Buffer Depots

THe 3 buildings in the attached shots are or should I say were almost identical. The Dundee one was demolished about 3 years ago to make way for yet more houses. I visited it several times with my grandchildren as its final use was an indoor kids play area. During WW2 there were only a handful of houses in Muirfield.
The Ladybank one was just outside the village in recent years used by the farmer. I asked several of the adjacent farmers about the building and got various replies. All included military use.
The Haddington one was almost adjacent the old A1, last time I was doiwn that way 5 years ago it was stiill in use and had been receiving a lot of TLC.

The construction method and design was very akin to an FFMT.
I have a lot of notes on CD in Scotland and neither figures, so I can only conclude they were military of some sort.
I am sure I once visited a similar building in Exeter to collect compo whilst on exercise on Exmoor in 1965.

Any clues ???

TED

Attached files [IMG]/community/80495=5374-Muirfield Dundee.jpg[/img] [IMG]/community/80495=5375-Storehouse Muirfield, Dundee.jpg[/img] [IMG]/community/80495=5376-Storehouse, Haddington, E.Lothian. 2.jpg[/img] [IMG]/community/80495=5377-Storehouse, Haddington, E.Lothian.jpg[/img] [IMG]/community/80495=5378-Storehouse, Ladybank, Fife.jpg[/img]

That appears to be it. There must have been 2 main types; one for dry stores as above then the cold stores which were like a block house often with a large grain store nearby and normally adjacent to a railway. A google has unearthed a good few, most in England seem to have 3 bays some sites with 2 x 3 bay buildings; Is it worth turning this into a Buffer Depot thread ??
TED

Are these post-war (Cold War) structures?

Following a google I found several more depots last night , I will caption and post when time permits. The ones later known as cold stores many of which had an adjacent grain store & mill were WW2; I believe there were at least 40. There is a picture of one in my copy of Luton at War with a camo paint scheme. Many of these survive although derelict and are shown on the Sub Brittania website. I will scan the Luton one tonight.

The dry stores are also WW2; several again survive and there is a snippet on a Surrey local history site that gives the build dates as between nov41 -dec 42 The one at Betchworth Surrey RH3 7 BZ was depot 339. Most are 3 bay with some sites having 2 sheds. The original 3 I posted were all six bay single building. Initially I thought this was a Scottish trait but it seems unlike the CD & NFS food was a central gov responsibilty under MAFF, plus I found a 1945 aerial view of the Lauder depot and from Google street view it mirrors most of the others I found i.e, 3 bay - 2 sheds.. Many of them are still refered to in their addresses as the buffet depot and used by light industries.
Post war the arrangement was resurrected, it seems many of the existing depots were reactivated and others opened by leasing warehouses. Off shopping family arriving for annual visit tomorrow .

TED

Ted I would be interested in any information you have on the Luton Buffer Depot.

came across a list of MAFF property, this is the recorded list for Buffer Depots... i'd guess the document was collated in around 1999/2000.

4 Almondbank, Perth, Scotland
Buffer Depot of 3 warehouses (13,791 sq.m. built early 1940s and 4 warehouses built 1988 plus ancillary buildings on site of 8.9 ha. FOR SALE

5 Almondbank, Perth, Scotland
Buffer Depot of 5 warehouses & ancillary buildings (2,005 sq.m) on site of 5.6 ha. FOR SALE

Abergwili Road, Abergwili, Carmarthen
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse built 1940, 8 Nissen type huts and 2 offices (total of 2,743 sq.m) on site of 1.17 ha. FOR SALE

Caton Road, Claughton, Lancaster
Buffer Depot of 2 warehouses (5,060 sq.m) built in 1950s with office annex on site of 1.53 ha FOR SALE

New Street, Earl Shilton, Hinckley, Leics
Buffer Depot 2 warehouses and an office (5,070 sq.m) built in 1940s on site of 1..37 ha. FOR SALE

Trentside, Gunthorpe, Nottingham.
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse and office accommodation (2,387 sq.m) built in 1940s on site of 1.0 ha. FOR SALE

Kendal Road, Harlescott, Shrewsbury, Salop
Buffer Depot of 7 storage buildings and an office built (12,622 sq.m) about 1916 on site of 3.72 ha. FOR SALE

Gravel Pit, Hertford Road, Hoddeson, Herts
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse (2,397 sq.m) including office space in site of 0.86 ha. FOR SALE

Station Road, Honeybourne, Evesham, Worcs
Buffer Depot of 3 warehouses, 2 offices and a small store (9,427 sq.m) on site of 2.83 ha. FOR SALE

130 Hyndford Road, Lanark, Scotland
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse (2,360 sq.m) including office space built 1940s on site of 0.56 ha. FOR SALE

Towy Avenue, Llandovery, Dyfed
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse, office and 4 Nissen huts (2,770 sq.m) on site of 0.85 ha. FOR SALE

Pocklington Industrial Estate, Pocklington, East Yorks
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse (5,450 sq.m) built 1940s on site of 1.54 ha. FOR SALE

Nant Alyn Road, Rhydymwyn, Mold, Flint
Buffer Depot of 90, mostly derelict, buildings dating from World War II on a site of 35.0 ha known to be contaminated. FOR SALE

