Whitehaven Munitions Factory

[alyson123]

Oooooops! ......... never thought of that

[*Sandra*]

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/
 

[Geoff-E]

On this link http://wapedia.mobi/en/Sellafield

Section 2, History

confirms there were two factories.

[andrewalston]

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.

[*Sandra*]

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/

[Jo3]

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

[*Sandra*]

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/

[alyson123]

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   

[Half Pint]

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