121 replies to this topic

[pyrotechnist]

Nice, I plan on taking a trip up to Brocks Sanquhar some time and getting some pics of the place. I just hope the site isn't to badly damaged , it looks like they keep the grass nice and tidy though.

[exat808]

Not sure what EDL's long term intentions are for Sanquhar. I do speak with the company fairly regulalry. Will keep the forum posted.

[pyrotechnist]

Would you by anychance know what they now use the site for? have you visited it yourself?

[exat808]

Would you by anychance know what they now use the site for? have you visited it yourself?

I believe that the entire facility is just in care and maintenance only (mothballed). Never visited there unfortunatley.
Did my shotfiring course at ICI (Nobels) Ardeer in the 1980's - now that was some site!
Other pyro related sites I have been lucky enough to visit were Schermulys at Dorking and Haley and Weller at Draycott in Derbyshire (later bought out by Pains Wessex Defence).

[pyrotechnist]

Nice any pictures of both sites?

[pyrotechnist]

Nice any pictures of both sites?

[exat808]

Both sites were manufacturing for the MOD when I visited and I was subject to the usual security restrictions. Both sites were in full production of a range of articles. Buildings at both were generally of brick construction with lightweight roof structures. All filling buildings were mounded or had sufficient separation between them in accordance with the 1875 Act then in force. I would describe however the running of both sites as "cottage industries" - meaning that safety aside things were relaxed and processes were in place that had been used for many years. But I suppose if practices were safe and proven then why change them?
Haley and Weller is still going at Draycott but is now PW Defence. Schermuly is sadly long gone.
Ardeer is fairly well documented but is more of a heritage site. The final descendants of Nobels -Indabata have a nitrocellulose plant on site which famously caught fire in 2007.

[pyrotechnist]

Sounds like fun times, love the layout and structure of firework or explosive sites, something fascinates me about them. Lets just hope they hold on to the last Brocks factory Britain has left and probably the only original factory left unless you count what is left of Wells.

[pyrotechnist]

Sounds like fun times, love the layout and structure of firework or explosive sites, something fascinates me about them. Lets just hope they hold on to the last Brocks factory Britain has left and probably the only original factory left unless you count what is left of Wells.

[phildunford]

I believe (recent conversation) that the Brocks site still has one working building and is secure, hence the site being kept in good condition.

[pyrotechnist]

Its a shame the other buildings are being left to rot though they are in reasonable condition and at least better than Wells which was truly abandoned.

[exat808]

pyrotechnist - I have trawled most of my docs at home and in the office and sadly cant find any photos or plans of site layouts at any of the Brocks sites ( Surrey, Swaffham or Sanquar). The reports of HM Chief Insp of Explosives detail accidents and incidents of note. Brocks must have been a safe employer as there are very few listings for them in the years that I have ( 1879 1881 1889 1896 1911 and 1922). From a pure nostalgia point of view I just love handling and reading documents over 100yrs old - they provide so much insight into the world of explosives in the UK at the time. I particularly like the desciptions of some of the firework products " jewel in the crown" "jack o'the lantern" "wheel of fortune" etc.

[crystal palace fireworks]

pyrotechnist - I have trawled most of my docs at home and in the office and sadly cant find any photos or plans of site layouts at any of the Brocks sites ( Surrey, Swaffham or Sanquar). The reports of HM Chief Insp of Explosives detail accidents and incidents of note. Brocks must have been a safe employer as there are very few listings for them in the years that I have ( 1879 1881 1889 1896 1911 and 1922). From a pure nostalgia point of view I just love handling and reading documents over 100yrs old - they provide so much insight into the world of explosives in the UK at the time. I particularly like the desciptions of some of the firework products " jewel in the crown" "jack o'the lantern" "wheel of fortune" etc.

Hi exat808,

Thanks for trying to find them for us, its a real shame, but it would have been really interesting.

Question; Do you know if or where these records are kept? could the `HM Chief of Explosives` (accident & incidents reports) documents be deposited at the Nation Archives in Richmond? It would be really interesting if we could find out if they still exist!

[exat808]

Hi exat808,

Thanks for trying to find them for us, its a real shame, but it would have been really interesting.

Question; Do you know if or where these records are kept? could the `HM Chief of Explosives` (accident & incidents reports) documents be deposited at the Nation Archives in Richmond? It would be really interesting if we could find out if they still exist!

Hi, the records will probably be in the public archives. I have purchased mine over the years as part of a collection of explosive related items and documents. Some of specialist on-line booksellers usually have copies of theyearly reports and also the more detailed reports on individual accidents.
For example a copy of the 2nd Annual Report available at Abe books uk - here http://www.abebooks....osion%26sts%3Dt

Edited by exat808, 29 June 2010 - 07:47 PM.

[spectrum]

I would be happy to share my experiences of some of these sites:

Brocks.

Visited three or four times over the past 2 - 3 years, it is just as described in previous posts, mothballed / forgotten, a real time capsule in places, simply derelict in others.

The factory was established on the site of a former colliery, Gateshead Colliery (from memory).

