MILITARY MUSEUM EXPOSED: Secrets of the forgotten 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚒️

Follow us as we explore the abandoned Military museum at Grange Cavern in North Wales and we unravel and re-create some of the vehicles that were once on display ! #military #militaryhistory #ww2

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History & Use of Grange Caverns

• 19th Century: The cavern was excavated during the 19th century. 
• World War II: At the beginning of WWII, the Ministry of Defence took over the cavern. It was used for the storage of large quantities of bombs (about 11,000 tons) including reportedly some of Barnes Wallis’s “bouncing bombs” (those used by RAF 617 Squadron in the famous “Dambusters” raid). 
• Museum era: Later (mid-20th, post-war) the cavern was converted into a military museum. It held about 70 military vehicles and a large collection of medals, Around 1989 the museum closed.
Here are listed the vehicles the museum once held :
1 – Daimler Dingo scout car

2 – Corgi whel bike (sic) paratroopers bike

3 – Willys jeep

4 – BSA foloding cycle

5 – BSA M20 motorbike

6 – Norton 16H motorbike (W & 79 markings)

7 – Norton 16H (this appears to have been a repeat of the previous listing!)

8 – Triumph motorbike (Guards “seeing eye” markings)

9 – BSA M20 (desert colours; said to have seen service in Libya and returned to UK via Malta)

10 – Beaverette Mk IV

11 – Guy 15 cwt (this was clearly a Quad Ant)

12 – BSA M20 motorbike (a third example?)

13 – Ariel 350cc motorbike

14 – Matchless 350cc motorbike

15 – Motor Guzzi Super Alce motorbike

16 – Sarolea cycle

17 – Condor A580 motorbike

18 – Bedford QL (appears to have been a QLR)

19 – Morris Commercial recovery (appears to have been a CDSW)

20 – Dodge ambulance

21 – Matchless 350cc motorbike

22 – Not listed!

23 – Triumph TRW motorbike

24 – Auto Union (post war 4×4)

25 – Morris Commercial Quad (a C8)

26 – Austin Mini Moke

27 – Austin Gipsy

28 – Bedford MWD 15cwt (roundel on bonnet)

29 – Austin ’tilly’ (ex-Ken Dodd; I later saw this for sale at Roy Elvis’ establishment and regret not buying it!)

30 – Volkswagen Kubelwagen

31 – Bedford RL

32 – GMC DUKW

33 – Scammell “series 1 heavy recovery tractor” (clearly a Pioneer but was this an SV1S???)

34 – Cable layer

35 – Coventry Climax wheeled generator

36 – Comet cruiser tank

37 – Daimler Dingo (presumably a second example)

38 – AEC Matador O853

39 – Leyland Hippo

40 – Fordson Thames

41 – White M16 halftrack

42 – Petters auxiliary power unit

43 – Thorneycroft (sic) Nubian

44 – Sexton

45 – Austin K9

46 – Austin Champ

47 – Landsvert (sic) Irish armoured car (this was a Ford Mk VI and is mentioned in Karl Martin’s book Irish Army Vehicles)

48 – Dennis tipper

49 – Dodge weapons carrier (post war)

50 – Chevrolet heavy utility

51 – Canadian GMC armoured personal carrier (presumably a C15TA)

52 – Canadian Ford LAAT (though described as a heavy gun tractor! Appears to have taken part in Expedition Qattara)

53 – Ford jeep (fitted with desert expansion tank)

54 – Bedord QL (another QLR example)

55 – Anderson shelter

57 – Morris 6cwt wireless truck (presumably a 8cwt(!) FFW)

58 – six wheeled trailer (clearly a 7 1/2 ton light recovery trailer)

59 – Commer Karrier (presumably a Karrier K6)

60 – Cossack motorbike and sidecar

61 – Humber “Pig” APC (photographs show a Malkari variant)

62 – WW1 body carriers / stretchers

63 – Snow blower (Swiss army)

64 – 5.5 howitzer gun

65 – WW1 German 75mm field mortar

66 – T16 bren gun carrier

67 – German Pak 40 by “Metal Borseg Ltd” (??)

