Maps And Plans

I needed a general plan for this website. A specific plan wouldn’t have done as it would’ve been a snapshot in time, with some buildings yet to be built, and others doomed for demolition. So I created the Idealised Map which shows all the buildings of Pyestock which existed between 2002 and 2007.

The map was put together from multiple sources: satellite images (which already showed a number of changes between themselves), plans photographed at Pyestock, my pictures of the site and illustrations in Ian McKenzie’s book. All the buildings were identified by three digit numbers which have been reproduced here, as well as the more informal names given to many of the larger buildings and test cells.

The Assembly Hall And Canteen was part of the Old Pyestock site, and was swept away when the remaining buildings were demolished for a new QinetiQ development in 2002. A new road was driven through the southeast quadrant at the same time requiring the demolition of the Main Office Block and the southern Laboratory.

The GLEN Test Cell was sold in 2003. The contents were removed and the building was demolished.

In later years, the Sigma Building and Fuels & Lubricants Laboratory were added to the site, contributing to the ebb and flow of buildings and structures. So whilst the Idealised Plan shows all these structures together, they never all existed at the same time.

• Idealised Map 800 x 921
  
• Idealised Map 1652 x 1901 (All names legible, map watermarked)

I've included this schematic for completeness as it shows the Air Supply Plant and test laboratories of the N.G.T.E. Old Site. This was demolished before our explorations began.

It shows how the design of the Plant House was probably based on a similar design.

• Higher Resolution 1085 x 644

This is a schematic of the Anechoic Chamber on the N.G.T.E. Old Site. It was demolished before our explorations began.

• Higher Resolution 1025 x 631

This early plan of Pyestock was found in a document in the Plant House and photographed in-situ.

It shows the siting plan for the Plant House. Notice how the security fence shows the original size of the site, the original name of Battle Test House and the space left for the Ram Jet Area (which became Cells 1 & 2).

• Higher Resolution 9162 x 5802

We also photographed this plan of the Plant House from the same document (see above).

This clearly shows the internal organisation of the building, with its large central plant hall, and combustion and aerodynamic testing chambers along each side.

Unfortunately the top of the plan has been lost, but showed the Plant Control Room and a note: Extension End Of Plant House. It was forseen in 1954 that the Plant House would require extending and provision was made; however, the Air House was built instead, and the Plant House remained unextended.

• Higher Resolution 9477 x 5730

The air supply in the Plant House was produced by two Metrovick compressor/exhauster sets and a Parsons Air Bleed Turbine. This diagram shows how the plant was arranged to produce several pressure and sunction mains for the aero and combustion cubicles in the Plant House itself, and for connecting to external test areas.

• Higher Resolution 2492 x 1462

The plant and anciliary equipment required cooling and this schematic shows how the plant in the Plant House was connected to its own cooling tower.

• Higher Resolution 2594 x 1675

The equipment being tested in the test rigs also required a cooling supply. This schematic shows how cooling reserves were taken from tanks in the roof of the Plant House, before it was circulated around the plant under test (with attachment points in each cubicle) and the cooling tower.

• Higher Resolution 2274 x 1478

The equipment being tested in the test rigs of the Plant House also needed fuel. This schematic shows how a network of fuel lines (of different fuels) could be pumped to test rigs in any of the Plant House's cubicles.

• Higher Resolution 2332 x 1437

This schematic was published about twenty years after the original Plant House literature and shows just how complex the air supply and various connections to the testing cubicles had become.

• Higher Resolution 1780 x 631

Cell 1 & 2 is one of the most confusing structures on the site: the cells are buried under a tangle of pipes and ducting, the control room is housed in a concrete bunker, the area is littered with small buildings and pump houses, all crowned by the dominating exhaust stack.

This plan clearly shows the component parts of the cell without getting overcomplicated by the various air, water and fuel supplies routed around, under and over the various buildings.

• Higher Resolution 700 x 423

Cell 3 West is also a complicated structure. Whilst the cell and its associated control room are relatively free of obscuring piping and ducting, the cell has several unique ancillary support structures: the condenser and evaporator, the refrigeration plant and the cold store tanks. The location of these can be clearly seen on this plan.

• Higher Resolution 1467 x 480

This grotty plan was found in Number 9 Exhauster, the annexe to Cell 4.

It was photographed in-situ and shows the layout of Cell 4 and its relationship with Number 9 Exhauster which was built to the north of the cell.

• Higher Resolution 2765 x 1627

"I spent almost 10 years at Pyestock starting as an apprentice, going on to work in Cells 1 & 2, Cell 3, Cell 4 and the Computer Building. I was an electronics technician covering fuel systems, telemetry, data acciquisition in those cells and eventually computers in building 574."

"The Computer Building (574) housed 4 computers, the mainframe machine an SDS9300 and three others, a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-7 Sn#41, another DEC machine a PDP11/20 and an old for that time Elliott 803B (Bought by the Ministry of Public Buildings. Various in-house built systems connected these machines to the cells monitoring engine runs. Before these computers there was a large valve computer possibly an Atlas but it was decommissioned to be replaced with the SDS9300 just before I started there."

