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Golf Club Road
Longwall. Architects own house
Old Avenue
Water Tower of
West Surrey Water Co. Reservoir with a tower of 1914 beside it. No Act. Another
reservoir built in 1931
St.George's
Hill.
Ringo and John,
T.Trinder, E.Sykes, E.Humperdink, A.Browne and T.Jones. Where Winstanley’s
Diggers dug on Cain. Building on the hill from 1912, Serenity.
Iron age fort in
the centre with modern housing built within its ramparts. Roughly rectangular.
Fortifications double. Some Bronze Age
settlement. Prehistoric Camp. Neolithic evidence. It is the largest such camp
in Surrey. It is not clear if it
was defensive, perhaps against continental invaders, or a settlement. It is too small to be an embryonic town. It
could have been the headquarters of a lordship over a number of scattered
farms. One of the first signs of a
permanent settled economy based on the forest
Brooklands Road
Brooklands Motor racing circuit. A very beautiful country valley was banked in
the works 1907 and a Bronze bucket found on the site during building. This was the world’ first banked concrete
racing track. It was promoted by a civil
engineer, Hugh Fortescue Locke King and built on his estate. The Race Track
round the Zodiac dog’s hind leg. The pear shaped track was laid out by Col.
Capel Holden, who was a railway engineer.
It was opened in 1907 with
a circuit of nearly 3 miles; it could take ten cars abreast and was steeply
banked at the ends. The construction engineer was L.G.Mouchel and the
contractors were the Yorkshire based Hennebique Contracting Co. The track goes
over the river Wey on a concrete bridge, which also allows for flooding
overflow. At a time when the speed limit on public roads was only 20mph this
was used as a test facility. The first British Grande Prix was held at
Brooklands in 1926. Gradually aviators began to move in -
A.V.Roe was here by 1908 followed by Sopwith and Vickers. In the First World
War there was an aviation radio unit by Marconi. Airfield buildings were put up
and it was used as an Aerodrome by Vickers. Aeroplanes landed on a grass field and
taxied up to a small spear-shaped concrete apron along which passengers would
walk to embark. The last motor race was held in August 1939.
During the Second World War aircraft were built here including the geodetic
fuselage of the Wellington developed by Barnes Wallis. This began its use by
British Aerospace, which still owns it. The prototype VC10 actually took off
from the long straight section of the track. In 1984 40 acres of the site were
sold and the museum located onto 30 acres.
Clubhouse with a
copper dome. The Weighing Block or Clubhouse, now a Scheduled Ancient Monument,
was built for the opening of the Track in 1907. Its primary purpose was to
house a weighbridge in the manner of horse-racing and the Clerk of the Course's
office. It was designed
by G. Dawbarn and completed in 1932. Its roofs were used as terraces for
spectators. Aeroplanes were monitored from the control room at the top of the
tower. In time, facilities such as bars and
restaurants were added so that Brooklands Automobile Racing Club members and
guests could enjoy the style of life for which Brooklands was famous. Indeed a
contemporary BARC slogan was "The Right Crowd and No Crowding'. A
first-floor restaurant was added in 1913 and major alterations made in 1930
included a ladies reading room, billiard room, member's lounge and tea room.
Used by Barnes Wallis for his experiments 1945-1971.
Hangar - The
aerodrome and its flying school were advertised to the airborne by the large
letters painted on the roof of the big 1920s hangar behind the clubhouse.
The Press Hut. This
building housed a row of telephones used by motor-racing reporters to telephone race results through to
Fleet Street.
The Campbell Sheds. Built by Malcolm Campbell! In 1930 they were used by him as office,
workshops and showroom for several years until taken over by Thomson and
Taylor. The Bluebird car was displayed here before being taken to Daytona
Beach, Florida for its successful
attempts on the World Land Speed Record.
The E.R.A Shed Thomson
and Taylor used this building in the Thirties as a showroom for the famous English Racing Automobiles
[ERA] the prototype of which was built there.
The Racing Lock Ups. Built as a row of garages, these were rented from the BARC by racing
drivers and mechanics for use
as lock-ups and workshops for both cars and motorbikes.
Dunlop Mac's. This
brick and timber building was the Dunlop tyre depot. Here, David MacDonald [better known as Dunlop Mac] supervised tyre
fitting during race-meetings in the 1930s.
The Jackson Shed This originally housed the workshop of R.R. [Robin] Jackson and his
partner S.Z. [Sinbad] Milledge, who were responsible for the tuning and
preparation of many Brooklands racing cars.
The BP Petrol Pagoda Constructed in 1922 together with the new Traits' and 'Shell' petrol
pagodas to serve racing drivers
with fuel.
The Stratosphere Chamber & Balloon
Hangar The main structure was built for Barnes Wallis's
Research and Development
Department; the 1950s 'Balloon Hangar' was added as part of a Wind Tunnel.
Vickers VC10 Airliner Donated by the Sultan of Oman and flown back into Brooklands in 1987
this aircraft was built here in 1964. It contains luxury features such as a
board room/dining area and two double bedrooms.
The Flight Ticket Office Built in 1911 as the world's first passenger flight ticket office
for London ticket agents Keith Prowse Ltd. Now both a Listed Building and a
Scheduled Ancient Monument, it was removed from its original site near the
Brooklands Aero Clubhouse on
the Byfleet side of the Track and re-located here in late 1988.
