As far as I know, most of the 'airfields of Britain' were connected to a municipal water supply but a number had dedicated borehole water supply and (maybe) artesian?
The good old borehole database covers holes drilled for various reasons and it is frightening just how many splatter familiar areas.
Now, all a dedicated AiX/ARG enthusiast has to do is volunteer to track down boreholes on airfields and compile a list. Some of those mysterious little buildings which are unaccounted for could turn out to be covering a borehole!
What's unusual about the Harrington borehole Paul?
I couldn't resist looking at this one at RAF Bicester drilled in 1939 (one of two):
I'm sure I have seen airfield plans at TNA with borehole locations marked on them and also some with geology marked. It makes sense as drainage was very important and the stuff below the surface affects this.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
Boreholes, as I am sure you know, are drilled for different purposes. The majority are 'test bores' to determine geological strata such as (I suspect) Paul's Harrington example before siting Thor?
Some are drilled for drainage, mineral extraction etc. The ones related to just pre-war and WW2 military airfields were to abstract water for domestic consumption due to the lack of an adequate or reliable local supply. As I troll through remaining airfield sites I shall now be looking for related water bores. Non airfield sites, especially Fuel Depots had their share too.
What's unusual about the Harrington borehole Paul?
Apart from its depth being logged incorrectly on the BGS interface as 52m rather than its true 52', it's not where I'd expect it to be, being where the southwestern dispersals were instead of where the Thor site was built.
It's also the only Air Ministry borehole I've yet found drilled at a Thor site during the Thor era.
Interestingly, given the pre-existing geological records over the Thor site at Harrington, mainly by the Staveley Coal & Iron Company (later part of Stewarts & Lloyds), a few more minerals survey holes were drilled right outside the Thor perimeter in during 1959 and 1960 too!
I bet the security bods got a bit twichy about that at the time.
I dare say any new build on an active military site requires a borehole. It's the first sign of new developments in most towns these days so I assume the same rules apply on gevernment property.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
...it's not where I'd expect it to be, being where the southwestern dispersals were instead of where the Thor site was built.
Yes quite. Of course, being a predictable type, I thought EWS straight away, but not in that location.
Did the Air Ministry own the site at that time? Perhaps they were wondering if the site was more valuable as a mineral asset than to plonk some nukes on...curious.
In the late eighties the RAF started doing boreholes at most Strike airfields to sort out some form of local water supply. At Leuchars I beleive they didnt find any, I suspect thats because the airfield is so close to the sea. But I also heard that they didnt find any at Leeming.
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