CallMeAlan.uk

Greenham Common : Miscellaneous and Unclassified

Herewith some pictures of various sights and scenes on the Common which don’t really merit their own album. Apart from the last few, which I include out of interest and scene setting of the modern common, most are relics and leftovers of the common’s airbase heritage.


The forgotten nuclear bomb - one important item they forgot to remove

Nuclear bomb? Of course not! But what is it? Who knows.

It looks more water-borne than air-borne. Why would a torpedo or something which floats be here, 70 miles from the nearest sea?

The flagpole



There are maybe half a dozen of these scattered around the common

This one has had a cap welded over its top hole as people were dumping all sorts of crap into them

As you can see here, they have sustained a fair bit of damage from ?collisions?



But what are they? My best bet is that they supported tall lighting poles of some description. The fire plane in the background is the subject of its own album.

Fairly recent additions to the common. This sculpture in steel seems to represent aeroplanes





A big solid concrete block, almost hidden in a patch of trees, with absolutely no features which could identify its purpose

A mysterious almost hidden water feature

I found this feature in the middle of the runway area. Clealry electrical in nature, it was probably landing lights of some sort















We can see numerous remnants of electricity all around the common

There are a few old bricks like this around







As well as bricks and so on we can find many bits of cables emerging from underground and leading nowhere















There are a couple of fenced-off areas on the common. This one is off to the side of the runway and seems to have neither rhyme nor reason for its presence

But this one, shown here in Google Earth, is more interesting. As you see, it lies directly in line with the end of the runway, which is to the right

Rumour has it that a bomber carrying a nuclear warhead crashed and burned upon takeoff ......

Could this be where it happened? The grass inside the fence looks a little unhealthy!

Who knows what other reason there could be for the fencing.

We can only guess if this area is riddled with radioactivity. Strangely, I do not own a geiger counter so I have no way of probing further.

OK, not cold war relics, but an indication that the airbase is now once again a common in the true sense of the word

Quenching their thirst on a super-hot day. The pair front-right have beautiful soft velvety fur (is fur the right word for cows?)



Commoners - those who live nearby - are permitted to graze their cattle on the common. These guys are inquisitive and invariably laid-back and seem to tolerate those flies happily enough.





Commoners rights extend to horse-riding. You will on very rare occasions spot wild ponies on the common but I have never been close enough to get a pic.