Had a mooch round this place earlier in the week while I was out walking. There's not much to see really and I was in two minds about posting it but as ROF Kirkby had 2 offsite depots and I can only find the Rainford one posted on here i thought I might as well make it a whole set.
History - ROF Kirkby (filling factory number 7) was a very large munitions factory on the site of what is now Kirkby industrial estate in Kirkby, Merseyside. It was constructed in 1940 and at it's height it employed around 10,000 workers, by the end of the war had produced approximately 10% of all the munitions fired by the British. As well as large onsite magazines it also had 2 offsite storage depots connected to the factory by dedicated railway lines. One depot was in Rainford, St Helens and the other was at Simonswood.
The explore - I had a day free so i decided to check this out and see what remained. I also had a mooch over to the Rainford depot and Kirkby industrial estate where the main factory was located.
The Rainford depot has been covered before in 2007 - https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/war-department-depot-rainford.24094/ .This place is now almost entirely in use by businesses and almost all the buildings seem to be in use so while I took some shots I didn't see any mileage in covering it again.
The main factory site at Kirkby industrial estate has a lot of the original buildings left, many of which have been converted by businesses and modernised. It also has some of the huge magazines left, 4 have just been demolished but 5 still remain. The remaining magazines are all secure unfortunately. One was open when I went with a number of workers milling about in it, I wondered in to see what it was like inside and it looked like a lot of the original fixtures and fittings remain, included rail tracks running into the magazine. I was quickly challenged by a bloke who said he worked for the council and he was removing the stuff left from a previous business so it could be rented out again. I asked if i could take some pics but he wasn't having any of it and told me i'd need permission from the council. He did give me his number and said to call him in a week or so when they'd finished and he'd ask for permission for me so fingers crossed. I plan and going back to the main factory site and will cover it separately but I've included a couple of exterior pics of the magazines as they where quite cool.
The Simonswood depot is a pretty standard ww2 munitions depot in the middle of a famers field. There are private property signs all over the place but I wasn't challenged and had no issue wandering round although it is overlooked by the farmhouse. There isn't a huge amount to see, just magazines and pillboxes.
Magazines at the main factory. 4 of the ones on the right of the picture have now been demolished but all the ones on the left remain.
View attachment
View of the Magazines over the site of the 4 that have just been demolished.
Aerial view of the Simonswood depot.
Thanks for looking.
History - ROF Kirkby (filling factory number 7) was a very large munitions factory on the site of what is now Kirkby industrial estate in Kirkby, Merseyside. It was constructed in 1940 and at it's height it employed around 10,000 workers, by the end of the war had produced approximately 10% of all the munitions fired by the British. As well as large onsite magazines it also had 2 offsite storage depots connected to the factory by dedicated railway lines. One depot was in Rainford, St Helens and the other was at Simonswood.
The explore - I had a day free so i decided to check this out and see what remained. I also had a mooch over to the Rainford depot and Kirkby industrial estate where the main factory was located.
The Rainford depot has been covered before in 2007 - https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/war-department-depot-rainford.24094/ .This place is now almost entirely in use by businesses and almost all the buildings seem to be in use so while I took some shots I didn't see any mileage in covering it again.
The main factory site at Kirkby industrial estate has a lot of the original buildings left, many of which have been converted by businesses and modernised. It also has some of the huge magazines left, 4 have just been demolished but 5 still remain. The remaining magazines are all secure unfortunately. One was open when I went with a number of workers milling about in it, I wondered in to see what it was like inside and it looked like a lot of the original fixtures and fittings remain, included rail tracks running into the magazine. I was quickly challenged by a bloke who said he worked for the council and he was removing the stuff left from a previous business so it could be rented out again. I asked if i could take some pics but he wasn't having any of it and told me i'd need permission from the council. He did give me his number and said to call him in a week or so when they'd finished and he'd ask for permission for me so fingers crossed. I plan and going back to the main factory site and will cover it separately but I've included a couple of exterior pics of the magazines as they where quite cool.
The Simonswood depot is a pretty standard ww2 munitions depot in the middle of a famers field. There are private property signs all over the place but I wasn't challenged and had no issue wandering round although it is overlooked by the farmhouse. There isn't a huge amount to see, just magazines and pillboxes.
Magazines at the main factory. 4 of the ones on the right of the picture have now been demolished but all the ones on the left remain.
View attachment
View of the Magazines over the site of the 4 that have just been demolished.
Aerial view of the Simonswood depot.
Thanks for looking.