357 Station Road, South Leigh, Oxon
Buffer Depot of 3 warehouses (2,355 sq.m) built 1940s on a site of 0.52 ha. FOR SALE

Melbourne Place, Topcliffe Road, Sowerby, North Yorkshire
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse (2,375 sq.m) built 1940s on a site of 1.09 ha. FOR SALE

Former RAF Station, Strubby, Alford, Lincs
Buffer Depot of 3 1940s aircraft hangars (8,173 sq.m), including portacabin office space, on a site of 17.5 ha FOR SALE

Tattenhall Road, Tattenhall, Chester
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse (2,382 sq.m), including office space and a small store all built 1940s on a site of 1.34 ha. FOR SALE

Little Glen Road, Glen Parva, Leicester
Buffer Depot of 1 warehouse (2,093 sq.m) with office and a Romney Hut on a site of 0.90 ha. FOR SALE

I have removed some info as I think it would encourage trespassers, any serious researchers looking at these building please contact me and I will pass on the missing info.

These stores were obviously for wartime stocks of food and obviously the need for them has reduced since the end of the cold war. I wonder what provision the government has made should there be a need for emergency food supplies? You know the scenario a break down in law and order!

I am wonderring of some of the MAFF facilities were intervention stores, beef mountain, milk lake sort of thing?

Buffer depots were originally a product of early WW2 when food from overseas was at the mercy of U boats etc. I have found lots of wartime depots through searching google then going to street view. I will try and make time over the weekend to caption them and then post . There are 2 distinct types, the idea was to hold enough basic ingredients to feed the whole population for 3 months. The dry product stores as per my initial post were for for flour hard tack biscuits, tinned meat, powdered milk & eggs. and the cold stores for fat , marg & butter. The cold stores resemble blockhouses ( see attached) . Some of the cold stores had an adjacent Grain store, from pictures on an urban explore site the grain stores appear to have contained a flour mill.
The cold stores all appear to have had a rail link.
At the time of the Civil Defence act of 1948 the Buffer system appears to have been brought back into the plans; From availible lists A large number of private companies were contracted to provide additonal cold stores and also to run the existing ones on behalf of MAFF.
The cold war period stockpile included emergency cooking equipment of the type used by the WRVS on CD exercises. It would appear that some of the original dry stores had additional capacity in the form of Romney huts. Some are still visible.

Turning to the list posted by JENNA . Some of the addresses are ex MoD facilities taken over for buffer stocks of grain, which I think I am correct in saying doubled as intervention stores. I have previously visited Almondbank which has 2 entries on the list. Almond bank was the main WW2 RN store in Scotland, it was arranged in the same manner as 16 MU with a main and several satalite sites - the main site is still occupied By the MoD under the guise of DERA, they undertake high precision engineering for both the RAF & RN. The satelite sites are mainly large warehouses akin to a Bellman hangar. several locations in JENNA's list are aircraft hangers and others original WW2 facilities, the Nissen huts are actually Romneys.
Romneys were also common at Home Office Supply & Transport depots . Whilst many HO S & T sub stores utilised surplus RAF hangers, the Romneys at the main depots housed the Green Goddesses at locations such as Cambios & Steventon.
From auction catologues and my cold war digging there is no longer a Buffer stock. All depots appear to be in private hands for private commercial use. The emergency feeding equipment was gradually sold off post 1975.

I think a handful of grain stores still exist but purely for intervention. So the bottom line Canberra If law and order breaks down you are on your own even the MoD no longer has food stocks. Compo is long gone and its present day counterpart is basically made to order with a very small strategic stockpile to satisfy operational needs.
Personally after 2 very bad winters here and being stuck in doors for 10 days the last time, I have declared UDI-- we have camping stove and several cylinders, 2 wind-up/ solar lamps and a similar radio , a solar powered/windup mobile phone charger. and 21 days of tinned /powdered foo and medicines in the house at all times. not to mention a big medical trauma kit, and several meaty fire extinguishers. Sorry I digress.
I will scan the Luton Buffer depot pic, its identical to the attached but is a WW2 pic. Its is beside the rail line that used to run from Luton Bute Street Stn to Dunstable- but I cannot find evidence of it on GE.

TED

Attached files [IMG]/community/81279=5490-Chettisham buffer depot CB6 1RY.jpg[/img]

Attached is a 1945 GE , The Station Road Honeybourne depot 2 x 3 bay warehouses is to the right near the railway station symbol. But what is that complex to the left , It is now the site of the UNIPART LOGISTICS Operation. Some of the original buildings survive and are Romney Huts. I know during the cold war it was a Home Office Supply & Transport depot holding CD/AFS vehicles & equipment but what were its origins? Possibly something to do with the aerodrome at Honeybourne which is off shot bottom right .
TED
Correction thanks to PB I now know the Romney hut site is not part of the airfield real estate; my HO notes tell me the address of the H.O. S & T sub store at Honeybourne the airfield, so it must have been in a hanger actually on the airfield site.

Attached files [IMG]/community/81289=5491-station road, honeybourne, worcs..jpg[/img]