M. S. Factory, Valley
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The M.S. ( Ministry of Supply) Factory, Valley was a
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
site in
Rhydymwyn Rhydymwyn (the name in Welsh means 'Ford of the Ore' and takes its placename from the ford across the River Alyn now replaced by a small iron bridge) is a village in Flintshire, Wales, located in the upper Alyn valley. Once a district of Mold, i ...
,
Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
, Wales, that was used for the storage and production of mustard gas. It was later also used in the development of the UK's atomic bomb project. More recently, it became a bulk storage depot for emergency supplies.


Site history

The site occupies around 35 hectares of the Alyn Valley, to the south of the village of Rhydymwyn (centred on SJ 205 668). Once part of the extensive Gwysaney Estate, the Parish of Rhydymwyn was established in 1865. Lead mining in the area is known to have been extensive, and a foundry associated with nearby mines is depicted on several early maps for the area. Following the closure of the foundry land use on the site was largely agricultural in character. However, in 1939 the land was purchased by the Ministry of Supply and developed as a purpose built
chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
factory and storage facility. Over 100 specialised buildings were constructed across the site, linked by an extensive rail network established around a spur off the Chester to Denbigh mainline. Other major landscaping undertaken at this time included the canalisation and culverting of the
River Alyn The River Alyn ( cy, Afon Alun) is a tributary of the River Dee, in north-east Wales. The River Alyn rises at the southern end of the Clwydian hills and the Alyn Valley forms part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding N ...
, and the excavation of a complex of interlinked subterranean, rock-cut tunnels and caverns. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the plant produced ordnance containing mustard gas, and was associated with the development of the Atom Bomb. In the immediate Post-War period the site was used to store German nerve gas, and it was not until the 1950s when Britain relinquished its
chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
(CW) capability that the site as a chemical storage facility was defunct. However, the site remains on the international Chemical Weapons List, and is still monitored as such. From the mid-1960s the site was used by various governmental departments, its major function being a buffer storage depot to supply emergency rations and foodstuffs, and associated facilities such as mobile bakeries and canteens. In 1994 the site was closed, and a programme of demolition was undertaken. This involved the dropping of buildings onto their footprints, and the rubble being mounded over with topsoil. Several major structures, and many ancillary buildings, still survive across the site. The surviving buildings are a reminder of a huge building programme that changed the face of Britain forever and the site remains as unique today as it was at its inception.The Valley Site, Rhydymwyn, Flintshire: Historic Environment Management Plan, Peter Bone, Steve Litherland and Kirsty Nichol, Birmingham Archaeology


Chemical weapons programme

In the late 1930s the Chamberlain Government planned that the United Kingdom should be in a position at the beginning of any war to retaliate in kind if the Germans, as expected, used mustard gas. In April/June 1939 the Alyn Valley was surveyed by the Department of Industrial Planning on behalf of the Ministry of Supply (MoS), and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) who were tasked with managing this programme. The
Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...
approved the sum of £546,000 for initial work on 27 August 1939, and work began in October 1939 on the storage tunnels in the
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
hillside, in the Alyn valley close to
Rhydymwyn Rhydymwyn (the name in Welsh means 'Ford of the Ore' and takes its placename from the ford across the River Alyn now replaced by a small iron bridge) is a village in Flintshire, Wales, located in the upper Alyn valley. Once a district of Mold, i ...
. The factory, to be called M.S. Factory, Valley, opened in 1941. The government authorised the expenditure of £3,161,671 and ICI's construction fee was £80,000.Reader (1975), Table 22, p.276. Production was intended of both Runcol and Pyro variants of mustard; records reveal that only the purer and more stable Runcol was made in bulk. In 1940–1959, it was involved in either the manufacturing, assembly or storage of chemical weapons, or mustard gas in bulk containers. During 1947–1959 the tunnel complex held the majority of the country's stock of mustard gas. Research has shown that whilst the attrition rate of certain building types has been quite high across the site, there is no other CW production, storage and assembly site surviving within the UK in such a complete and readily understandable state. This makes the Valley Site as a whole a place of national significance, but of particular rarity and importance are the surviving production buildings, which are, as far as can be ascertained, unique survivals.


Nuclear weapons

On accepting the findings of the Maud Report in 1941, the government of the day needed to verify that a cost-effective atomic bomb could be manufactured. This required verification that a
gaseous diffusion Gaseous diffusion is a technology used to produce enriched uranium by forcing gaseous uranium hexafluoride (UF6) through semipermeable membranes. This produces a slight separation between the molecules containing uranium-235 (235U) and uranium-2 ...
process would work on an industrial scale to provide enough fissile material to manufacture a cost-effective and timely atomic bomb. One of the surplus Pyro buildings at Valley (P6) was adapted for the testing of apparatus for uranium isotope separation in 1942 in an early phase of the
Tube Alloys Tube Alloys was the research and development programme authorised by the United Kingdom, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. Starting before the Manhattan Project in the United States, the ...
project before this was moved to America (developing later into the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
). Four prototype gaseous diffusion plants were ordered from
Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...
, at
Trafford Park Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Manchester city centre and north of Stretford. Until the l ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, at a cost of £150,000 and installed in the P6 building at Valley.Gowing (1964), p.217. Test equipment was installed in the P6 building at Valley and experiments continued until 1945 when the equipment was moved to Didcot and Harwell. The results of the experiments led to the building of the gaseous diffusion factory at Capenhurst, Cheshire. Building P6 is now a Grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
and is of international importance; for a very brief period it was at the leading edge of nuclear physics.


