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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cumberland => Topic started by: alyson123 on Friday 26 March 10 16:33 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone please tell me where the munitions factory was in Whitehaven circa. 1940 onwards.
My ancester worked there prior to enlisting and then went on to Burma where he served in the
Battle of Kohima, sadly he was killed in action 2wks before the end of the war.
If anyone knows also of any pictures of the munitions factory, I would be very grateful.
Kind regards
Alyson
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At the time of his death in 1942, my grandad was a Process Worker (Ordnance Factory) - they lived in Whitehaven. Apparently there was a factory at Sellafield, I don't know if there was anything closer but, by the very nature of the place, I don't suppose it would be near the town.
I've asked "somewhere else" where someone ought to know the answer. In the meantime http://www.sellafieldsites.com/land/pages/introduction.html
I'm told there was also one at Drigg ... both are now nuclear sites of course http://tinyurl.com/y93qqz8
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Thanks for your reply Geoff-E , and the links were really useful.
It makes sense that it would have been Sellafield or Brigg, also I know his father worked
at the Sellafield site, but not sure what era and what he did.
Is an Ordnance factory the same thing as Munition's? pardon my ignorance!
Looking forward to your update from other sources.
Thankyou for your help.
Kind regards
Alyson
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Alyson - you can see for yourself http://www.mywhitehaven.co.uk/main-forum-f1/ordnance-factory-t353.htm
I'm not sure there will be any more replies - was there one factory or two? ;)
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There was a factory called 'The Shell Shop' on the Drybread area on the Marsh at Workington. I know they manufactured brass shells, but do not know if they were filled with the explosives there.
then there was RNAD at Broughton Moor.
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Thankyou for this additional information jeffbubble,
another couple of possibilities for me to consider.
Regards
Alyson
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It seems that there were, after all, factories at both Drigg and Sellafield.
According to a book I'm reading, building of the Drigg factory was started in Jan 1939 and completed in Feb 1941. The Sellafield Roayal Ordnance Factory opened in May 1943.
As my grandad died in Jan 1942, he must have worked at Drigg. His death announcement in the Whitehaven News said "of 79 Scotch Street, late of Lowca" so I guess he left the pit in 1941 to start at Drigg.
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Geoff E
You are a star!!...... this latest information confirms to me that my relative must also have been
at Drigg with your Grandfather. He enlisted in Jan of 1942, so could'nt have been at the Sellafield
site, the dates you have provided means he would have been overseas by this time.
Please let me know if you ever see a picture of the Drigg site, should you come across one.
Thanks so much for all your help.
Alyson
ps At different times, my relatives lived in Scotch Street too!
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Please let me know if you ever see a picture of the Drigg site, should you come across one.
Wartime + Official Secrets Act = Doubtful :(
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Oooooops! ......... never thought of that ::)
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Photographs are mentioned here:
Royal Ordnance Factory, Drigg: Copy photographs (22). Date. 1940s. 2. Title. Royal Ordnance Factory, Drigg: typescript history of ROF Drigg ...
Repository Whitehaven
Date 1940s
3rd Item Down:- http://www.rootschat.com/links/08ib/
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On this link http://wapedia.mobi/en/Sellafield
Section 2, History
confirms there were two factories.
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Official Photos are likely to have been taken of the the building of the ROF. I have copies of some of those taken during the building of ROF Radway Green, on the Cheshire/Staffordshire border. Building work started there in early 1940, and was virtually complete by September.
The buildings, though erected in a short period, were made of decent materials. Virtually all still stand. The factory still produces ammunition for the British Army, almost at the levels oof WW2.
The photos I have show something of the urgency of construction. In the background of one shot, I can make out production machinery. There are no walls on the building, and the workmen fitting the roof panels look like it will be a couple of days before they get that machinery covered.
Building the factories was obviously VERY important. Our troops NEEDED everything they could produce.
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Bombing and Gunnery Ranges - Drigg Observation Posts.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rwbarnes/defence/ranges.htm
Only a brief mention of ROF Drigg and ROF Sellafield but the rest of the article was quite interesting.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/08if/
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Hi,
There was obviously some considerable danger in working at the Drigg R.O.F. as there are at least 2 headstones in the cemetery with the words "who was killed at the Drigg R.O.F. July 25th 1941"
Jo3
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The Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs)
The explosives ROFs in Cumbria were sited at Drigg and Sellafield, about 6 km apart, and manufactured trinitrotoluene (TNT). These isolated and remote coastal sites were chosen because of the hazardous nature of the process and to minimise the risk of enemy air attack. Construction of ROF Drigg began in early 1940, with TNT produced from March 1941 when the factory was far from complete; an appreciable amount of civil engineering work was carried out in parallel with production because of the great need for TNT. Construction of ROF Drigg was essentially complete at the end of 1941 when it achieved its target production of 400 ton per week Construction of ROF Sellafield began later in early 1942 with TNT production starting in February 1943. The Superintendent of ROF Drigg was responsible for both sites. During 1940, about 4000 construction workers were employed at ROF Drigg and a similar number later at ROF Sellafield. When complete, the two ROFs employed almost 3000 workers, with much of the production workforce recruited initially from the local construction workforce; from mid-1942, women played an increasingly large role. TNT production ceased in August 1945. In 1941–42, a third munitions was built at Hycemoor, Bootle in Millom RD on the coastal railway line some 11 km south of Drigg and next to the pre-existing Eskmeals Proof Range, initially as a shell filling factory before becoming a shell breaking-down facility in 1944 Filling operations had started by August 1942 and required a workforce of around 45. As a breaking-down factory, ROF Bootle also came under the Superintendent of ROF Drigg . Unskilled labour for the construction of the ROFs was recruited locally, mainly from Whitehaven, Cleator Moor and the neighbouring communities that had been severely affected by unemployment during the inter-war industrial depression. These men came by train to the stations at Sellafield and Drigg and by special buses to the factory gates. Skilled men, and also additional construction workers when building and operations were concurrent, were required from outside the area. Local hostel accommodation was provided, initially through the requisition in 1940 of the youth hostel (Stanley Ghyll House) in Eskdale, and then by the erection of a purpose-built hostel at Greengarth Hall, Holmrook (adjacent to Drigg) for up to 500 men, which was completed in Spring 1941. Greengarth Hall hostel continued to function throughout the war, but below capacity after the construction of ROF Drigg was completed at the end of 1941. Workers, mainly those involved in production, were also billeted locally, while a few score police guards were housed in huts just outside the main gate of ROF Drigg. The number of professionals (mainly chemists and engineers) was relatively small and many lived at Irton Hall, Holmrook (with a capacity of about 50) or in the Sellafield Staff Club, an annex to the Scawfell Hotel at Seascale.
