2018

SJ4674 : WWII Cheshire: Royal Ordnance Factory Dunham-on-the-Hill Bulk Explosives Storage (1)

taken 6 years ago, near to Hapsford, Cheshire West And Chester, England

WWII Cheshire: Royal Ordnance Factory Dunham-on-the-Hill Bulk Explosives Storage (1)
WWII Cheshire: Royal Ordnance Factory Dunham-on-the-Hill Bulk Explosives Storage (1)
A glance at the Ordnance Survey's 1:50k map of the area northwest of the village of Dunham on the Hill reveals a plethora of buildings literally scattered in all directions covering several grid squares. These are the remains of the ROF site of Dunham on the Hill, built in 1941 for the war effort on a requisitioned site on behalf of the Ministry of Supply (MoS). It was never intended as a manufacturing site, but was simply a bulk storage facility for explosives that were to be used in other ROF establishments as fillings for shells and munitions.

The site comprises some 28 brick and steel "sheds" scattered over a wide area about a mile square, with an irregular perimeter of between four or five miles. Some 10 of these buildings are designated as magazines, often distinguished by having a blast wall in front, and surrounded by earth and clay blast mounds. All the storage buildings were served by an on-site railway system that in turn was supplied by the main line LMS railway. Explosives were stored in sidings until such time as they were brought into the site by 4-wheeled diesel shunter locomotives of the MoS.

The ROF site closed sometime in the 1960s after some military use post war particularly during the Suez and Hungarian Uprising crises of 1956. Permission was obtained to tour around the site which has now been given over to agriculture where some of the many buildings were visited. The example shown here is one of the smaller buildings that was apparently a locomotive storage shed.

SJ4674 : WWII Cheshire: Royal Ordnance Factory Dunham-on-the-Hill Bulk Explosives Storage (2)

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Railways Construction, Development Defence, Military other tags: ROF Dunham on the Hill Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
SJ4674, 60 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Mike Searle   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Thursday, 26 July, 2018   (more nearby)
Submitted
Saturday, 11 August, 2018
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SJ 4657 7403 [10m precision]
WGS84: 53:15.6340N 2:48.1455W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SJ 4659 7403
View Direction
West-northwest (about 292 degrees)
Clickable map
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NW N NE
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SW S SE
Image Type (about): geograph 
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