Royal Navy Propellant factory, Caerwent, Wales
Visited this one last year with Dangerous Dave, and wish I’d spent more time there, and taken a few more shots, but a return trip is unlikely at the moment..
This site is absolutely massive, at 1370 Acres possibly one of the largest in the UK. To put this size into context, if you’ve ever been to Pyestock, that’s about 195 Acres! There are over 30 miles of internal roadways, (occasionally used for rally driving events!!) and the road that security drives just inside the perimeter fence is just over 7 miles long.
There is also an extensive railway network within the site, joining the main network at Caldicot Junction. The site has in the past been used for storage of redundant railway vehicles, and a large number of Electric locos, and multiple units met their fate here, although this has now ended.
There are in excess of 400 buildings on the site, many of which have been sub-let to local businesses, although the large majority are still in use by the Army, for explosive training. This is particularly noticeable on the outside of the buildings, as those marked with a smiley face are to be left alone, safe to sleep in on Army training exercises etc, and those with a cross on have large holes in the walls where the explosives training has been carried out.
(This is still a live training site, and whilst there several loud bangs were heard, along with gunfire!!)
Most of the buildings look the same, and all are comprehensively stripped out with very few signs of their former existence. The site itself was one of the many ROF sites littered around the UK, and produced nitroglycerine for use in Navy Ordnance.
A comprehensive history of the site can be found here;
Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent - Wikipedia
and also some more here;
http://www.caerwentcom.com/rnpf01.htm
Of interest is the role the site played during the Gulf war, storing over 80,000 tonnes of munitions, and shipping 12,000 tonnes to the conflict. There are many local rumours that for a short time, a large cache of cruise missiles were stored on the site aswell.
A few pics from the main site first....
One of the large 4 storey buildings used for explosive practice.
Inside
One of the better condition buildings with the manufacturing equipment removed.
Above
Below
The upper floor windows to the offices were made of very thick bomb proof glass, which was built into the wall..
A lot of the buildings had interconnecting corridors..
Inside one of the huge storage buildings, now home to marauding sheep!!
Who said feminism was dead!!
At the edge of the site, (and outside the fence), was the sites social club, which included several bars, restaurants/ cafe’s, and a cinema. Now completely destroyed by the local kids, it was a good way to round things off..
The old Projector room
Nothing exciting, but it’s been sat on my hard drive for a while now, so thought may aswell stick it up here!!
C.
Visited this one last year with Dangerous Dave, and wish I’d spent more time there, and taken a few more shots, but a return trip is unlikely at the moment..
This site is absolutely massive, at 1370 Acres possibly one of the largest in the UK. To put this size into context, if you’ve ever been to Pyestock, that’s about 195 Acres! There are over 30 miles of internal roadways, (occasionally used for rally driving events!!) and the road that security drives just inside the perimeter fence is just over 7 miles long.
There is also an extensive railway network within the site, joining the main network at Caldicot Junction. The site has in the past been used for storage of redundant railway vehicles, and a large number of Electric locos, and multiple units met their fate here, although this has now ended.
There are in excess of 400 buildings on the site, many of which have been sub-let to local businesses, although the large majority are still in use by the Army, for explosive training. This is particularly noticeable on the outside of the buildings, as those marked with a smiley face are to be left alone, safe to sleep in on Army training exercises etc, and those with a cross on have large holes in the walls where the explosives training has been carried out.
(This is still a live training site, and whilst there several loud bangs were heard, along with gunfire!!)
Most of the buildings look the same, and all are comprehensively stripped out with very few signs of their former existence. The site itself was one of the many ROF sites littered around the UK, and produced nitroglycerine for use in Navy Ordnance.
A comprehensive history of the site can be found here;
Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent - Wikipedia
and also some more here;
http://www.caerwentcom.com/rnpf01.htm
Of interest is the role the site played during the Gulf war, storing over 80,000 tonnes of munitions, and shipping 12,000 tonnes to the conflict. There are many local rumours that for a short time, a large cache of cruise missiles were stored on the site aswell.
A few pics from the main site first....
One of the large 4 storey buildings used for explosive practice.
Inside
One of the better condition buildings with the manufacturing equipment removed.
Above
Below
The upper floor windows to the offices were made of very thick bomb proof glass, which was built into the wall..
A lot of the buildings had interconnecting corridors..
Inside one of the huge storage buildings, now home to marauding sheep!!
Who said feminism was dead!!
At the edge of the site, (and outside the fence), was the sites social club, which included several bars, restaurants/ cafe’s, and a cinema. Now completely destroyed by the local kids, it was a good way to round things off..
The old Projector room
Nothing exciting, but it’s been sat on my hard drive for a while now, so thought may aswell stick it up here!!
C.
