Wrexham ROF - Sep 2015

Hi All

Had a day trip back to north Wales to visit Wrexham ROF to look at the parts we missed last time.
On an ordinance survey map you will see a site called Wrexhan industrial estate, all of this and more was the WW2 ordinance factory.
It was built to produce cordite and later RDX explosives.
The site was massive in its day with over 13,000 people working there, it`s much bigger than Holton heath RNCF.
This part of the site is to the south of Oak road, it`s just a walk in but look out for the Airsoft guys at weekends.

I`ll try and keep the amount of pictures down but there is so much left.
I cant find a plan with a list of buildings so I cant say what they were used for, but the site would of had different types of Acid storage
and mixing, production of Cellulose and then Nitrocellulose then final production of Cordite and later in the war RDX (Research Department explosive).

Enjoy.....



All these areas look like loading areas for raw materials the tunnel entrances are connected via narrow gauge railways.





All over the site are loads of curved Tank supports.



Just behind these supports is a massive concrete tunnel that leads in to a massive concrete bund
what ever was stored or produced there must of been nasty, looking at the thickness of the concrete.



the shot below is inside the concrete bund, don`t be fooled here that`s a good 15 foot drop in the middle there were steel "I" beams
over this space but they have been removed, to the right is another tunnel passage which looks like a pipe run access.



The site had many observation posts, these are NOT pillboxes as the field of fire from the view ports is not great they also
feature areas for a pot belly stove in each corner and a chimney.



Some of the larger process building on this part of the site all of which have massive concrete Bunds, we looked at one and the
concrete looks to be about 6 meters thick.







Concrete bund around the process building.



If you start to look in the woods and the overgrown areas you will start to see the small things that make this place a real gem.





The last shot is an EWS (Emergency water supply) it`s full..........



Well that will do, we only spent 3 hours walking around this part, I`v got loads more pictures on my FlickR site so if you want more
buildings and tunnel passageways head on over to
https://www.flickr.com/photos/newage2/albums/72157648554026768

So thanks for looking and thanks to TIGGER for show me around.
Any and all comments are most welcome.

Cheers Newage

Really love this sort of stuff. Thanks for sharing...

Greast stuff Newage, thank you.

Love military stuff, great report too, thanks

nice to see some concrete for a change. love it

Very good report. A few interesting buildings and smaller items like the water hydrant.

Great report and images.

My Dad was employed in the demolition of a lot of this site back in the 1950s when I was a nipper (I've still got a folding 2-foot steel rule he found on top of a buttress somewhere.)

I worked out of the estate for a good few years and always wanted to go and have a look around in some of the old buildings but never got the chance - I was an HGV driver and I was only ever clocking in or out . . .

I used to deliver to a clothing factory on the estate which was housed in the on-site infirmary - I would imagine they probably found plenty of use for that when it was a cordite factory!

A word of advice though - be careful where you're poking around. There's a whole area in the middle of the estate which has never been de-contaminated since the factory closed down; to the best of my knowledge nobody knows exactly what might be there . . .

I went up there a month or so ago to shoot a model, outside one of the buildings were some black canisters, when we walked up to them they had 'Radioactive' stickers on them. I ***** myself and ran off. Never been back since, Lol.

Cymro said:

A word of advice though - be careful where you're poking around. There's a whole area in the middle of the estate which has never been de-contaminated since the factory closed down; to the best of my knowledge nobody knows exactly what might be there . . .

Click to expand...

'Middle' is an interesting concept with this site. The area Newage was in had planning permission granted years ago. They started clearing it but the economic downturn meant that it was deemed unviable.

Ginsters said:

I went up there a month or so ago to shoot a model, outside one of the buildings were some black canisters, when we walked up to them they had 'Radioactive' stickers on them. I ***** myself and ran off. Never been back since, Lol.

Click to expand...

That's airsoft folks for you - they don't usually leave too much around there except spent flashbangs, pellets and assorted bits of hazard tape. I know they want 'realism' for their games but the use of real hazard warning signs for recreation is a hazard in itself.

druid said:

'Middle' is an interesting concept with this site. The area Newage was in had planning permission granted years ago. They started clearing it but the economic downturn meant that it was deemed unviable.

Click to expand...

If Newage was south of Oak Road then that's broadly the area I'm talking about - it's off Bridge Road up to where Lloyds of Penley have their warehouse.

You know - pretty much where they're building the new prison, if I've got the location right . . . ;-)