Pounds Scrapyard, Portsmouth, UK

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Here are some of my pictures I took in July 1985 when I visited the famous Pounds Yard at Portsmouth. A veritable tank grave yard!

Among the thousands of tons of scrap steel were Churchill tanks, M10 and Sexton SP Guns, plus of course Universal Carriers. T16's were the most numerous (I think I counted at least a dozen), plus one Windsor. The latter was in a sand colour, probably meaning it was used in the Middle East after WW2.

Portsmouth-Pounds_Yard-1985-T16_Carrier-2-resized.jpg Portsmouth-Pounds_Yard-1985-T16_Carrier-resized.jpg Portsmouth-Pounds_Yard-1985-Windsor Carrier-resized.jpg


Note: this thread was created from postings in these related threads:
Carriers in Pounds shipyard: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=12110
Carrier grave yards: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...907#post141907

[Hanno Spoelstra]

This Centaur Dozer was photographed in 1979 and acquired by the Cobbaton Combat collection:
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“Pounds Yard: Roger Allen standing in front of one of fifty tanks Photo: The News archive”
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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Pounds Yards is one of the major sources of surviving AFVs today. Many Sextons, M10s, Churchills, Centaur Dozers, M5A1 Stuarts and T16s seen today come from there. Luckily they were not all scrapped due to a slump in scrap steel prices and the fact that Harry Pounds likes/liked military vehicles - reportedly, of each type coming in his yard he kept the best. Also see this earlier thread: Carriers in Pounds shipyard

Some more pictures below: first pic is one I took back in 1985, it shows a huge stack of scrap iron with a Churchill tank sticking out - gives some perspective of the size of this scrapyard.

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The next pic shows forum member Terry Johns crawling over a T16, third pic was also taken by terry in 1994, the last one I found on the internet.

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Here are some phots of some of the Churchill tanks present. Most were the Crocodile version, it seems.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/edencampher...63649605858879

After our request for Pounds Scrapyard photographs earlier this week , our good friend Richard Stickland shared some amazing photos with us of Churchill tanks that he took in the mid 1980s!

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Second batch of Richard Stickland's Churchill photos:

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Source: https://www.facebook.com/edencampher...63649605858879

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Third batch of Richard Stickland's Churchill photos, mostly interiors. Note that demilitarization seemed to have been restricted to cutting off gun barrels:

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Source: https://www.facebook.com/edencampher...63649605858879

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[Hanno Spoelstra]

Third batch of Richard Stickland's Churchill photos:

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Source: https://www.facebook.com/edencampher...63649605858879

Note the square side doors, indicating these are earlier Marks.


Turretless Churchill:
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Churchill ARV II:
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Churchill Bridge layer:
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[Andrew Rowe]

I was there is 2001 or 2005? with Adrian B. we were involved with the shifting of a Conquer Tank, that weighed 65tons to the Isle of Wright Tank Museum.
Can not remember whether I took any pictures, also at the time was ,I think Sextons still there in 01 that we could walk on top, I think Cadman had bought some or all for 1500GBP each at the time, but they were still there in the yard, cheers Andrew.