"The building appears to have been somewhat re-developed since my time there (1967-77), as I do not remember the row of two storey offices fronting the ramp to Cell 3 and Cell 4, the main entrance to the building was the other side opposite the Bramshott Cooling Towers. The roof in those days was flat not pitched as seen in your pictures. I was responsible along with others in shift teams for the day-day maintenance of the computers and ancillary systems. Data prep for the computers was on punch tape and 80 column cards using Teletype KSR33's, ASR35's and various paper tape systems."

"I've come up with a reasonably detailed drawing of that building floor and the computer layouts. I don't recall the control room for Cell 3 being there as detailed on your website but that probably came with the addition of the rear offices and new roof in later years." - Mike

• Higher Resolution 920 x 872 (All names legible)

This plan clearly shows the layout of the Noise Test Facility Absorber Rig and its associated control room.

• Higher Resolution 1081 x 387

This shows a section through the massive Anechoic Chamber which stands on the northern edge of the site, and is one of the buildings still in use.

• Higher Resolution 1065 x 433

This is the ground floor plan of the massive Anechoic Chamber which stands on the northern edge of the site, and is one of the buildings still in use.

• Higher Resolution 1044 x 566

The schematic shows the water flows through the Anechoic Chamber and the Bramshot Cooling Towers.

• Higher Resolution 488 x 617

The complex fuel distribution through the Anechoic Chamber is described in this schematic.

• Higher Resolution 1031 x 632

The simple air supply facilities for the Anechoic Chamber when it was originally connected to the Air House are described in this schematic.

• Higher Resolution 1064 x 401

The steam and heater arrangements in the Anechoic Chamber are described in this schematic.

• Higher Resolution 1075 x 404

The GLEN test house was one of the first structures to disappear from Pyestock. After the closure of the site, the test cell was sold in 2003 to Score’s repair and maintenance facility near Peterhead, and the building itself was completely demolished.

The plans clearly show the layout of the ground and first floors of the former building.

• Higher Resolution 1454 x 703

The air supply was probably the most important network at Pyestock, circulating air to the various test cells dotted around the site. The huge air pipes emanating from the Air House was one of the iconic images of Pyestock, clearly visible in various aerial views.

This schematic shows the total extent of the air supply network from its humble beginnings in the Plant House through to the sprawling, parallel flows through the Air House.

Copies of this schematic were found in the Air House, Plant House and Computer Building, further underpinning how air flows were extremely important to the functioning of the test cells.

• Higher Resolution 3232 x 1073

Each of the GEC compressor/exhauster sets in the Air House worked as either compressors and/or exhausters, providing a range of pressures and air flows. Whilst the compressor/exhausters could be connected together in various ways, each compressor/exhauster itself was sufficiently complex to merit this diagram.

• Higher Resolution 1544 x 897

With most of Cell 3 being submerged in a trench, it was easy to overlook the huge amount of plant connected to it.

As shown in this schematic, the Cell was not only connected to the high pressure and suction mains from the neighbouring Air House, but a complex arrangement of pipes and valves connected the cell to various air dryers and heaters.

All this plant was squeezed in the narrow gaps to the south and east of the building.

• Higher Resolution 1449 x 842

This schematic shows the sheer amount of plant (including two 500 tonne tanks of aqueous ammonia) required to provide freezing air flows to the air cooler and eventually the test cell itself.

• Higher Resolution 1170 x 848

Cell 4 was massively complicated as this schematic of all the high pressure and suction mains shows. All of this piping was above ground, adding to the already huge bulk of Cell 4 itself.

• Higher Resolution 1491 x 609

Whilst engine tests were being performed, a huge amount of data was collected by various sensors in the cells and sent to the Computer Building for collection and analysis.

This diagram not only shows the connections between a test cell and the Computer Building, but also the computers, peripherals and equipment used in the computer building itself.

• Higher Resolution 2944 x 1017

A second monitoring and data recording system was also used, this being the transient performance measuring system.

• Higher Resolution 1327 x 887

Pyestock was a huge consumer of electrical power. Not only did it have its own Power Station, but it required several separate incoming feeds, which were stepped down in various transformer parks at either end of the site, before being distributed at various voltages.

This schematic shows all these various ring mains, and the switching available between each.

• Higher Resolution 2903 x 938

Whilst Pyestock was dependant on electrical supplies, it was also dependant on steam for several different functions e.g. starting the GEC compressor/exhauster sets; running various turbines; driving the generators in the Power Station and supplying heat to the entire site.

This diagram shows how the Battle Test House boilers, along with 'D' boiler (which used to stand near the Air House Cooling Towers), were interconnected to provide all these functions.

• Higher Resolution 1684 x 1030

Water was a vital coolant for many of the test cells. Additionally it was often frozen and injected into various test cells for icing and wet tests.

As this diagram shows, the cooling system at Pyestock was extremely extensive, and not simply a matter of a circulating flow between a test cell, its cooling tower and an associated pump house.

• Higher Resolution 3027 x 1184

Whilst water was circulated around the site, waste was collected in various barometric wells and storage tanks before being pumped to the sooty water plant where it was processed and cleaned.

This diagram shows the wells, drains and pipes required to collect the waste and send it for processing.

• Higher Resolution 1484 x 849

It’s easy to forget that the various engines being tested required a fuel supply. Pyestock was equipped with a tank farm (to the east of the site) which stored gas oil, heavy fuel oil, kerosine and hot kerosine.

From the tank farm, it was pumped by a series of Fuel Pumping Houses to each of the individual cells where it was then fed to the engines.

• Higher Resolution 1503 x 820