Manufacturing Munitions at Pembrey during the Two World Wars

Alice Pyper

‘The factory is built on the Burrows (ie sandhills), the most INTRODUCTION desolate spot in the worl d… factory sheds are built with a large mound of sand all round them, and are entered by a small The majority of the site is now located within Pembrey tunnel though the mound. In this way the sheds are quite Country Park, which is owned and managed by invisible from outside, and the place looks more like a gigantic County Council. A substantial part of rabbit warren than anything else.’ the factory dating from the First World War also lies within Gabrielle West, 1917. 1 Pembrey Forest, which is managed by Natural Resources . The primary aim of the project was to understand the The Pembrey Burrows must have seemed like an ideal impact of the First World War munitions industry and location for a dangerous industry; the land was sparsely identify surviving archaeology from this period; however in populated, though well connected by the mainline railway, doing so it was particularly important to grasp the effects and the treeless, open sand dunes could be easily of its subsequent reuse in the Second World War and later . landscaped to provide blast protection. In addition a Documentary research was undertaken at supply of labour was close at hand; as well as the local Archives, the West Archives, Library villages of Pembrey and , the major towns of and Local Studies department, the National Archives at Llanelli and Carmarthen lay within easy reach and Kew and the Imperial War Museum. was only a short distance by train. Key plans of the site were located at the National The factory referred to by Gabrielle West was that built Archives, principally the c.1917 Block Plan of Plant and by Nobel’s Company Ltd in 1914, which the R.O.F. Pembrey , Layout of Factory .4 These plans were covered around 771 acres of Pembrey Burrows to supply compared to the modern Ordnance Survey 5 to highlight munitions for the First World War .2 Recent research into how the site was laid out during different phases of use. the munitions industry of Pembrey has explored the site to LiDAR 6 data provided an image of the ground surface ga in a better understanding of what survives from this stripped of vegetation and also highlighted areas of period. The project was carried out as part of a Cadw- surviving earthworks. Aerial photographs were assessed funded programme to investigate , record and assess the from those taken in the 1940 s to modern satellite imagery .7 archaeological legacy of the First World War in southwest Areas of high archaeological potential were identified Wales. The Heritage Lottery Fund also funded an and prioritised for fieldwork which was carried out with interpretative leaflet of the site, a series of pop-up exhibition local volunteers in September and November of 2015 . panels, educational resources, and enabled students from Recording included taking digital photographs of Glan y mor Secondary School in Burry Port to carry out features with a scale, and a customised recording sheet course work as part of their GCSEs on the archaeolo gy of was developed for volunteers to record archaeological the site .3 features.

The Carmarthenshire Antiquary Vol. 53 2017 116 The Carmarthenshire Antiquary Vol. 53 2017

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND in order to offer little resistance to an explosion but they were placed 70 yards apart with a high mound of sand in THE DYNAMITE WORKS between .9 The company was licensed to store 144 pounds of dynamite – however, it was alleged in Parliamentary The earliest factory on the site was built in the