Arfau - Munitions - Pembrey Country Park, Carmarthenshire, Wales.
N 51° 40.869 W 004° 18.418
30U E 409641 N 5726384
Pembrey Country Park, was once synonymous with munitions. Sand dunes & forest were turned into a massive ordinance factory, employing thousands of people. The park is now returned to its natural beauty. Located near Llanelli, South Wales.
Waymark Code: WMVH7Z
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/19/2017
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Arfau - Munitions - Pembrey Country Park
Pembrey Country Park was opened in 1980. The park wasn't always the magnificent parkland you visit today, previously it was the site of several ordinance factory's. The isolated sand dunes of Pembrey Burrows provided the ideal conditions for the dangerous occupation of the manufacture of explosives.
The sand dunes not only provided an effective screen but also minimised any possible damage in the event of an explosion.
It is hardly surprising therefore, that the area attracted the producers of gun powder as early as 1882. Dynamite & TNT were produced later when the factory was known as the National Explosive Factory, Royal Ordinance Factory & later The Nobel Explosive Company, at its peak there were 6,000 people employed, mostly Women.
"It was however, 1914 before the Royal Ordnance Factory became developed on a large scale. By 1914 the Nobel Explosive Company Ltd of Glasgow, who originally intended to produce industrial explosives, agreed with the Secretary of State for War to erect and manage a Trinitrotoluene (TNT) factory at Pembrey. It was agreed that the state should bear the entire cost of the plant, which would then remain Government property after the war, with Messrs Nobel being retained as agents for administration.
Pembrey was in fact one of over 200 factories producing munitions that sprang up during the First World War. In common with most, it was run down rapidly as soon as the war ended, eventually closing in the 1920s. During the 1930s the Central Administration building was used as a convalescent home and rehabilitation centre for the children of unemployed miners. As the Second World War approached the factory was re-opened and largely rebuilt under the name of the 'Royal Ordnance Factory'." Text Source: (
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