Please be aware that this page contains very few actual 'facts'. Here we are looking at rumour, legend and heresay.
There is no concrete proof for any of these stories, but I thought it migh be fun to indulge for a moment in some of them. This page will continue to develop and expand as more comes to light.

Last updated : 12/05/2021

1) Lower levels, hidden tunnels, secret areas.

There has always been talk that Drakelow had more than one level. Perhaps as many as 5. There was rumour of another hidden entrance on the other side of the valley. This would mean at least one further level below the known one in order to pass below the valley floor and arrive at this other entrance. In all of the years that I studied this site, had unrestricted access to all areas and showed thousands of visitors around we never found any solid physical evidence that any lower levels existed.

The natural water table is approximately 40 feet below the known floor level. Any tunnel dug through the sandstone below 40 feet would fill with water and would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible to keep dry enough to make it useable.

With the soft, crumbly nature of sandstone you would need significant thickness between floors to maintain sufficient structural integrity for them to be used for 'industrial' or military use. Therefore I would be surprised if there was enough room for more than one additional floor below the known level. The sandstone even at that level is likely to still be very wet and crumbly. Over the years we met and interviewed many people who workied on the construction, or in the factory during the war years. No one had any knowledge or information about lower levels, nor had they heard rumours of such.

At the time of construction budgets were extreemly tight. Drakelow was not the only site in the UK being prepared for war use and there was a constant battle for funding. During the timeframe that Drakelow was being built the demand for what it was to produce was declining. In fact the factory is not as big as was originally planned. Despite reducing the size, when complete they still had surplus space so I find it incredibly unlikely that there would be a whole lower level too.

As for a hidden entrance on the other side of the valley I know the foundation for that rumour. There is indeed a structure on the other side of the valley that could be taken to be an entrance to Drakelow. I didn't see it in its heyday and I doubt any photos exist, but it may well have resembled the entrances at Drakelow. It is now well and truly sealed and hidden. However it is not an entrance to Drakelow, but a valve chamber on the Elan Valley to Birmingham aqueduct. Here a branch was added to enable a water supply to be obtained for the factory. This supply was discontinued for the RSG era, but was retained for fire fighting purposes. In the event of a fire someone would have to go outside to the field at the junction of Sladd Lane, Drakelow Lane and Kingsford Lane where in a small fenced compound sat a valve marked with a big letter 'A'. I remember the compound and its large 'A' sign, sadly now gone.

A sign within the tunnels gave instructions.

Having said all that Interesting results cropped up on a couple of occasions when we had visits from mediums.

In November 2008 Wiccan High Priestess Terri told us that she felt that The War Dept were working on munitions in the tunnels and developed things here. She felt that things may be found and people hurt. There was someting to do with a chemical, or something like a chemical. She believed that it was 'Heavy Water'. They had been working on its development here. There were more levels to the tunnels. They were constructed at the same time as the factory. This is where it was done, in a laboratory a level below where we were. This other level was well concealed, both physically and historically. The only way it would be found is by ultrasound. The entrance to it was 'furthest away from the road'. Earlier in the visit a sensitive called Brian had also mentioned in a conversation away from Terri, that he saw chemical research, heavy water, laboratories and powerful weapons.

In February 2009 Mediums Marcus and Beth visited. As we approached Tunnel 4 Marcus sensed that here were parts sealed off. In Tunnel 4 he again felt that there were places and paperwork sealed away. He said that if it came out there would be massive uproar. He then told us that he was being threatened about talking about the secrecy. At the top of Tunnel 1 Beth felt that there were other tunnels that were not accessible going all over. To Kinver, to a pub, or big house. Beth felt that the hidden parts were really well concealed, not just bricked off. They were disguised. She got the feeling that there was something down too. Not below Tunnel 1 where we were but elsewhere in the complex. It was not as high as Tunnel1 or Tunnel 4. She saw that one of them had a wooden staircase. It was carved out of the sandstone. People were kept away when this was done. Rooms. Squares. She saw much older pre WW II tunnels, by the wells, castle, moat. The accesspoint was not down here but outside. Outside and go down. The only way we will find it is from outside. It pre dates the tunnels 1500's -1600's. There was something to do with a church and graveyard in Kinver*. "Go under the church floor"**. "Connected. The Inn is also connected"***. "Still a pub today, or the building still exists."

