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Secret site

Porton Down

Near Salisbury, Wiltshire

Britain's most secret science site.

Porton Down was set up in 1916 to study gas warfare, and has worked on chemical and biological defence ever since. In 1953 a young airman, Ronald Maddison, died after being exposed to nerve agent there, and in 2004 an inquest found he had been unlawfully killed.

Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.

When
1916 onwards
Where
51.1300, -1.7000
Group
Secret bunkers & war sites

Visiting

A high-security site, closed to the public. Seen from the A338.

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