This link gives details of a couple who died at ROF Drigg:-
http://www.rootschat.com/links/08ii/
http://www.rootschat.com/links/08ij/
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Thankyou Dettori for the extensive information and to others who have contributed,
it all makes very interesting reading and gives me an idea of what was really involved
in working at a munitions factory.
My relative would have worked at the Brigg site until Dec 1941, then joining up to serve
in Burma etc. With the wisdom of hindsight, it seems this was out of the frying pan and
into the fire.... sadly.
Thanks to all.
Alyson
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Hi
Sorry to jump in on this thread but it is relevant to an essay I am attempting to write on "a biography of my grandfather".
According to him he told me "that he worked on a farm at Sellafield when the government agents were surveying and measuring the land before they purchased it by compulsary purchase".
He did not give me any dates but his family moved from there to a council house in Egremont between 1927-1932. I am not able to ask him as he sadly passed away a few years ago.
I know that ROF Sellafield was built in 1939-41 but would I be able to trace the actual purchase, having been on A2A I am now stumped.
Regards
Half Pint
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Can anyone please tell me where the munitions factory was in Whitehaven circa. 1940 onwards.
My ancestor worked there prior to enlisting and then went on to Burma where he served in the
Battle of Kohima, sadly he was killed in action 2wks before the end of the war.
If anyone knows also of any pictures of the munitions factory, I would be very grateful.
Kind regards
Alyson
Alyson 123,
I hope this is not too late to be of assistance for your enquiry. From the information given I would also guess that if your relative was living in the Whitehaven area and worked at an Ordnance factory prior to 1942 it would have been Drigg ROF. Buses used to collect those living in the nearby West Cumbrian towns and villages, including Whitehaven.
I have been told one of my relatives who lived in Whitehaven (Woodhouse) worked at Drigg ROF in the early part of WW2. In July 1941 two of his Whitehaven neighbours (Richard Ashburne and William Steele) were killed in an ammonia accident. This was in a different accident to William Darby and Ada Bawden referred in a previous reply to your enquiry.
If you wish to see 'The Whitehaven News' article about the accident involving Mr Ashburne and Mr Steele click on the following link:
http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/recalling-forgotten-wartime-tragedies-1.758211
I have previously tried to research Drigg ROF in WW2, and there does not seem to be much. There is a small amount of information and a few wartime photographs in the file in the Cumbria County Archives mentioned in an earlier posting. This is deposited in the Whitehaven Office if you are interested in looking this up sometime.
If the relative you are enquiring about lived in Whitehaven do you know if his name is listed in the WW2 Borough of Whitehaven 'Book of Remembrance'? That is also stored at the Cumbria County Archives in Whitehaven.
If a relative made a written request for his name to be included in the 'Book of Remembrance' such a letter may also have been deposited with it. It might be worth an enquiry if you are interested?
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ROF Sellafield
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Thankyou for contributing this picture of Sellafield ROF Jeff bubble, it is
very interesting and useful to me.
This really has been interesting subject matter, and I am grateful to all
who have kindly given so much information.
Of course should anyone have a picture of Drigg ROF, I still have my
fingers crossed, on that one!
Thanks again to all.
Alyson123
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Drigg ROF.
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Alyson,
As previously mentioned there is some information about the history of the Drigg ROF (including some photographs) deposited in the County Archives at Whitehaven. They are the only photographs I have ever come across.
During the war there were restrictions on taking and publishing photographs of potentially sensitive locations. Unless anyone knows differently the wartime photographs held by the Archives Office may be the only ones available to the public?
The one Jeff has posted is one of these.
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Alyson,
In 1946 the RAF took aerial photos of England and Wales, then some more in 1947/8.
The Cumberland ones are in the County Planning/Archaeologists Office in Kendal they can be viewed by appointment.
Fascinating viewing!
Jeff
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Wow! Jeffbubble ........ I wasn't expecting a photo that quick!
Thankyou so much for for this, I am so pleased.
I thought you would enjoy this subject matter Jos Whitehaven,
........ this post has rewarded me in so many ways.
Bless you all!
Alyson123