* One of the men Killed in an accident in Tunnel 1 is burried at St Peters Church Kinver.

** Could this actually refer to the old Blakeshall Common School which was later used as a chapel and was just outside between the entrances to tunnels 2 and 3?

*** Just down Drakelow Lane was The Bay Horse pub. Now a private home. Or there's the Kingsford Pub which used to be part of the Hostel for the factory workers just down Sladd Lane.

On another occasion we were with a ghost hunting group who claim to have video of a 'ghost' coming up from the floor in the area next to the Millwrights foreman's office! That would make sense if there was a lower level there, but I have no way to investigate whether or not there's anything in that particular spot.

If you have ever studied the factory layout in Drakelow Unearthed you will note the odd positioning of Adit D. It sits on a 'dog leg' which is odd because it would be more logical and surely easier to construct if it was simply in line with the boundary of the underground area. There is speculation that the area to the east of the complex could contain further hidden tunnels that then line up with Adit D. The eastern end of tunnels 1 - 4, Second Avenue and the continuation of bays 81 and 82 could potentially carry on a bit further east beyond the end walls that are visible. Adit D could continue south at the dog leg to meet these hidden tunnels. These would have to be very well concealed in order to not be discovered. Unfortunately I think that this is unlikely and we found no evidence to suggest this is the case. In all likelyhood this odd arrangement occurred because all 8 tunnel entrances were constructed simoultaneously. During construction the plans were revised to reduce the size of the factory as needs had been revised. If Adit D had already been started, it makes sense for it to be completed where it was and just meet First Avenue.

Who knows what is true. If I find more I'll update this page.

2) Unknown Buildings

Around the outside of the complex are several external buildings. The function of most of them is well known, however there are a few who's purpose we were never able to determine. On the right hand side of the dirt track that leads from near Adit D up towards Blakeshall Hall there is a rectangular base of a building that we could not find on any of the plans, or aerial shots. Looking at the waste pipe holes in the floor it could well have been a toilet block, but whether or not it had anything to do wih the factory, or bunker we have no idea. Seems a strange location for public toilets, but who knows.

Also in the vacinity of Adits C and D there are two pairs of small brick 'huts'. Brick walls with concrete floors and roofs and wooden doors. They look like they could have been guard posts, but their positions are not consistent with any entrances, or known routes. My other thought is that they were magazines for the explosives and detonators or fuses used during the construction. I don't recall their exact locations and I can't see them on the aerial photo from 1948. Arguments against this function include that they are quite small. Blasting operations during the construction would have needed large quantities, but perhaps the stores were small and numerous to minimise the impact if one was to go up. There may have originally been several more of these around the site (a) dispursing the risk and (b) so that supplies would have not been too far away from the tunnel in which they were needed. i.e. The pairs we saw may have only been for Adits C and D. Each set has one square building, from memory probably only 4 - 5 feet square, then close by a slightly larger, but similar building maybe 8 feet square. My thoughts were that the smaller one would be for fuses/detonators and the larger one for the explosives. At the time of writing I don't know if these buildings are still standing. I thought we had more photos of them, but these are the only two that I can find at present. I seem to recall one pair who's doors were facing each other, but I could be mistaken. The ones below clearly don't.

3) A Murder!

Early on in my research in the mid 1990's I interviewed Della Wooddisse who was the secretary to the chief engineer Mr Weiss during the construction of the factory. She recalled that there was often a lot of trouble between the labourers, regular fights and even a murder.

In May 2009 during their second visit to the site mediums Marcus and Beth came up with "Sombody was deliberately killed here - shot through the head. Around 1942". Now I guess I'm stretching things here a bit as we have never found any records of a murder on the site, but in October 1941 the Kidderminster Times reported that Mr James O'Donnell aged 48 was killed in an accident at the Rifle Range. Conjecture only - Could Mr O'Donnell be the Drakelow murder victim and the story of the rifle range accident be a cover up? You don't want that much attention brought when you are trying to build a factory in secret!

Who knows? If more comes to light I'll let you know.

4) Chemical/biological weapons research

Unlikely, but who knows. More to come on this subject soon................

5) Prisoner of War Camp

We found no actual record of this, but local recollections say differently. Probably in the former construction workers hostel.
More on this to come soon...........

6) Storage of nuclear weapons

More on this to come soon............