Talk:ROF Chorley

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I've read conflicting reports - Chorley WAS the biggest RO wasnt it?! (nice work Pyro by the way!) --PopUpPirate 00:39, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments. I plan to at least double the current copy, but am short of time for the next few weeks (exams!!!). Depends on how you measure "biggest". ROF Bishopton, a WW II three-unit explosive ROF, had the largest amount of land inside the security fence, approx 2,500 acres compaired with ROF Chorley's 1000 acres. ROF Chorley and ROF Bridgend, both WW II Filling Factories, were fairly comparable in size and were much larger than the other WW II Filling Factories (and possibly ROF Swynnerton). They had roughly the same amount of employees and I think comparable numbers of buildings. ROF Chorley, possibly was the largest by employees and number of buildings, plus it survived thru to privatisation; and it claims to be so (but so does Bridgend, which also had "satellite sites"). The Royal Arsenal, in WW I, which also has claims as the first Royal Ordnance Factory was larger by both size and no of employees.Pyrotec 11:51, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I've seen peak employment figures of 30,000 to 40,000 and 35,000 mentioned, rather than your 28,000, which would tend to substantiate the claim of "biggest", by number of employees - this would have been on a three-shift system. Pyrotec 16:02, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Heapey

The factory has a storage depot built deep into the Pennine hills over Chorley in the village of Heapey the facility is still used today although its except usage details are kept top secret

"Top secret" sounds a bit melodramatic. I presume there are signs outside the site identifying the ownership by BAE. It has been use for probably sixty years. It is fairly obvious what it is used for though you would not expect an inventory to be published. --jmb 11:29, 1 February 2007 (UTC)