The Site
The 928-acre (376 ha) site, which was built between Euxton and the town of Leyland, had a 9 mile (approximately 14.5 kilometer ) perimeter fence which until privatisation was guarded by was to become the Ministry of Defence Police (MOD Police) Force. After privatisation they were replaced by private security guards.
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway, from Manchester Victoria to Preston, via Bolton and Euxton junction, with stations at Chorley and Leyland, cut the ROF site into two areas. The smaller area was the Administration site which lay between the railway and Euxton Road. The factory's main Administration office was located here. It also contained test laboratories, a Medical Centre, the MOD Police and the main Canteen building. This large canteen was equipped with a stage and was used for Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) concerts and other entertainments during war time.
The larger area of the site lay to the north of the railway line and was the main Explosive, or ammunition filling, site.
ROF Chorley had its own private railway station, ROF Halt, which was last used on 27 September 1965. The railway line, particularly the station, was separated from the ROF by brick boundary walls some 20 foot (7 metres) high along each side. Access to the site from the railway station was also by means of an over bridge. The railway station and platforms were demolished in 2002 as the former ROF site was systematically flattened for conversion into housing. The new Buckshaw Parkway railway station, which opened on 3 October 2011, is built on the same site as the old station.
The main internal road, the Central Road, linking the two sites, crossed over the railway line by means of a steep road bridge, with foot paths on either side.
There was also separate entrances to the explosive site; one was known as the Leyland Gate. After privatisation the road over the railway line was little used and separate entrances, i.e. the Leyland gate and the Euxton gatehouse, were used for the two sites.
Read more about this topic: ROF Chorley
Famous quotes containing the word site:
“The present hour is always wealthiest when it is poorer than the future ones, as that is the pleasantest site which affords the pleasantest prospects.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I am not aware that any man has ever built on the spot which I occupy. Deliver me from a city built on the site of a more ancient city, whose materials are ruins, whose gardens cemeteries. The soil is blanched and accursed there, and before that becomes necessary the earth itself will be destroyed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)