68 – Sea mine (found washed up on N Wales coast in 1980)

69 – Bedford OY

70 – Oerlikon 35mm – GD FOO 1 (ex-Argentian Army / Falklands war)

71 – Humber FV1601 (donated by Mr Trevor Harley, Harley’s Garage, Mold)

72 – Sherman M4A1 (built by the Lima Locomotive works)

73 – Daimler armoured car
Decline / Closure


[Music] [Music] It’s got to be somewhere here. The entrance [Music] Right, Barry, we’re in. I’m quite excited about this place, actually. It’s been in my list for a long time. And this used to be an old uh early 1900s limestone mine that was later used as bomb storage that were used against the war efforts in Germany uh bursting a lot of the uh river dams. I’m going to put more details in description as well about the history, but it was also later used up until the 80s as a military museum. So, there’s quite a lot we’re going to be seeing here today. So, stay tuned, guys. Follow us on this adventure. [Music] What we got here? That’s a cool one. What’s that? military radio exhibit. So yeah, this is all part of the museum that was set up in the 60s up until the 80s, was it? Wow. It’s pretty wrecked this room. Definitely quite a lot of the electricals. Uh switchboard still there. It’s very misty here. I can see already. Oh, wow. Let’s take a look at that. Now we’re there. I think that’s the old entrance. Could be. Yeah, that looks like um kind of a reception area, you know, to charge people going in the museum. Definitely was some sort of uh bar maybe as well, judging by the amount of uh All beer drinks. All beer drinks that there is. Let me see. This is pretty erect. We want to be stepping in here. Is any of these asbestos? Oh, look at this. I don’t know what it is for. What was it? Table waters. I reckon that was bottle waters from Rexam. This place is pretty wrecked. Oh, that old army squadron sticker there. Is it 262 Squadron? That’s off an old Vesper or an umbrella. That’s off an old Vesper. Yeah. Yeah. Museum sign here. Monkey. What do you say? Who’s that? One of the uh generals second world war. One of the second world war generals. So wow. So it was clear part of the exhibit. There would have been a lot of all sorts of pictures here sort of dispenser I imagine. Yeah. It looks like a spray whatever that is. Had pictures here display. It’ll be good. It’ll be good to get original pictures of this place, you know, just to compare it. But it’s all pretty trashed. Very trashed all the times, you know, people going in. Wow, this opens quite a bit. Jesus. Hey. Oh, the admission fees. So, look at this. 60p back in the day. Me, that’s cheap. That was cheap, was it? But this would have tal we we would have talked maybe at the beginning when they opened it in the 60s. You know what I mean? Yeah. That’s looking back at the entrance. I bet all the vehicles, all the army vehicles would have been laid around here. We might see some evidence. Some steps here. Wow, this place is uh it’s quite much bigger than what I expected. Oh, look. There’s a there’s a sign for one of the vehicles that would have been here. I’m sure we can replicate the whole sign and the actual vehicle that would have been sat here. Wow. We’re getting a bit of perspective now with uh Gary there in the distance. Looks like they block a few of original entrances here. You know, there were some original entrances here. They blocked them. Oh, this is a this is a seat of a vehicle, you know. It has to be. Yeah. More clear evidence of blocking the original entrances of this quarry which looks like it would have had several access points to the quarry face outside. I know that this place was the was used in the World War II for the storage of the bouncing bombs. You know, I wonder whether this concrete lining on the columns was the later edition from World War II because if you see it’s numbered. That’s a classic example of trying to keep, you know, all the bombs or everything that was stored here in Northern. We’re going to see more to this place. See if we can figure something out. Wow, that’s impresses. Over there he goes. [Music] What have you found? Some original graffiti. Oh, wow. So that’s valuable. 