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Report - - Simonswood Munitions Depot - Simonswood, Lancashire - June 2021 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Simonswood Munitions Depot - Simonswood, Lancashire - June 2021

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MK83

Wife and husband
28DL Full Member
Had a mooch round this place earlier in the week while I was out walking. There's not much to see really and I was in two minds about posting it but as ROF Kirkby had 2 offsite depots and I can only find the Rainford one posted on here i thought I might as well make it a whole set.

History - ROF Kirkby (filling factory number 7) was a very large munitions factory on the site of what is now Kirkby industrial estate in Kirkby, Merseyside. It was constructed in 1940 and at it's height it employed around 10,000 workers, by the end of the war had produced approximately 10% of all the munitions fired by the British. As well as large onsite magazines it also had 2 offsite storage depots connected to the factory by dedicated railway lines. One depot was in Rainford, St Helens and the other was at Simonswood.

The explore - I had a day free so i decided to check this out and see what remained. I also had a mooch over to the Rainford depot and Kirkby industrial estate where the main factory was located.

The Rainford depot has been covered before in 2007 - https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/war-department-depot-rainford.24094/ .This place is now almost entirely in use by businesses and almost all the buildings seem to be in use so while I took some shots I didn't see any mileage in covering it again.

The main factory site at Kirkby industrial estate has a lot of the original buildings left, many of which have been converted by businesses and modernised. It also has some of the huge magazines left, 4 have just been demolished but 5 still remain. The remaining magazines are all secure unfortunately. One was open when I went with a number of workers milling about in it, I wondered in to see what it was like inside and it looked like a lot of the original fixtures and fittings remain, included rail tracks running into the magazine. I was quickly challenged by a bloke who said he worked for the council and he was removing the stuff left from a previous business so it could be rented out again. I asked if i could take some pics but he wasn't having any of it and told me i'd need permission from the council. He did give me his number and said to call him in a week or so when they'd finished and he'd ask for permission for me so fingers crossed. I plan and going back to the main factory site and will cover it separately but I've included a couple of exterior pics of the magazines as they where quite cool.

The Simonswood depot is a pretty standard ww2 munitions depot in the middle of a famers field. There are private property signs all over the place but I wasn't challenged and had no issue wandering round although it is overlooked by the farmhouse. There isn't a huge amount to see, just magazines and pillboxes.

Magazines at the main factory. 4 of the ones on the right of the picture have now been demolished but all the ones on the left remain.
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View of the Magazines over the site of the 4 that have just been demolished.
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Aerial view of the Simonswood depot.
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Thanks for looking.
 

Mikeymutt

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Very nice that, and looks graffiti free. You really need to stop post these lovely munition dumps ha ha :thumb:D
 

MK83

Wife and husband
28DL Full Member
Very nice that, and looks graffiti free. You really need to stop post these lovely munition dumps ha ha :thumb:D
Last one this honestly....I had a bit of a mission to cover as many of the rof's and munitions stores in Lancashire that I could find. And I couldn't resist that one in yorkshire. Definately time to explore something different next.
 

Mikeymutt

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Last one this honestly....I had a bit of a mission to cover as many of the rof's and munitions stores in Lancashire that I could find. And I couldn't resist that one in yorkshire. Definately time to explore something different next.
No no don't stop it was in jest as I really like them ha ha. If you like them keep doing them. I love seeing your reports from them :thumb I would like to do some but not many around here. But in Scotland at the min and planning to do this be you done coming home
 

MK83

Wife and husband
28DL Full Member
No no don't stop it was in jest as I really like them ha ha. If you like them keep doing them. I love seeing your reports from them :thumb I would like to do some but not many around here. But in Scotland at the min and planning to do this be you done coming home
I explore with my wife and while she finds these interesting she's been very patient covering this many. She definately gets to pick the next few explores!
 

Mikeymutt

28DL Regular User
Regular User
I explore with my wife and while she finds these interesting she's been very patient covering this many. She definately gets to pick the next few explores!
Well there is plenty of things to cover your way.
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Nice explore. This is the kind of thing ordinary people ignore. But explorers see everything. Great photos
 

Nyrian

Banned
Banned
It always amazes me when I'm scouring for new places then someone points out a large field with a dozen buildings out in the open that I've totally missed in the area ....
 

Specter

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Did you look through the hole in the building with the red metal door? all in all pretty cool, some good photos.
 

MK83

Wife and husband
28DL Full Member
Did you look through the hole in the building with the red metal door? all in all pretty cool, some good photos.
Thanks, I found it interesting, I've explored a few royal ordnance factories. I did look through the hole, looked like loads of agricultural stuff. Probably used as storage by the farm.
 

MK83

Wife and husband
28DL Full Member
It always amazes me when I'm scouring for new places then someone points out a large field with a dozen buildings out in the open that I've totally missed in the area ....
There's a lot of ww2 military remains like this about if you do the research. it's amazing what can be found in random farmers fields and bits of woodland.
 

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