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Report - - Edingham Ministry of Supply Factory, Dalbeattie, Dumfries, May 2009 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Edingham Ministry of Supply Factory, Dalbeattie, Dumfries, May 2009

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Ariadne

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Hi there.

I wasn't originally intending to post this, as it's not in the same league as places like Bishopton etc. I also have absolutely no expertise whatsoever on military sites, so bear this in mind when reading! However, it's come up in discussions on another thread, so I thought I'd put it up.

Right, this is BASIC history for non-military-history-buffs... lots more detailed info can be found at www.dalbeattie.com (that's also where most of the following info came from).

The factory was built in 1939 to produce explosives. It was built mostly by hand, mostly by Irish labourers, and was originally surrounded by 8 miles of security fence, which gives you some idea of the size. The site is in fact two sites the same, so that production could continue if one section was destroyed. I'm guessing this is fairly standard for sites like this? A local farmer uses the site for his cattle, and the local police and armed forces use it quite often for training. I spent three blissful hours there in the evening sun and only explored a fraction of it - there's plenty more, including the nitration hills, pillboxes and a host of other stuff. There are quite a lot of photos below, but in my defence, they are quite small! It's hard to convey the size of the site on here. Some of the buildings are quite repetitive, but I came across some bizarre (not very military) stuff in a few of them...!

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Ok, and for some fun:

CLASSIC lonely chair!

Couldn't resist it:
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And your guess is as good as mine... :crazy
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Miaow. Constructive feedback gratefully received! Cheers.

Ariadne
 

Ordnance

Stay Safe
Staff member
Moderator
Was an ICI Nobel agency run Cordite Factory 1939-1945 so was not termed as an ROF as not directly run by the Ministry of Supply.
Large part took over as Royal Navy Armaments Depot Dalbeattie 1946-1960 preparing unwanted navel munitions for Sea Dumping etc.

The farmer who owns most of the land is happy to allow visitors around the cordite factory on his farm, but insists that all vistors phone him beforhand, due to occasional use as a military & police training area, which he will be able to warn you about in advance.

He asks for your own safety - and information to please call him (Matthew Taylor) on 01556 610397.
 
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BenCooper

Mr Boombastic
28DL Full Member
Fantastic - I was thinking of going to a look at this myself, so it's good to see there's still something there :)

Pics 3 and 11 look like acetone recovery houses, 5,6 & 7 are cordite press houses. Those cats are just weird...
 

Ariadne

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
News - according to a friend, the acetone tower (pics 2 & 3) was the last surviving example in the UK, until it was demolished last week!

Ordnance - cheers for the history and the safety/info number for Matthew Taylor. If there is demolition happening and police/MOD training then you're right, a wee phone call would be a sensible option.

Ariadne
 

Havoc

International Trespasser
28DL Full Member
Wondered how long it would be till this one was done. Nice work.

They also used this site in the film Outpost.
 
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