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Pyestock Diaries

The Fire Station proved much easier to crack and soon (via a opportune open door) we were inside. And our first sight was the plane. Finally, another of Pyestock’s mysterious sights was well and truly put on the map.

I’d already solved the mystery of the plane by some Internet research some weeks previously. The Farnborough BAE museum used some of Pyestock’s unused buildings for temporary storage, moving some of their exhibits there when their original museum site was sold. The planes (for there was a mock up of another) and some museum displays should've been cleared when the museum found a new home, but for some reason were left behind.

Only the front of the building was a Fire Station. The rest compromised a long central open area (with obligatory crane) and various side rooms, several of which were still fitted out as workshops, glass stores and chemist rooms (the fume cupboards being a give away). But the whole area was filled with odds and ends from the museum, giving the building that odd "out of place" feel that many derelict sites take on. The planes were amusing but were simply life-sized models and starting to show the ravages of time (and/or vandalism).

By now everyone was completely sick of serial graffitist Catboy. Reminders of his omnipotence were everywhere: security notices, door signs, fire precautions, door frames, every scrap of paper, every exposed surface, all written in black permanent marker. The final straw was his stinking spore left in black on the plane itself.

We exited via the door at the front of the Fire Station (which was labelled Catboy) and made our way back alongside the other side of the large building which previously eluded us. Still no way in. But everyone was thinking the same way and the large building which stood alone in a small dell of trees looked very interesting. Glass skylights, 1950s styling, brick block house: was this yet another test cell? It was far from the madding crowd: no connections with the Plant House and far too far away for any association with the Air House. This needed investigation.