Nearby Places

Sleightholme Beck Gorge – The Troughs
Sleightholme Beck Gorge – The Troughs

Sleightholme Beck Gorge – The Troughs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the County Durham district of south-west County Durham, England. The site covers a gorge in the valley of Sleightholme Beck between the hamlet of Sleightholme and the confluence with the River Greta, some 3 km upriver from the village of Bowes. The trough is 200m east of the border with Wytham Moor, part of the neighbouring Bowes Moor SSSI. The site has both biological and geological interest and has been designated of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review. The gorge is incised through the Namurian Great Limestone and is of particular interest because beds of sandstone in the middle of the section show structures characteristic of a shoreline, with the features of a river delta and barrier bar. The shallow soils that have developed on ledges and crevices in the limestone and on the scree slopes support a vegetation in which ferns such as maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium trichomanes, green spleenwort, A. viride, and brittle bladder fern, Cystopteris fragilis, are prominent. Woodland plants such as wood sorrel, Oxalis acetosella, wood millet, Milium effusum, and dog's mercury, Mercurialis perennis, have established themselves in the shadier crevices, while rue-leaved saxifrage, Saxifraga tridactylites, shining cranesbill Geranium lucidum, and common whitlow grass, Erophila verna, occur in the most exposed situations. On the most inaccessible valley slopes, there is open woodland in which yew, Taxus baccata, is abundant. Dipper and common sandpiper have been recorded from the site and probably breed in the area.

Deepdale, County Durham
Deepdale, County Durham

Deepdale, sometimes spelt Deep Dale, is a side valley of Teesdale in County Durham, England. In its lower reaches, just west of the town of Barnard Castle, the valley is well wooded, and is a nature reserve, known for its bird life and a population of otters. Deepdale Beck, a tributary of the River Tees, runs through the valley. By the beck is the Great Stone, a glacial erratic from Shap in Cumbria, one of the largest erratics in Teesdale. The valley was once crossed by the Deepdale Viaduct, 2 miles (3 km) west of Barnard Castle. The viaduct was designed by Thomas Bouch (of the Tay Bridge disaster fame) and built in 1861 to carry the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway. It closed in 1962 and was dismantled in 1963. At the foot of the dale the Deepdale Aqueduct, which is also a footbridge, crosses the River Tees. It was built in 1898, and is a Grade II listed building. Deerbolt army camp Startforth used Deepdale as a training ground until the early 1960s. The road at the bottom of the dale was tarmac with concrete bollards on each side, as you went up the road there was 2 Nissan army huts on the left side of the river a little further up on the right hand side of the road was ditches which are still there but filled with bog plants, these used to have barbed wire over them so the soldiers had to crawl under the wire through the ditches. I think there was 4 in the open area on the right of the road. The road then dips down to a concrete ford and onto the rifle ranges. The open land was used for parking and there was rifle shooting ranges aiming towards the bank next to the back of a concrete roofed building. This was used as a store, the targets were pulled up on top of the bank next to the building.