The original site is on the eastern side of the road heading north out of Sanquhar, about a mile out of town. This site has the original buildings associated with the coal mine, the baths, offices and a couple of which cottages presumably housed the pit security personnel. They were converted into offices for the company and the main building became an amorce production line. In later years this became the main offices.

The site is built on a slight incline, the buildings I mention are towards the top of the hill, a few hundred yards beck from the road, closer to the road are the remains of the technical department and in the mid-ground one or two old magazines.

The place is a complete shell. When I visited there were one or two old bits remaining, the original "Explosives Act" sign for Brocks Fireworks and the General Rules were on a board on the floor of the magazine. All the windows were broken and pigeons had taken the place over.

The new factory was built on the western side of the road, this is a much larger site, has a 1950's look about it, white blockwork buildings scatterred all about, the grass is kept short and the whole place is built along the lines of the traditional factory. Only one building seems to be in regular use and they make other products there, I won't disclose the nature of their work for legal reasons.

I have pictures, took loads, will try and find them.

I had business in Sanquhar, hence the visit, but my connection with the place goes back to my first job at Astra in Kent. The guys who bought Astra were all ex-Brocks. I have met many impressive people in my life but these guys were, in my opinion, the most inspirational, wonderful bunch you could ever meet. Some are still involved in the business - Martin Guest and John Park are amongst the most experienced firework people you will ever meet, Christopher Gumbley now works in defence. I am still in touch with all three and very priviledged to be so. - I have digressed a bit......anyhow, visiting the place a while back, travelled up the night before, popped into the town for a beer or two and whilst in a quiet bar, announced my reasons for being there to the barman. A moment later an elderly gentleman appeared alongside me and informed me that he worked at the site for twenty years and knew it like the back of his hand. We agreed to meet the following morning at 8.00 at the factory gate for a factory tour and history lesson. I spent 5 hours walking around with him (with the managers permission) and was given the rundown on every single building on both sites and on the site before it was built. Was offerred a job there years ago but the money was not too good and the surroundings less than cheerful. Nonetheless it is a place to behold.

Astra

Worked there from 1983 to 1988/89. A really lovely factory and an absobulte crime for it to have disappeared.

There is another post going about starting up a factory today - when they shut Astra down they decided to prolong the demise by taking on odd jobs to use up the chemicals and tubes etc. they couldn't readily sell off, by the time they cleared the stocks of raw materials they had accumulated unwittingly 6 months advance orders, a friend of mine who was still on site sorting out the closure told me the phone didn't stop ringing and they could have just kept going and going, but these are different times now and the chinese situation wasn't such a threat then.

The place had not changed since its birth in places when I joined, old fashioned processes, buildings, fireworks, labels and workers! (proper old bags and grumpy old men working their socks off). Bags of memorabilia all around the place, tonnes skipped when the company changed label designs in the mid 80's.

The factory became a victim of the companies success unfortunately and a following a series of acquisitions in the course of expansion was closed down in 1990. Again I have some photographs - to my shame no-where near enough - which will be up-loaded.

Unwins

One such acquisition was Unwins, better known to the forum as Wells. The older members of staff at Astra still referred to the place as the old Joseph Wells place. I think I have already gone into some detail on this site previously and won't bother repeating it. The reason for the company purchasing the place was that we were involved by now in mortar ammunition and other projects which demanded increased safety distances. Dartford provided that, in particular with regards to magazines. Those of you who have been on site will possibly have seen the magazines at the bottom end, beyond this lies the Thames at Long Reach, and between these places nothing.

Alas, the company in the meantime bought BMARCo at Grantham and Faldingworth and in my opinion Dartford became a bit of a white elephant. We never really did a great deal there other than the jobs we would want to accomodate down at Sandwich, C.S. smokes etc.

The place was decommissioned at around the same time as Sandwich, maybe slightly late, I cannot remember really. I did call in once - it was around the time we were setting up Spectrum and I bought up some of the chemicals and a set of scales. The same personnel were involved in the clearance there as at Sandwich, men I had worked with. I didn't realise the significance of what was going on, the place was always a bit scruffy and run down and so the closure didn't seem that dramatic.

I did ask if they found any memorabilia but they didn't, it had been cleared out long before, I was given the name of the man who took it all but he is dead now - I never got to talk to him about it. I know the laboratory was taken by Haley and Weller, Colonel John Kent ran the place (they were also owned by Astra and although we had connections and visited in the course of our work I never worked there), as soon as he saw the Lab he declared that he wanted it and off it went. I presume it is installed there.

Unwins was small but industrious, the workforce featured a higher proportion of pretty girls than Astra (some would argue this was not a difficult thing to achieve) but it always seemd happy and carefree there, maybe because the sun always seemed to be shining during my visits and perhaps because I was there in a different capacity to those grafting away in the sheds.

There were natural differences in the way things were done there and these were explained to me whenever I was on site, at Astra we had men wheeling barrows around to deliver chemicals and other supplies from bay to bay called servicers, at Unwins they had telephones outside every shed - whether they all still worked or not was a different matter as the place was very tired and the electrics shagged.

The company installed a second acquisition on site, a company called OFS I believe, they were involved in security from memory and occupied a big well set out building on the left hand side towards the canteen.

I really will try and get the photographs together. As for public records the HSE tell me they shred everything.