Entrance Tunnel, Shell Way. Most of the drivers
who raced at Brooklands entered the Track through this tunnel from the end of
Shell Way. In the early days, a man was employed to operate a heavy wooden
ramp, which swung up to prevent speeding through the tunnel.
The Acoustics Building Used by the nearby aircraft factory as a noise test laboratory in
the 1960s and 1970s, it
contains an echo chamber and a sound-absorption room.
The Finishing Straight. The 100 foot wide, 991 yard long concrete Finishing Straight was
constructed together with the rest of the 3.25 mile motor circuit in 1906-07.
This Northern part is now all that survives; the rest gradually disappeared
beneath the Vickers-Armstrong
aircraft factory after 1939.
The Track & Members' Banking This section of the Track known as Members' Banking is the steepest
part rising to a height of nearly 29 feet before descending onto the Railway
Straight The track was 100 feet wide and two and three quarter miles long and
took nine months to build.
Outer Circuit racing was always a popular attraction at Brooklands, and the
ultimate lap record was taken by John Cobb at 143.44 mph in a Napier Railton in
1935.
Members' Bridge Members'
Bridge carried an entrance road from Shell Way to the enclosures on Members'
Hill. The original 1907 bridge was demolished in the late sixties but replaced
in 1988 to restore one of Brooklands famous features.
Test Hill Return Road. This roadway led from the top of the Test Hill down to the Members'
Banking and also
provided access from the Entrance Tunnel to the Members' Enclosures and
spectator areas-
Anti-Aircraft Gun Tower. This raised concrete
platform behind the Restaurant was built for defensive purposes during the
1930-45 War and helped protect the war-time aircraft factories at Brooklands
against enemy air attack.
Members' Hill Restaurant Buildings. These were constructed for the opening of the Track in 1907.
Afternoon teas were sold to race-goers here at a cost of l/-d [7.5p] until the
circuit closed in 1939. The buildings are now Scheduled Ancient Monuments.
Test Hill. Test
Hill was constructed in 1909 for acceleration and braking tests. Its gradients
range from l-in-8 at the bottom to l-in-4 at the top. The ultimate Test Hill
record for cars was set by R.G.J. Nash at 7.45 seconds in a Frazer Nash in 1932
whereas the
motorcycle record was taken by Francis Beart in 6.99 seconds on a Grindlay
Peerless in 1936. The white railings were reinstated and the immediate
surroundings landscaped in 1988.
The Finishing Straight Hangar This was one of several transportable 'Bellman' aircraft hangars
supplied to Vickers-Armstrong by the Ministry of Aircraft Production in the
early part of the last war to assist with production and repairs of Wellington
bombers at dispersed locations.
Avro Shed. This
reconstruction of the original shed used by A.V. Roe to house his successful
Roe I biplane was constructed for the Museum in 1988 and houses a superb
replica of Roe's actual 1908 aircraft built by Mike Beach's light aircraft
team.
Campbell Circuit At the foot of Test Hill is part of the Campbell Circuit [now a
Scheduled Ancient Monument} built in 1937 from ideas put forward by Sir Malcolm
Campbell to introduce simulated road races at Brooklands. The Campbell Circuit
ran on to the Members'
Banking and down the Railway Straight [after the Hennebique Bridge] where it
left the main circuit, crossed the river and the Finishing Straight and headed
up the Pits Straight. The ultimate lap record was set by Raymond Mays at 77.79
mph in an ERA in 1939.
Shell Petrol
Pagoda
Vickers. Shelter In an
abandoned sandstone quarry, now an unrestricted car park for British Aerospace,
whose premises are on the other side of the road joining B374. There were once
many entrances and most of them can be seen. Progress beyond the
first bend is generally restricted by welded iron doors. Very little is known
about the origins of this huge tunnel complex, it is designed for air raid
protection. The kinks in the entrance passages are to absorb bomb blast. There was extensive air conditioning and perhaps
even gas-proofing. It probably dates
from when the site was owned by Vickers Ltd. The tunnels are lined with
concrete and are rectangular in section some 2m high and 1.5m wide. In the floor of the quarry is also what
looks like the- remains of a blockhouses
Golf Club Road
Longwall. Architects own house
Old Avenue
Water Tower of
West Surrey Water Co. Reservoir with a tower of 1914 beside it. No Act. Another
reservoir built in 1931
St.George's
Hill.
Ringo and John,
T.Trinder, E.Sykes, E.Humperdink, A.Browne and T.Jones. Where Winstanley’s
Diggers dug on Cain. Building on the hill from 1912, Serenity.
Iron age fort in
the centre with modern housing built within its ramparts. Roughly rectangular.
Fortifications double. Some Bronze Age
settlement. Prehistoric Camp. Neolithic evidence. It is the largest such camp
in Surrey. It is not clear if it
was defensive, perhaps against continental invaders, or a settlement. It is too small to be an embryonic town. It
could have been the headquarters of a lordship over a number of scattered
farms. One of the first signs of a
permanent settled economy based on the forest
Signs on the hill of an ancient ditch Fullingadic
Shallow trenches were use for the attraction of iron ore from sandstones and worked
at local mills.
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