I grew up near the factory, without knowing what was made there. The Ordnance Survey maps at the time showed the area as it was before the factory existed, and weren't updated until after it closed. Later I learned that they made cordite (propellant for bullets) there.
Although trespass in Great Britain isn't usually a crime (in England and Wales it's a tort, and in Scotland in most cases it's a right under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code), there are certain exceptions, one of which might have applied to the ROF at the time Ben visited it: places used to store explosives. Ben was charged, but the Procurator Fiscal dropped all charges.
> BAE Systems and Redrow Homes now have a plan – they want to clean up this entire massive site, and build a housing estate. This is receiving a lot of local opposition, not least because the preferred method of cleaning up 2000+ buildings full of explosve residue is by burning them.
They seem to have got the go-ahead to build houses, judging from the number of houses that appear on Google Maps satellite images dated 2020 but not on streetview images dated 2012 [1]
There's various warnings coming out from residents and neighbours already, such as terms of home purchase including being prohibited from growing food for consumption for the next ten years, being prohibited from digging more than a certain depth down, etc
You drive down a typical Scottish new build street, with modern homes on one side, and 2 meter high fences with 'Danger, keep out" on the other side.
But neighbouring Bishopton is an extremely sought after dormitory village, and Dargavel is built with that in mind.
The cellulose pulp tanks were made by Bertrams. They were in Edinburgh and I walked past their boiler making metalworks factory in Sciennes Rd (Marchmont) going to school in the sixties before it closed. It's flats now.
Ben Cooper is held in very high regard among urban explorers. His original report is at https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/military-sites/10983-r...
Although trespass in Great Britain isn't usually a crime (in England and Wales it's a tort, and in Scotland in most cases it's a right under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code), there are certain exceptions, one of which might have applied to the ROF at the time Ben visited it: places used to store explosives. Ben was charged, but the Procurator Fiscal dropped all charges.