ROF Bishopton
(Visited with the Usual Suspects)
W.A.R.N.I.N.G!
THIS SITE IS COVERED BY THE MANUFACTURE and STORAGE OF EXPLOSIVES REGULATIONS 2005!
(There is enough signage around the perimeter, as well as something about Dogs Patrolling)... Can't read, won't read
Well I had been persuaded to visit here by the others, suppose fair is fair as I had dragged them kicking & screaming up chimneys and Bridges
Besides Banana made me do it, so we took him for a mooch too!
I'm not going to go into mega detail on the site, below is some copy & pasta from Wiki, besides which Ben Cooper has covered this site properly over a number of threads now, so please read them if you haven't already
The demo team have been well on with flattening the site, much of the good bit's previously covered have either gone or been stripped to an inch of their lives, a shadow of it's former self really..
Security
..They can be quite keen here, we had a few comedy moments, especially around the more 'live' area
As well despite it being a weekend the contractors were on site, so we had to duck & dive on a number of occasions, including a dunk in a nearby swamp
All good fun I'm sure
Some Shizzle:
The Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bishopton was a UK Ministry of Supply, World War II explosive factory, Located adjacent to the town of Bishopton, Renfrewshire in Scotland
It was built, with the Ministry of Works acting as Agents, as three separate almost self-contained explosive factories within the same perimeter fence
The factory was built to manufacture propellant, Cordite in the main, for the British Army and the Royal Air Force
It did not produce propellant for the Royal Navy in World War II as the Admiralty demanded, and got, its own propellant factories
The three explosive factories opened between December 1940 and April 1941
Explosives manufacturing survived on parts of the site until about 2000, although ROF Bishopton was privatised in the early 1980's
Factories I, II and III each had their own coal-fired power stations for producing high-pressure steam for generating electricity using steam-turbine-alternators
The resulting low pressure steam was used for site heating and Cordite drying
Each factory had three nitroglycerine hills, operating on a batch process to produce nitroglycerine
Factories I and II (and possibly III) had their own nitration plants for making nitrocellulose
Nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose were then processed to produce Cordite
Nearly all the buildings, with the exception of the buildings on the nitroglycerine hills which were light-weight, were steel framed buildings with triple-brick walls and bomb-proof reinforced concrete roofs
However, some of the buildings in factory III, which was built last, such as the power station, were clad with corrugated iron to reduce costs
As a part of the Explosives Division of Royal Ordnance Plc, the ROF was privatised in 1984 and now BAE Systems Global Combat Systems Munitions
The workforce fell from about 3,000 in the late 1970s to 2,000 at the time of privatisation in 1984
The workforce was about 1,000 in 1991 and was reduced to about 600 in 1993
There was a further reduction in 1996 to 450 employees as the business tried to reduce costs
It was announced in 1998 that the site would close after the loss of a major government contract for the supply of 155mm ammunition to the South African defence contractor, Denel
Manufacture on the site finally ceased in June 2002
The site is still owned by BAE Systems who use part of it as an Environmental Test Facility (ETF)
In conjunction with Redrow Homes, they have submitted locally controversial proposals to use a large part of this site for building new housing.. Soon to be home to a 24 Hour Tesco
Lawrence looks so happy after talking me into this Scottish Derp
A paste mixing and sheeting house, where the nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose were first mixed and sheeted out for drying
Interhouse
?? Unsure of what this is, any ideas BEN?
Ball Powder production
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