1937 1939 1937. Yeah. July 1930. Let’s get them all. So, this is a bit worn away, but you can see. Yes. Wow. Goes to show this that there was presence around the time of the Second World War, which fits in with the fact that obviously this uh was used as a bomb storage. more graffiti that we might have missed. Oh, yes. 1942. That one. There’s something there as well. [Music] Wow. Are those remains of uniforms? Was. Yes, it is. Patches in It is. Is it? Yeah. It looks like a like pouches. Yeah. Pockets maybe. Yeah. Looks like a camouflage like some sort of camel suit. Camel boiler suit. Was it definitely? Yeah, that’s another one. So, we have a look at that bit with the graffiti and it seems to go down there as well. We’re going to get around that way, are we? Right. Let’s go look around that corner there. That seems to go right there. 1980. 1980. Is it September the 21st, 1980? Only £5 to Spain. Back in the day that 1939 1939 what is it? Someone’s name Bacon Head. Yeah, it’s near Liverpool. No, this is 34. 31st of September 34. Yeah. Be a nine. No, 31st 07 39. Wow. Oh yeah. Wow. Well, that’s the sign of uh the military museum. Wow. [Music] Actually see that this remains of some sort of vehicle from the original exhibition, I guess. Most of them would have come out and be taken to private collectors. Must be an old vehicle cuz look, it’s wooden behind the metal. Oh, yes. Yes, that’s wood. This was a door. See, there’s the handle. Yeah. And there’s the top. The glass top. Yeah. The door. Yeah. It was a Morris Melaw. Morris commercial. I’ll dig out more information about this Birmingham. Yeah. Old lens. Rear lens. Could be just a reflector. Yeah. And what’s this part of the tipper that goes on the top? You think? It looks to be, does it? It’s hard to say. A those white bits look a bit handmade something like a roof rack or something. Yeah, it’s a handmade roof rack is of sorts. Can you get down safely? Yeah. We all right. by the moral of sand unseen here and all this sand. There must have been some sort of sand vehicle or one of them vehicles that they were driving on the sand in operations in the Sahara, I would imagine, or that part of North Africa. Very interesting. What are those? They’re drip trays for the drip trays. Yeah, for the bar. All right. Is this a What’s that on it? Beer tray. A beer tray. Where’s the bar? Look. Yes, that was a bar. Definitely. We’re going to have a look closer look now. Another sign. All right. So, we’re going to reconstruct as well what kind of vehicle this could have been. War to victory, war to end all wars. First world war then. How do you know? Because that’s what they used to say after after the first world war. Yeah. A lot of glass. [Music] Sorry. Oh, [Music] that’s a very old door. Very old. That looks like a bonnet or something. Lucas say bottles. Oh my god. H this was part of a vehicle as well. Wasn’t [Music] Yeah, there’s some remains of parts of vehicles here. They’ve been proper rusting away. And here a barrel a door with some sort of sign. Yeah. The number on it. Oh, interesting. So, why would it have the serial number? Oh, the vehicle number. Was that the vehicle number? Yeah. Gary’s very keen to have a drink cuz he wants to go to the bar area down there. Rubbish. This is definitely fairly modern rubbish, I think. H Walker’s crisps. What’s it? So, apparently to the left was a car a car park to the right museum. It’s not the original place for this sign, I think. [Music] Let’s see. No trolley here. Oh, the toilets were were behind this. Yeah, I can see the little sinks for the toilets. Yeah. Right. I’m coming to have a look. Here we are. First one. Hey, lovely poster on the floor. Is there where there should here? Yeah. Let’s see. Have a look at this poster. Oh, yes. Wow. Wow. That is a really nice poster. So cool. There’s the toilet. My god. State of it. Oh, that’s the bar. [Music] See, [Music] a tank poster. Oh, there’s several uh posters and books here. We’ll take a look here in a minute. Let’s have a look. Oh yeah, that is a tank poster actually. Wow. I think these pictures are taken. Yeah. From the original tanks. You think it’s a strange strange place to have a bar. This museum. I’ve never seen a a bar in a museum. Well, you know, people have a look around. they get thirsty and uh but yeah, it’s not a usual thing, is it? It’ be more normal like a dispenser, a drinks dispensers of sorts museum, the top 10 attractions at the time. It’s good to take note, guys. [Music] Look at the sitting area. [Music] Yeah. Emergency exit. H Oh, yeah. Of course. And here we have the steps going back out. This was one of the main storage areas for the bombs. You know, there is some sort of pulley system here or there might have been. And there’s evidence here that there was clearly some sort of, you know, indentations