robin craig Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Back a few years, maybe 10 or so, I made a discovery of a chap who had a 434 and other tall grass storage ornaments like Cent ARV and Stollies who was on the left side of the road if travelling between Swindon and Cricklade. Chap was very hospitable and ran some kind of recycling bussiness. Anyone know who he is and is he here? Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 Surely someone knows who this chap is? Or is he Mr Secret? R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Oh come on guys, someone must know this chap???? R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willyslancs Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Maybe no one knows him ............................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Bunkum mate, im sure someone does, maybe I will have to google his place and post the satellite image link, maybe thats more familiar to some people! R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmite!! Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I used to spend a lot of time traveling to Cirencester visiting the in-laws, I can't remember any AVF's but remember seeing a yard which was up an embankment along the A419 (between Cricklade & Cirencester I think?) with some Mil Fuselages visible, could this be the place?? Did the chap have a bushy beard?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) Well, you guys have made me crazy, but then I went onto Google last night and think that it may have been more than 10 years ago, maybe more like 15 years. The property did not leap off the page at me last night as I wombled along the main road on google satelite, but my memory did jog and remember he had some WW2 concrete dragons teeth at the edge of the road. Im also wondering if building development has changed the lie of the land. I did notice and establishment named "Richard Freeth" on google and maybe it was his yard which is quite near to where I thought it was. R Edited January 6, 2011 by robin craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 EUREEKA!! Its nearly 4am and I have just spent a while, well actually quite a while using the Streetscape on Google and found it! Its now called Thamesdown Recyling and is exactly where I thought it was, a few hundred yards nearer to Swindon than the Seven Bridges Gulf petrol station on the other side of the road. On the streetscape the dragons teeth, big concrete cylinders with conical tops leap out at you. The place looks to have been heavily changed but the entranceway is the same. Im going to try and link the image. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.633047,-1.830471&spn=0,0.0012&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=51.632966,-1.830335&panoid=aV0QJnH-iX96KR1rC64TZw&cbp=12,214.54,,1,2.93 R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 Interestingly, not a far down the road back towards Swindon is a place shown as having an off road course on the Streetscape view. The of road course and a business called "Channel Skips" are both advertising on the fence, making me think they are owned by the same people. . . . Curiously when you pull back to satelite view the field shows some kind of green machines in the field seen in this view, tell me thats not an AFV? http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.618738,-1.807541&spn=0.000713,0.002401&t=h&z=19 R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 I have been pm'd on here and others have reminded me about what was there, there were Strikers, Cent ARV and Stollies and 434. Guess from what I can piece together that what was there has gone to the four corners of the earth or to a scrap yard? R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 The military kit in the yard has been sold on, not scraped as known. Marcus glen bought most of it job lot.Richard Freath Died some years ago, and his son Richard Freath now runs it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fesm_ndt Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Interesting bit of detective work from the other side of the world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 Thanks for the replies, and yours too Mike! It was fun but drove my good lady nearly potty R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 I know this is an old thread but I like to put things to bed as it were. This "find" of these vehicles and wandering around the nettles and vehicles languishing in a state of utter neglect was surreal. Yesterday, courtesy of the new owner, I saw in person, one of the Strikers that were in that yard that day a good number of years ago. It is very strange how myself and the Striker are now here on the other side of the Atlantic. R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Small world indeed...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinsaunders06 Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Yep definitely Thamesdown recycling , my friend still works and has worked there on trucks for years, Richard and Jeremy freeth and yep Marcus Glenn bought the kit- mb tanks, recovery tanks stalwarts, 432s,434s, loads of kit . I looked round all the stuff some years back and was very sad to some of rotting away . One centurion had foot water in hull due to open left hatches . I bought a m35 a2c from there prob 10 year ago ... Think he kept couple vehicles one being Volvo Sugga . The concrete dragons teeth you remember are still there and are ww2 in date martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 (edited) for anyone wanting to see what was in this yard please go to here:- http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?437-Scrap-yard-relics I would say this thread is complete now. Thanks to all for their help R Edited January 20, 2014 by robin craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog8811 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Could you redo the link please? It seems to go nowhere....well for me it goes nowhere:-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
river6 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 The 'Dragons Teeth' are actually 'Cylinders' They were part of GHQ Line Stop Line Red which came through here linking the Thames via River Ray to Stop Line Green at Great Somerford. Freeth 'saved' the cylinders by moving them to guard the entrance to his yard. Until the carriageway was dualled there was a 6 Pounder gunpit with 360 degree traverse mount at the side of the road where the Esso filling station is now. Unfortunately it was demolished and one more reminder of our WW2 defences disappeared. Ah well that's progress I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHillyard Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Could you redo the link please?It seems to go nowhere....well for me it goes nowhere:-( Not just you, same for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Thanks for the heads up, I reworked the copy and paste of the thread link for us all. R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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