Cold War storage site

During the Cold War, as a result of Great Britain's previous experiences of the
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...
during both world wars, and disruption to transport communications as a result of
aerial bombardment An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the government decided to set up a system of food and raw material stockpiles to counter the threats of a nuclear war.Cocroft (2004), pp.215–218. These stores were mostly based on the reuse of existing government-owned sites and buildings; and the former M. S. Factory, Valley was adapted to become one of these storage sites. It became a bulk storage depot for emergency supplies.


Post Cold War

The site of the Valley Works has now been returned to nature. It attracts a wide variety of wildlife and is now designated as a
nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
as outlined on a plaque at the entrance gates.


Tunnels Opened to Public

The official opening of the Rhydymwyn Tunnels took place on Saturday, 22 April 2017 when Ken Skates, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure in the Welsh Government, officially opened the tunnels for public managed access.


Statistics

* The
Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...
originally approved the sum of £546,000 for initial work on the Valley Site. * By 1943 there were c. 2,200 people working at Valley. The vast majority were directed to work there by the government and billeted with local families. * There were 5.2 million munitions manufactured in the war years many of them smoke generators which were heavily utilised from D-Day onwards. * The factory eventually cost £3.2 million and ICI received a £60,000 agency fee for its involvement. * The site covers , has of secure fencing and has always been “Secret”


The Rhydymwyn Valley Nature Reserve

M.S. Factory, Valley has not been used since the mid-1990s. In the preceding postwar period many of the buildings were still in use, mainly as a buffer storage depot, but some were demolished because they were considered dangerous. The site has become a
Nature Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
and a
Visitor Centre A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visi ...
was built on the site of the old gatehouse. The site covers to the south of the village in a U shaped valley. The site was once the home to ancient lead mines and a 19th-century metal foundry. The western side of the site is semi-ancient deciduous
woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...
with an understorey of wild garlic, snowdrops, bluebells and
orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
. The River Alyn flows in from the north-west corner of the site and follows the western side of the valley. The river originally meandered through the centre of the valley but it was diverted as part of the early construction works. The river was canalised and given steep concrete sides and a concrete base. The middle section of the river is culverted underground for two sections. The site is now home to 7 herptile species, 8 species of
fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
, 17 species of
butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...
/moth and 8 species of
bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
. 67
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
species have nested or been observed on the site.


See also

* Chemical warfare


References


Notes


Sources

* Bone, Peter; Litherland, Stephen; Nichol, Kirsty; Pearson, Nigel and Peters, Prof. Timothy (2006). ''The Valley Site, Rhydymwyn, Flintshire: Historic Environment Management Plan''. Birmingham: Birmingham Archaeology. * Cocroft, Wayne D., Thomas, Roger J. C. and Barnwell, P. S. (Editor) 003(2004). ''Cold War: Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946–1989''. Swindon:
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
. . * Gowing, Margaret, (1964). ''Britain & Atomic Energy 1939-1945''. * * McCamley, N. J. (2004). ''Disasters Underground''. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. . - Chapter 5: "Poison Gas". * Reader, W. J. (1975). ''Imperial Chemical Industries: A History'', Volume II: ''The First Quarter-Century 1926–1952''. London: Oxford University Press. . * Toler, T. I. J. (Major), (1993). "Poison gas manufacture in the UK", In: '' After the Battle'', No. 79. ISSN 0306-154X, pp. 12–33.


External links

* * * {{cite web, url=http://www.arch-ant.bham.ac.uk/bufau/projects/Wales/Rhyd/Rhydm.htm , title=Birmingham Archaeology - The Valley Site, Rhydymwyn, Flintshire, North Wales , accessdate=2008-11-26, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207195955/http://www.arch-ant.bham.ac.uk/bufau/projects/Wales/Rhyd/Rhydm.htm, archivedate=2008-02-07
Rhydymwyn Valley History Society
Established May 2008
Report of the Tunnels Opening
Daily Post Chemical warfare facilities in the United Kingdom Imperial Chemical Industries Nuclear weapons infrastructure of the United Kingdom Cadw Grade II listed buildings in Flintshire Grade II listed government buildings Military installations in Wales Government munitions production in the United Kingdom Grade II listed industrial buildings Manufacturing plants in Wales World War II sites in Wales