on the floor like might have been rails or racks. I don’t know. See what you guys think uh watching the video if this could have been one of the sections where they uh were storing the bombs. I’m going around the back here. Make sure we haven’t missed anything that could be interesting. Oh my god. What is this? Oh yeah, there’s a lot of leaflets here. Let’s take a look at some of these leaflets. The time lock light and sound show. Step back in time. [Music] Siding restaurant. Jane Springle. [Music] Oh, Ceil. I bet these places don’t exist anymore, do they? No. Oh, there you are. That’s the actual leaflet. Grange cover military museum. Oh yeah. Beer line. Yeah. And then Rex and Brewery beer mats. Oh wow. [Music] So we going around. There’s a few more random leaflets that is always good to look at to step back in time. What uh what highlights was there around the area at the time? Right. Angle Ces Cour. We have seen this one as well. A cardiathen. [Music] Wow. Oh, that’s interesting. Yeah. It just goes to there. I think uh yeah it’s a bit of a fall line this is it I mean I don’t know it might go to the other side but we might be see something from the other side there’s a lot of calides there yeah I think it’s a full like yeah yeah you can see all calcified along this full line that off see it there look a truck what kind of vehicle would have been you think oh military probably obviously yeah or just a truck. Is this the other That’s off a truck as well, is it? Yeah. This blue boat. Oh, yeah. Like a tailgate. And that’s uh the continuation of the fall line. It goes, does it? Yeah. That’s worth inspecting, you know. Could be a natural cave. Oh yeah, those are replica volcanoes. Like a mural of volcanoes where they’re trying to illustrate probably how Wales was formed. H [Music] Oh, look. SP [Music] board. Yeah. Uh this is a service pit. Yeah. God, amount of rush here. Wouldn’t want to get yourself caught in any of this. [Music] Oh, look. That’s a front of some sort of vehicle. H [Music] so faster. Oh god. I think it was a lady judging by the showware. [Music] Rusty pram. Huh? [Music] That’s the from the back seat of a a vehicle as well. A car. Truck. Yeah. Yeah. Car or truck. Oh, wow. Now that’s cool. I love that. And one side. I love stuff like this. Yeah. or they turn it manually to operate that would have carried on somewhere. Yeah. And this continuation there we need to have a look at that. I think uh this this area because it looks so unstable maybe was cut off from the rest of the museum, you know, cuz can you see can you see the state of the roof? Cracks everywhere. So maybe they deemed unsafe. This was an entrance. You can see all the dry wood everywhere. Yeah, this is clearly all backfill, is it? They used they used this uh quarry as a bit of a dumpster. Looks to be What was that? What is that? A lot of uh a lot of old rusty stuff. What is this? One big block that’s just fallen has been covered in all sorts. Yeah. Yeah. You can see why they cut off this section. Look. Look at the state of that. It’s like a Jenga. Interesting. However, oh, where does that go? Yes. Oh my god. There is a bat here. How cool. Wow. This What a place to be for a bat. Going out in the in the museum area. What’s this here? Right on there, right? Oh, good. Yeah. Drum and then like the lid top. It seems to be. Yeah. Like a cardboard drum. They’re everywhere. They all You have all these drums here. Yeah. But I think this someone’s paid to dump this somewhere from somewhere, haven’t they? Oh, yeah. Don’t think it belongs to the M. No, it was quite classic back in the day. Pay the land owner back back handing off money and let them uh dump you stuff, fly tipping basically on a massive scale. No signs. It’s been back filled or behind. It’s been back filled. But do you notice them columns? This looks like they made an effort to stop something coming down. It must must have to do with obviously all the area that we have explored that seems to be like collapsing. I think we’re going to be heading that way out. Uh we have a few more areas near here that we need to check that have been on my list as well. So we’re going to have a look at them shortly. See if they revisit. And cheerio guys. Thanks for watching and make sure you subscribe to the channel and leave any comments that you feel are necessary to describe any of the artifacts and things that you’ve seen in the video. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music]