T H E   D E R E L I C T   M I S C E L L A N Y

The RAF fuel depot at Portfield, Chichester was built by Esso in 1938-9 as part of an Air Ministry contract for the supply and distribution of fuel to the nearby Tangmere, Westhampnett and Merston Airfields. Unlike later depots, the site didn't have a connection to the national Government Pipeline and Storage System, instead being supplied by rail. The fuel was stored in four 500-ton and two 350-ton Whessoe Foundry steel tanks covered with earth. It was then loaded into bowser lorries and taken by road to the airfields. Power to the site was provided by a six-cylinder National marine diesel engine.

Despite being camouflaged, by 1940, the depot appeared on Luftwaffe target maps and was even mentioned in a broadcast by the infamous "Lord Haw-Haw", William Joyce, with the chilling words "We know about the petrol dump in Chichester". Air raids were carried out by German bombers on two separate occasions, but luckily for the people of Chichester the bombs fell wide of their mark.

An angled rail spur allowed fuel to be unloaded away from the busy mainline. It remained in use until the 1990s. A system of pipes connected the rail spur with the buried tanks. Rail unloading operations were controlled from this small brick hut. Control hut switch room. Control hut window overlooking the siding. An abandoned pallet jack and sections of pipework next to the tracks. One of the defended 500-ton tanks, bolted shut and crudely caulked with expanding foam. Tank latterly used for storing diesel. Sand barrel (missing shovel, unfortunately). Generator house. I think the wooden tower is some sort of exhaust stack for the engine. During disruptions to grid supply, the site was powered by this six-cylinder 'National' marine diesel engine coupled to a generator. MORE PICTURES [+/-] Pump building containing a backup four-cylinder 'Standard' petrol engine Air raid shelter (sealed). The site included a fully equipped maintenance and vehicle workshops, the latter presumably for servicing tanker lorries. Tyre pressure gauge. Site office. Distribution area map. Mess room. An old calendar on the wall. Road tanker filling station. Forecourt pump control panel. Detached line label. Flammable Sketch-plan from journal, 2015

I've not been able to find out when exactly the depot was decommissioned for military or government purposes: RAF Merston and Westhampnett were closed shortly after the War, but RAF Tangmere remained in military use until 1970, presumably needing a local source of aviation fuel until that point. Control of the depot was passed from the Air Ministry to the Ministry of Power in 1959, and then to the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC), a nationalised body, under the provisions of the Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975. Under the Oil and Pipelines Agency, from 1985, the site was leased to W^m Cory & Son L^td who operated a Shell franchise distributing diesel and heating oils until the mid-nineties, after which the tanks were emptied and the site mothballed.

The depot was sold in 2011 and recent plans for the site have included a new Park & Ride, a waste transfer facility and a supermarket. So far none have gotten any further than the drawing board.