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Locations Pt 2
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Although now demolition crews have destroyed all of the Shell Haven Plant, this Google Earth map gives some indication of some of the places I photographed. What remains is part of the old plant. You can see the position of the old tanks in this shot if you look closely at 'Shot 1' on the main 'Location' page.
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1053, Or The Tale Of A Famous Butane Gas Tank
Above left: Copyright Hammer Films/ Joh Jay. Taken in 1956. Above right: Copyright Terry Joyce. (In the right hand side shot 1053 is the one with the 'Windsock' atop).Taken in 2002.
Butane tank 1053 was commissioned & built in in the early 1950s, along with 2 further tanks (1054 & 1055, which finished completion in 1956). 1053 is most famous for the horrifying scene where Broadhead (Tom Chatto) dies, there are also some later shots taken from under the tank of workers rushing the plant. 1053 was sadly demolished in 2002 to make way for the London Gateway project.
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Quatermass 2: Hemel Hempstead Locations (An Onsite Location Report By Alan French)
Image 1: Somewhere in Hemel Hempstead there is a housing estate called Warners End. In the 19th century a tragic murder was committed to that of a little girl, whose family name was Quartermass. Note the R after the A.They lived as far as I am aware at Boxted Farm. Quartermass Road and Close, are reputed to be named after this local family and was built in the 1950's.
Image 2:Some people wrongly believe that these addresses were in fact named after the fictitious Professor Bernard Quatermass. (Note no 'r' after the 'a'.) The reason being is that he is also associated with this area. In 1956, Hammer Films made a cinema adaption of the successful BBC serial QUATERMASS 2. Some of the location shots were cinemaphotographed on this estate, which was still in process of being built. Oddly enough, in another area of Hemel Hempstead called Boxmoor, in olden times there was a shop called Quatermass. There is a fish and chip shop called Weston's Fish Bar there today. That is an uncanny coincidence.
Image 3:This shot is on Galley Hill, at the entrance to the nearby Gadebridge estate, which I do not think was built at the time of the film. Warners End is at the back of the photographer, which is me. This is where the angry marchers are headed for. There is a dome in the film. It is in this area that The Hemel Hempstead Cine Society, now Hemel Hempstead Movie Makers, of which I am a member, used to meet. Now I think that I know why they moved. (Heh! Heh!)
Image 4: Again in the same place as the the previous photograph, but from a different angle. You will note that there is a church on the right side of the picture. At this point Galley Hill plunges way down over the horizon to The Gade Valley where it joins The Leighton Buzzard Road. None of The Gade Valley appears in any of this series of photographs. The Leighton Buzzard Road runs through Gadebridge Park which partially adjoins the old part of Hemel Hempstead. This area is associated with the Romans, Oliver Cromwell, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyne. It has also has been utilized for location work for both television and cinema. Examples are THE GARNET SAGA, SONGS OF PRAISE and PIE IN THE SKY.
Image 5: This is also taken from Galley Hill at the entrance to the Gadebridge housing estate. Clue as to why at another angle is the bus stop opposite the road. It is somehwere behind this, is where we saw a bus placed by the zombies in the film.
Image 6: Standing at the entrance of Gadebridge, looking across the valley toward the Warners End estate. In the film, Percy Herbert and his colleaugues would be marching toward the camera lens.
Image 7: A different angle to the previous shot. I hope the yellow vehicle is not carryig alien food.
Image 8: Again standing at a different angle and looking toward Warners End. I had to move in case I ended up in the council vehicles grass cutting machine coming toward me.
Image 9: A different angle of the previous shot.
Image 10: I am not sure if these block of flats on the left were built at the time of filming. I am standing at the very top end of Galley Hill in Warners End. The road in the photo is called Boxted Road. Behind the modern telephone booth is a footpath. This is where the zombies were searching for meteor droppings with their detectors and took pot shots at Quatermass when he was making a quick get-away in his car. To the right, behind the privet hedge, are school grounds where a mock up community centre was placed. Martindale School which was completed afterwards, regrettably closed in the summer of 2008. It is the building which has some red paint daubed upon it.
Image 11: I am standing in the same spot at the top of Galley Hill. But this time looking down the dip towards Gadebridge. The dip is called the Warners End Valley. Toward my left, but not in the picture, horrible screams of pain can still heard today. It is the local dental surgery. This is seen briefly in the pot shot sequence, as it is incorporated within the block of flats in the photo. Not be confused with the ones in the previous picture. Today all in the area is happy. Therefore a happy ending to this montage photographed in 2008 by Alien French. Sorry, I mean Alan French.
Stephen Reed. 2008.
