# ROF Elstow



## snap_happy (Apr 13, 2012)

Id herd alot about this site and i knew it was being cleared and theyve found all sorts of ordanace and stuff here so i thought id see what was left as all the reports ive seen are when the buildings where still there. I was told by a very freindly security guard it is due to be totaly levelled in the next few weeks so this could be the last chance to take photos.

First off here comes some history taken from Wikipedia:
Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Elstow was one of sixteen UK Ministry of Supply, World War II, Filling Factories. It was a medium-sized filling factory, (Filling Factory No. 16), which filled and packed munitions. It was located south of the town of Bedford, between the villages of Elstow and Wilstead in Bedfordshire. It was bounded on the northeast by the A6 and on the west by a railway line. Hostels were built nearby to accommodate the workers who were mostly female.

It was built with the Ministry of Works acting as Agents; building work started in November 1940 and was completed by August 1941. It was managed as an "Agency Factory" by J. Lyons on behalf of the Ministry of Supply as, by then, the Ministry of Supply was overstretched in regards recruiting and managing the workers needed to staff these munitions factories.

It had 250 buildings and 15 miles of standard gauge railway lines. It was linked to the Midland Railway line running between London and Bedford.

*War-time Production*

ROF Elstow started filling munitions in February 1942.

It was divided into a number of different filling Groups (see Filling Factories) which occupied different areas of the site. The Groups filled cartridges, high-explosive (HE) and 4,000-pound bombs and shells. Later larger 8,000-pound, 12,000-pound and 22,000-pound bombs were also filled.

The Cordite Group opened in June 1942 and closed in May 1943; it was then employed to recondition shells. The Pellet Group also closed in 1943. After 1943 Elstow was used to store surplus ammunition components and machine tools.

* Closure*

ROF Elstow closed in 1946. The CEGB took over the site in 1969 with the intention of building a power station but this never came to fruition.

In the early 1980s Elstow was proposed as a site for a UK nuclear waste repository. In 2007 work began on the new town of Wixams on the site. In the process of applying for planning permission for the Wixams development, a comprehensive survey of the site was carried out by Albion Archaeology, which included interviews with former workers. The report, with site maps and annotated photographs, was published in 2009.

First off on the way in i came across this memorial of sorts which ties in with the fact a dummy nuclear weapon was found on site a few years ago and now is in a museum nearby:
















Now this is the only building apart from the one shown in my other thread which i thought was a Pillbox left standing:










This one had some fairly deep foundations, they where full of water though:





Possibly some railway tracks, there where piles of sleepers here and there but these where the only lengths of rail i found on site:





I wonder if this has anything to do with the tunnels on site (i was pointed to the area the entrance was by a handy horse owner i met on the land but i could find nothing so i was either looking in the wrong area which i doubt as you will see later or they have done a very good job of hiding them:




















The site has many big piles of crushed bricks like this:





Just out of photo behind me these lines of what looks like railway ballast stop abruptly, i wonder if i was close to the entrance to the tunnels as i was told to look for a ditch and they where in one of sorts:


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## jonney (Apr 13, 2012)

god they haven't half cleared that site, I saw photos of the place a couple of years ago and there were loads of buildings left standing, all in the name of progress well at least that's what they say. Cheers for taking the time to check the place out and posting it up


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## KingRat (Apr 13, 2012)

Oh my, where's it all gone!? I have a text on my phone about this place saved for posterity. It reads, "At Elstow have just found nuclear bomb"

He wasn't kidding either, what he initially thought was a wrecking ball turned out to be a blue danube!


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## urban phantom (Apr 13, 2012)

wot a shame no need thanks for sharing


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## flyboys90 (Apr 13, 2012)

Love the monument! scarey,great report thanks for sharing.


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## sYnc_below (Apr 18, 2012)

You're about 10 years too late for this place, it was pretty good back then, 50% of the buildings were used as business units and 50% were derp so it was a good place for a nosey.



snap_happy said:


> First off on the way in i came across this memorial of sorts



I remember the day this was put up, there was a massive protest group at the time against it....Google "Nirex + Bedford" to learn more (the kiln is also a Time Capsule )


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