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Bishopton, Bishopton Royal Ordnance Factory, South, General

Explosives Factory (20th Century)

Site Name Bishopton, Bishopton Royal Ordnance Factory, South, General

Classification Explosives Factory (20th Century)

Canmore ID 68381

Site Number NS46NW 31

NGR NS 42957 69489

NGR Description Centred NS 42957 69489

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/68381

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Renfrewshire
  • Parish Erskine
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Renfrew
  • Former County Renfrewshire

Archaeology Notes

NS46NW 31.00 centred 42957 69489

The N part of the site falls on a separate map sheet for this see NS47SW 149.00

For 1st Edition farrmsteads see NS46NW 84-86

NS46NW 31.01 Centred NS 43659 69586 Factory 2

NS46NW 31.02 Centred NS 43340 68744 Factory 2, Rocket Propellant

NS46NW 31.03 Centred NS 41967 69816 Factory 3

NS46NW 31.04 NS 43709 66822 and NS 43691 66844 Pumping Station

Also falls partly wthin Houston parish

This site is still owned and used by the Ministry of Defence.

J Guy 2001; NMRS MS 810/11, Part 3, 198-9

Situated 12 miles W of Glasgow close to the village of Bishopton is the explosives site at Bishopton, the Royal Ordnance's primary manufacture of propellants for gun and rocket systems. The site occupies a total of about 940 hectares (2350 acres), of which 890 hectares are within the factory fence. Within this area are some 20 hectres of covered floor space, much of which was derelict (1996) Plans in 1996 included a restructuring plan to reduce much of the operational area of the site and reduce still further the occupied buildings to 112.

Nearly 75% of the buildings date to the 1939-1945 war, with many of the redundant buildings from this period being contaminated with explosives. There is also office accommodation in a three storey building with several other smaller buildings. One, Dargavel House (NS46SW 20 ), is listed.

Also produced at this site were combustable cartridge cases and explosive ingrediants for the end products. The site is the largest in area within the Royal Ordnance incorporating farmland, forestry and some recreational land.

Information from RCAHMS (DE), July 2007; MS 879/92

A rapid photographic survey of some of the surviving buildings within the Bishopton ROF factory was undertaken in October 2009. The survey concentrated on Factory 1 buildings along with some from Factory 2 and the general factory areas. As well as the above selected buildings from other parts of the site, notably the Rocket Propellant and General buildings were photographed.

The factory was one of three Propellant factories built in 1938-39, the others being at ROF Wrexham and ROF Ranskill.

Many buildings are now derelict and in some cases a dangerous condition. Tetryl, RDX, TNT and Nitro were added later.

Three factories were built mainly to provide duplication cover should any of the production units be damaged by enemy action.

Much of Factory 3 has now been demolished.

There are now proposals to develop the site.

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