- ROF Glascoed
ROF Glascoed (now BAE Systems Land Systems Munitions Glascoed) was a UK government-owned,
Royal Ordnance Factory . It was designed as one of 20 munitions filling factories. It was planned as a "Permanent" Royal Ordnance Factory with the intention that, unlike some other similar facilities, it would remain open for production after the end ofWorld War II . Afterprivatisation of the Royal Ordnance Factories in the 1980s it became part ofRoyal Ordnance PLC and later a production unit ofBAE Systems .Early history
In the late 1930s leading up to the outbreak of war in 1939, the British government developed a strategy to disperse armaments and munitions production away from major cities and the southeast part of
England which were felt to be especially vulnerable tobombing from the air. As a result the Ministry of Supply built a number of Royal Ordnance Factories and satellite factories.A munitions-filling factory was sited at Glascoed in a valley between
Pontypool andUsk inMonmouthshire . The site was chosen for its seclusion and shelteredtopography surrounded by hills and its dampmicro-climate was suited for the handling of explosives. Mostly agricultural land was acquired by compulsory purchase. In addition, the large workforce needed would benefit a region of the UK hit by particularly heavy unemployment in the 1930sGreat Depression .The new factory was designed at The
Royal Arsenal ,Woolwich ("Woolwich Arsenal"), based on its long experience in munitions production. Safety considerations were paramount. The design, style and spacing of individual production buildings meant that they were separated by wide open spaces as well as approx 20 feet (3 m) high grassed embankments and extremely thickreinforced concrete walls and overbridges, called traverses. The purpose of the traverse was to deflect any explosion skyward rather than outward to any adjacent buildings or structures.The site was built with extensive underground magazines, comprehensive lightning protection and individual buildings linked by paths, roads and railways.
Building work on the 1,000 acre (4 km²) site started in February 1938, with the
Ministry of Works acting as s; and was undertaken by a construction company fromCardiff . Full production was achieved in 1941-1942.World War II and Korean War activity
At its peak, ROF Glascoed boasted nearly 700 separate buildings, each designated for a particular process and used as required. It still has in excess of 10 miles (16 km) of roads, an 8 mile (13 km)
perimeter fence and, until more recent years, its own 17 mile (27 km)standard gauge railway system. This included a dedicated passenger station and freight marshalling yards. It was linked to theGreat Western Railway (GWR) branch line that ran between Pontypool Road andMonmouth . This rail link enabled the three-times daily movement of up to 13,000 workers in and out of the site as well as the receipt of raw materials and components and the despatch of finished munitions. A small housing estate was built close-by to accommodate managers and staff who had to respond quickly in emergencies.Initially it was intended that ROF Glascoed would produce sea-mines for the
Royal Navy . However as well as these, heavybombs andpyrotechnics (such as target indicators and skymarkers) were supplied to the RAF. Among the weapons filled and assembled by ROF Glascoed were thebouncing bomb , designed byBarnes Wallis and delivered to theRuhr area ofGermany by theDambusters , RAF 617 squadron.Contemporary ARP planning was largely based on Stanley Baldwin's assertion that "
the bomber will always get through ". So, near Glascoed, the local Folly Tower on a hill top at nearby Pontypool was seen as an aiming-off point for theLuftwaffe to attack the ROF factory. The Tower was demolished at the start of the war and not rebuilt until 1994 when it became a minor tourist attraction. As it was, ROF Glascoed was bombed only twice during the war. On one occasion, a worker was killed and several injured by a lone bomber which caused minor damage. Post-war debriefing records show that the bomber's crew were convinced they had bombedFilton aerodrome inBristol , some forty miles (65 km) away.As demand for weapons and ammunition declined with the end of the war, many Royal Ordnance Factories were closed. ROF Glascoed was retained and supplemented its output by manufacturing concrete building products and by scrapping surplus munitions. The growing hostility of the
Cold War as evidenced by theKorean War saw a much wider range of munitions assembled, filled and packed at ROF Glascoed. These included ammunition for field guns andhowitzers ,tanks and other fighting vehicles, mortar and aerial bombs,warhead s formissiles andtorpedoes , flares, pyrotechnics and smoke bombs.Post-war survival
The Royal Ordnance Factories were part of a government department until they were privatised in 1987. Today Glascoed is a business unit of
BAE Systems Land Systems (Munitions & Ordnance) Ltd. With the closure of other ROFs, Glascoed remains the only ammunition filling facility in the UK and exports its products, as well as supplying the British Ministry of Defence (MoD). Glascoed now employs about 400 people and is investing heavily inR&D and improved production facilities.In recent years, Glascoed has developed an expertise with
Insensitive Munitions [ [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/im.htm Insensitive Munitions (IM) ] ] inartillery shell s and other warheads. These employ PBX compositions such as Rowanex 3601 (booster) and Rowanex 1100 (main charge) designed to minimise the risk of accidents eg inadvertent detonation by dropping, heat, friction or impact. One such accident occurred on theUSS Forrestal in 1967 [ [http://www.forrestal.org/fidfacts/page13.htm USS Forrestal The Tragic Fire - July 29, 1967 ] ] .Until the mid-1990s, in the interests of security, British
Ordnance Survey maps omitted the details of all ROF sites; and showed the sites as they existed before the ROF's construction, although it was sometimes possible to identify the site boundaries. More recent editions show the detail of the buildings, internal roads, and rail links, labelled simply as "Depot" or "Works" [ [http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=SO3495001549 Get-a-map from Ordnance Survey ] ] .The site is also used by
Gwent Constabulary for firearms and dog training, having its own kennels and firing range.References
ee also
*
Filling Factories
*Royal Ordnance Factory
*Royal Ordnance External links
* [http://www.baesystems.com BAE Systems home page]
*gbmapping|SO349015
* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=335000&Y=201500&width=500&height=300&gride=334858.205466115&gridn=202763.574441489&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&pc=&zm=1&scale=25000 Aerial view of site] .
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