Report - ROF Standish Munitions Storage - Standish, Wigan - May 2021

[MK83]

History - ROF Standish was one of many Royal ordinance factories built at the start of world war 2 to assemble ammunition and weapons for the war effort. Each ROF factory specialised in specific types of ammunition and ROF Standish made .303 rounds most notably used in the chain fed machine guns on the spitfire. As with many other ROF's this one was an existing factory that was re-purposed, originally it was Imperial Chemical Industries Kynoch factory. While the majority of the factory has now been demolished and an industrial estate built in it's place the munitions storage bunkers remain intact.

Explore - We found this by accident while reading about local WW2 history. While reading about ROF Standish I saw an old aerial photograph that showed the factory pre-demolition and decided to compare it to google maps. it appeared that on the recent map the rough shape of the munitions storage could still be seen under the trees so we went for a look. the area is very overgrown and the weather was pretty bad so I only found 7 of what looks like 9 buildings on the old photo, I'll be going back to see if I can find the last 2 if they still remain. The buildings are all pretty samey but with the history in mind we still found it a cool explore. All the buildings and roads are sunk below ground level surrounded by large earth and concrete banks, I can only assume this is a precaution against explosions. All in all while not an amazing explore by any stretch we found it interesting.


Original aerial photo showing factory with the munitions bunkers circled;

As it is now from google maps;

Thanks for looking.

 

[Lavino]

Interesting report haven’t seen this before nice find.

 

[MK83]

Interesting report haven’t seen this before nice find.

Thanks. I was surprised all the buildings were still there tbh. Was quite interesting.

 

[HughieD]

Love these under the radar places reports. Good work...

 

[MK83]

Love these under the radar places reports. Good work...

Thanks, I've lived in this area for years and had no idea we had a big ordinance factory nearby. One of best bits about this hobby is turning up these random interesting things.

 

[tigger]

Interesting, there were still some parts of the factory left (but reclad) a few years ago but I didn't know theses were still there.
It was never "ROF Standish" - built, run and controlled by I.C.I.. The .303s produced were head-stamped K2 (K on it's own denotes the original Kynoch Company site in Birmingham).

Typical 'Ball cartridge' .303 (which was the standard UK forces round for over 80 years and, peculiarly I still had to fire five a year until relatively recently to prove I can still fire a rifle) - most of the ICI Standish factory output was 'ball cartridge' but they did produce a few other types including some armour piercing and tracer. This is a wartime issue ball cartridge but manufactured by Winchester Repeating Arms Co in the USA.

Head shows the date, manufacturer and calibre (paint and other marks were used as well for special rounds)
This particular box was manufactured specifically for the R.A.F for use in synchronised guns (but could of course have been used in other weapon)s.

 

[MK83]

Interesting, there were still some parts of the factory left (but reclad) a few years ago but I didn't know theses were still there.
It was never "ROF Standish" - built, run and controlled by I.C.I.. The .303s produced were head-stamped K2 (K on it's own denotes the original Kynoch Company site in Birmingham).

Typical 'Ball cartridge' .303 (which was the standard UK forces round for over 80 years and, peculiarly I still had to fire five a year until relatively recently to prove I can still fire a rifle) - most of the ICI Standish factory output was 'ball cartridge' but they did produce a few other types including some armour piercing and tracer. This is a wartime issue ball cartridge but manufactured by Winchester Repeating Arms Co in the USA.

Head shows the date, manufacturer and calibre (paint and other marks were used as well for special rounds)
This particular box was manufactured specifically for the R.A.F for use in synchronised guns (but could of course have been used in other weapon)s.

Interesting, thanks for the info. I struggled to find a massive amount about it online. It seems to be named ROF Standish on Lancashire at war but they do mention that it was an I.C.I factory. It doesn't seem to be one of the more well known ROF sites. I did notice what looks like a pillbox built into one of the buildings on the industrial estate so wondered whether that building was part of the original factory? I've stolen a pic from the internet the building on the nearby industrial estate below;

 

[tigger]

Firewatchers post for the factory. Its for observation not for guns

 

[Calamity Jane]

Good find. I like you're way of finding these. The un tour bussed, nice report this. Strange little set up with 2 of the buildings, having just chairs and a rug, that look in good condition. More info is really interesting. I like the ariel view, the canopy seems to follow the outline of the buildings, very cool:

 

[MK83]

Good find. I like you're way of finding these. The un tour bussed, nice report this. Strange little set up with 2 of the buildings, having just chairs and a rug, that look in good condition. More info is really interesting. I like the ariel view, the canopy seems to follow the outline of the buildings, very cool:

Thanks. Not a lot to photograph here really but the history made it. It is cool how the trees have grown in the shape of the original site. The chairs rug and camping couch look like a kids den. There were sweets and crisp packets scattered round as well. Surprisingly very little vandalism.

 

[Apathamus]

Bradley (Standish ) factory was run by Eley Kynoch , Can't remember his rank, either Major or Colonel Eley was quoted that peak production was 7,000,000 .303 a week. They also produced 20mm and amazingly 7.92mm, the German round. I guess this was for liberated countries that had German occupation Mausers.

 

[MK83]

Bradley (Standish ) factory was run by Eley Kynoch , Can't remember his rank, either Major or Colonel Eley was quoted that peak production was 7,000,000 .303 a week. They also produced 20mm and amazingly 7.92mm, the German round. I guess this was for liberated countries that had German occupation Mausers.

I didn't know they made 7.92mm rounds there as well, it would make sense to make ammo for captured German guns when you think about it. Thanks for the extra info. I tried to find out as much as possible when I wrote the report but people always comment with more interesting stuff.