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Right first military post for me (minus a ROC post), visited with Wilshure. I had been here breifly before with a friend of mine but we didnt stay too long. Great site to spend a good long time looking round, even though there is mainly just building outer shells left, but some have the odd thing in here and there. Unfortunatly it would seem this place is slowly getting demolished, theres a few pics in here that show evidence of this.
Any way heres a bit of history followed by some aerial photos taken from in WW2 when the plant was in use
"Edingham was built in 1939. McAlpine Construction was given the contract on a time and materials basis which meant there was no restriction to the final cost which amounted to £3.5 million.
Most of the factory was built by hand. Drag lines and basic diggers which had no cabs or hydraulic rams, were also used. Over 3000 men, the majority of them Irish, were used in the building and labouring. The Irish navvies stayed in wooden huts, which were later used to house prisoners of war from 1943 to 1947.
The area for the site was taken from six farmers who were paid a minimal fee. The total site was 300 acres, 180 of which came from Edingham Farm. One of the main reasons for choosing this site was the fact that the Dumfries to Stranraer railway line passed through it, making it an ideal location with easy transportation of cordite and nitro-glycerine for onward processing.
It took 8 miles of high security fencing to surround the site, which was made up of two identical halves, so as to prevent production being interrupted if a key building was hit and put out of action.
The buildings themselves were dug into the earth and then surrounded by steep sides, like a large pudding basin. This ensured that, should an explosion occur, the force of the blast went upwards causing less damage, and not outwards to damage other parts of the site.
Cordite and nitro-glycerine were the main products manufactured. These highly dangerous products were hauled around by unshod horses and carts, supplied by farmers, to prevent any sparks which might have sent the place sky-high." History courtesy of www.dalbeattiematters.co.uk
As indicated in the other post on here the place is now used for police and army training, this was noticeable by the amount of empty shells, shell boxes and crates laid around the place. Also the film Outpost had a few opening shots filmed here, ill post a few more comparison shots after the report
One end of the Site in WW2
Edingham town end of the site (ive tried to look for a connection in direction of these two images but still cant see one)
Photos courtesy of canmore.rcahms.gov.uk
With the history of the place out the way heres some of the Photos i managed to get. Enjoy.....
First set of buildings once inside the main gate
A mixing or fabrication room of what there seemed to be many of! (enlighten me if you kno what happened in these
)
Random Chair shot
Escape tunnels for the workers to go down if the place was about to go up!
Dont forget your gasmask fellas
There were loads of drawings, poems, messages to loved ones, tributes to lost friends and sums all over the walls in the air raid shelter buildings
An old light and ventilation in the walls indicated this to be some form of mixing room so if any bad gasses escaped they would quickly escape through the ventilation areas in the walls
Old Canteen building
Wilshure upstairs in the Canteen building
Looks like they have already started tearing this building down
Either walkways or tracks for the carts to go up and Down that connected between buildings, this was the only evidence we found of these though all the others had been removed
Not many of these left on the mixing buildings but the ones that were still there were brilliant
Dark Corridors lined the back of the mixing bays, with concrete blocks that must have had something to do with the mixing process attached to them, that then went through the wall into the main rooms
Right, comparison time!!
Oh dear
This place really is huge and it takes a fair old time to get round all of it but worth a visit before it all goes id say, just please make sure you have permission from the farmer first guys you know it make sense.....oh and sorry about the amount of pics theres just so much to show of this site
More to follow chaps and chapettes...
Peace
T
:
Any way heres a bit of history followed by some aerial photos taken from in WW2 when the plant was in use
"Edingham was built in 1939. McAlpine Construction was given the contract on a time and materials basis which meant there was no restriction to the final cost which amounted to £3.5 million.
Most of the factory was built by hand. Drag lines and basic diggers which had no cabs or hydraulic rams, were also used. Over 3000 men, the majority of them Irish, were used in the building and labouring. The Irish navvies stayed in wooden huts, which were later used to house prisoners of war from 1943 to 1947.
The area for the site was taken from six farmers who were paid a minimal fee. The total site was 300 acres, 180 of which came from Edingham Farm. One of the main reasons for choosing this site was the fact that the Dumfries to Stranraer railway line passed through it, making it an ideal location with easy transportation of cordite and nitro-glycerine for onward processing.
It took 8 miles of high security fencing to surround the site, which was made up of two identical halves, so as to prevent production being interrupted if a key building was hit and put out of action.
The buildings themselves were dug into the earth and then surrounded by steep sides, like a large pudding basin. This ensured that, should an explosion occur, the force of the blast went upwards causing less damage, and not outwards to damage other parts of the site.
Cordite and nitro-glycerine were the main products manufactured. These highly dangerous products were hauled around by unshod horses and carts, supplied by farmers, to prevent any sparks which might have sent the place sky-high." History courtesy of www.dalbeattiematters.co.uk
As indicated in the other post on here the place is now used for police and army training, this was noticeable by the amount of empty shells, shell boxes and crates laid around the place. Also the film Outpost had a few opening shots filmed here, ill post a few more comparison shots after the report
One end of the Site in WW2
Edingham town end of the site (ive tried to look for a connection in direction of these two images but still cant see one)
Photos courtesy of canmore.rcahms.gov.uk
With the history of the place out the way heres some of the Photos i managed to get. Enjoy.....
First set of buildings once inside the main gate
A mixing or fabrication room of what there seemed to be many of! (enlighten me if you kno what happened in these
)
Random Chair shot
Escape tunnels for the workers to go down if the place was about to go up!
Dont forget your gasmask fellas
There were loads of drawings, poems, messages to loved ones, tributes to lost friends and sums all over the walls in the air raid shelter buildings
An old light and ventilation in the walls indicated this to be some form of mixing room so if any bad gasses escaped they would quickly escape through the ventilation areas in the walls
Old Canteen building
Wilshure upstairs in the Canteen building
Looks like they have already started tearing this building down
Either walkways or tracks for the carts to go up and Down that connected between buildings, this was the only evidence we found of these though all the others had been removed
Not many of these left on the mixing buildings but the ones that were still there were brilliant
Dark Corridors lined the back of the mixing bays, with concrete blocks that must have had something to do with the mixing process attached to them, that then went through the wall into the main rooms
Right, comparison time!!
Oh dearThis place really is huge and it takes a fair old time to get round all of it but worth a visit before it all goes id say, just please make sure you have permission from the farmer first guys
you know it make sense.....oh and sorry about the amount of pics theres just so much to show of this siteMore to follow chaps and chapettes...
Peace
T
:
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