[Secret Britain] Porton Down - Home Of The UK's Most Secretive Military Research Facility

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Porton Down, or more specifically the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), has been known for over 100 years to be one of the UK's most controversial military research facilities. The site is spread out over 7,000 acres with the land surrounding the complex being marked on most maps as a "Danger Area".

Porton Down first opened in 1916 as the War Department Experimental Station (renamed to the Royal Engineers Experimental Station later) and was used for testing chemical weapons in response to the Germans use of chemical warfare in 1915. After the war, activity at Porton Down was reduced and only a skeleton staff remained. By 1920, the Cabinet agreed to the Holland Committee's recommendation that work should continue at the site in case of future chemical warfare.

During the Second World War, work continued at Porton Down, researching chemical weapons such as nitrogen mustard. As the war developed, allied forces penetrating Europe discovered stockpiles of previously unknown chemical agents such as sarin and other previously unknown nerve agents. In response to this, a highly secretive separate department was established in 1940 intended to focus on anthrax and botulinum toxin. This lead to one of the first controversies surrounding Porton Down; tests carried out on Gruinard Island, affectionately called Anthrax Island. The island was used to test how anthrax spores disperse and how long they might stay in the environment. It wasn't until 1990, after 48 years of quarantine and four years after first starting the decontamination process that the island was declared safe by the then conservative junior defense minister Michael Neubert.

After the Second World War, research continued at the complex using the newly discovered German nerve agents as a base, and eventually they created VX nerve agents in 1952. As the Cold War developed, Britain wanted the means to arm itself with a modern chemical weapon and also to develop defenses against these agents. Eventually the chemical agents were abandoned in favour of atomic weapons, although a focus on defense against chemical agents continued. There were numerous tests carried out on servicemen to determine the effects of these new nerve agents on human test subjects, with at least one recorded death as a result of the trials. Porton Down was also used to develop a riot-control agent called CS, which was important to Britain with the growing unrest in Northern Ireland. Research into defense against nerve agents continued well into the 1970s and 1980s, with research also focusing on reported chemical warfare used by Iraq on both their own Kurdish population and Iran.

Let's backtrack just a bit, and talk about the trials that were conducted in Lyme Bay between 1963 and 1975. After Anthrax Island, this is probably one of the most well known areas of concern relating to Porton Down. Live bacteria were sprayed from a ship so that they would be carried ashore by the wind to simulate an anthrax attack. The live bacteria used were not Anthrax, but instead two less dangerous bacterium were used; Bacillus globigii and Escherichia coli. It was later admitted that the bacteria could adversely affect people who had compromised immune systems, although a public inquiry was demanded by local councils. The government refused a public inquiry, but instead requested that Professor Brian Spratt would conduct an independent review of the possible effects the bacteria could have on public health.

Porton Down was where initial samples of the Ebola virus were sent to in 1976 during the first confirmed outbreak of the disease in Africa. The complex currently houses samples of some of the world's most aggressive pathogens and is leading the UK's current research into viral inoculations. The site is also home to a Science/Business Park and home to the Public Health England agency. While researching this piece, I came across an amusing little tabloid headline referring to a supposed UFO crash in the Welsh mountains, with the supposed crashed vehicle and occupants being taken to Porton Down, a fallacy largely pushed by Nick Pope. Nick Pope is a topic I'd like to address in a different post, as I find him to be quite controversial. It turned out just to be a combination of an Earthquake and a meteor according to declassified MoD documents, or possibly "earthquake lights" as well which is a whole different topic for another day. The "crash" was humorously referred to as the Roswelsh Incident.

In more recent news, Porton Down was also used to test the nerve agent used against the former Russian spy and his daughter recently, with them coming to the conclusion that although they can't pinpoint exactly who created the novichok, it had to be a state actor as "extremely sophisticated methods" are required to create it.

Bonus! I've always been interested in these kinds of military complexes, or even just research complexes. There is one local to me called the Health and Safety Laboratory at Harpur Hill, located just outside of Buxton. I stumbled across this place while looking through some Urban Exploration forums, with the site being referred to as the "British Area 51", and so I had to go check it out. The site is vastly different to Area 51, especially since there is a public footpath going directly through the site, allowing you to literally peer into windows. Once used as a military munitions store, the site is used to test a wide variety of things, most notably London Underground carriages were used to test explosions following the 7/7 bombings in London, and some rollercoaster cars after the accident on the Smiler at Alton Towers a few years ago. There are large limestone caverns dug out under the hills that were once used as munitions stores, but now are home to mushroom farms. There's no military presence, on one visit we even wandered off the path into one of the testing areas, and were greeted by a very friendly member of staff who reminded us we shouldn't be there. We were trespassing, so if it really was site of something clandestine, I think the response would have been stronger. Or maybe it's all a bluff!

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I feel like I should apologise for rambling on for so long, but what did you think? Are there any similar types of sites near where you live? Let me know your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below, and as always make sure to smash that follow button so that you don't miss out on any of my Cryptocurrency, Internet or Pop Culture updates. Until next time guys, Stay Safe!

Sources:
Porton Down on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porton_Down)
Gruinard Island on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruinard_Island)
Berwyn Mountain UFO incident on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berwyn_Mountain_UFO_incident)
Porton Down Entrance Image By Sebastian Ballard (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14430633)
Gruinard Island By Kevin Walsh (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2623790)

All images are used without the express authorisation of the copyright holders. They are used under what's known in British law as "Fair Dealing" or under US law as "Fair Use" exceptions. For example, exceptions relating to research and private study, criticism or review, or news reporting. For more information visit the UK Gov website or the US Gov website.