COD Chilwell...a scary place

[Farmer 0]

I was surprised that I didn't find mention - in any of the topics - about the more sinister side of COD Chilwell. I know, for a fact, that the British Official Secrets Act no longer applies due to the statute of limitations having passed.

Back in the early 60's there was a British Military Hospital (BMH) facility ostensibly run by the (then) Royal Army Medical Corps tucked away in a nondescript, old building located in the corner of the Depot. The place was not staffed by RAMC personnel but, rather, by Army and NHS scientists and a smattering of Royal Navy physicians. Access to the facility was simply not permitted and there were actually armed Military Police stationed in the lobby. Regular patients were not admitted and, as best can be remembered, admissions only took place later at night. The lights in the place were always on. Though very little was actually known on the base the scuttlebutt was that 'volunteers' from the Military Prison at Colchester together with other 'volunteers' from certain far-flung units based overseas and that medical research was taking place inside the BMH. The official story was research into the 'common cold' virus. Huh...anything but! Stories surfaced years later that told of horrible, barbaric and cruel experiments taking place there and that the mortality rate was between 60 to 70%. I had heard rumors of anthrax injections together with an assortment of virus concoctions. Nothing factual ever came to light but then I heard that a BBC television investigative team had applied for access to the facility through official channels at the MoD. The request was denied but the story then goes on to say that, as a result of that enquiry plus similar ones from a tabloid (News of the World?) that the place was shuttered less than three months later, completely cleared and emptied and stood, shuttered and boarded up for a number of years. This would probably have been around mid-winter in 1969 or the Spring of 1970.

I wondered if any old-timers out there had any knowledge or info on this place? Thanks.

[firbeck 860]

Perhaps Dr Mengele worked there..................

[GEORDIEBOY 0]

I served at COD Chilwell from 1971 to late 1973 and never heard so much as a whisper about this facility you speak of though that`s not to say it didn`t exist.I spent many a night on duty crew in the depot and never saw any shuttered up buildings or as stated not a whisper about it.

geordieboy

[littlebro 234]

There certainly was a hospital in the depot, see the map. As a scout, I camped adjacent to the hospital many many times in the late 60's when security was not as it is now. There were a dozen or so concrete bases for blast shelters, it seems they have now been removed and grassed over.

The IRA caused security to be upgraded. I recall the hospital being called the Queen Elizabeth or perhaps the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.

The hospital was not a secret as far as I know, the lights were always on, we were welcome to go there if we needed any help.

I know nothing of any of the other suggested activities.

To the west of the field there was a huge crater, not sure if it was a quarry or a bomb crater, anyone know? I assume it is still there - or has it been filled?