I had wanted to visit nobel explosives for ages now, its only a short drive from the girlfriends and I had never been. So whilst up there she had to work so I decided to have a day there myself as she had been to the power station before. So I was up early, made some sandwiches and I was off. It was the power station I wanted to see originally, but as I delved further in I started realising there is so much to see here other than the station. Everyone who goes makes a beeline for the power station, and its understandable. But I wanted to see more, so I got the power station done first then headed off in search of what else I could find. This place had got a bit of a hold on me, well it actually become an obsession for me. I had spent hours looking at maps pinpointing all the bits in the woods looking at old photos, looking at videos and old reports. Inspired by Ben Cooper who done lots of work about ten years ago documenting the site. Lots have been demolished since his early reports but still lots to see. So I found the woods were I was going to find stuff, well no amount of studying can prepare you for the scale of the place, it spreads all over the place. Having to fight through bushes and trees and gorse, sand dunes and loads of barren paths I started to find things. Nine hours later with aching feet and cut to shreds by all the overgrowth I was back in my car happy with what I had seen. I have no idea what a lot of the stuff here was used for but it was so interesting..Nobel works was set up in Ayrshire in Ardeer in 1870 by the founder Alfred Nobel, it was not actually him who raised the funds for the works but two local men who raised the 24,000 pounds needed. It specialised in dynamite for quarry and mining work, later for military and civilian use. It later merged with the newly formed ICI, the company offered good terms and conditions compared to many other companies. But it was dangerous work, with many accidents over the years and lots of fatalities. The site at its peak employed 13,000 people and had a dentist and bank and travel agent, also its own train station and buses. With a massive change in work and production being moved elsewhere lots of the site became derelict, ICI Nobel still exist there as a company but on a smaller scale. It was said that the Ardeer works was the bane of the German airforce and when you wander around you can see why. Massive sand dunes and hills and woods hiding everything and large buildings with gorse and and other plants grown on top to disguise them. There is so much history online if people want to divulge more like I did. I find it ironic that Alfred Nobel was the founder of the Nobel peace y, but created such destructive things capable of killing a lot of people. He said himself "My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand conventions. As soon as men will find that in one instant, whole armies can be destroyed, they shall abide by golden peace"
First up is the safety fuse testing building.
Lots of the original lights still ha g up which is nice.
A small block a short walk away from the fuse testing building.
The fertilizer works. The fertilizer was a big ingredient in explosives.
The testing labs. These are the most heavily trashed as easy to get too along with the power station.
Here the testing and development of explosives took place. With rooms with viewing slits for observation. And high speed cameras were used in here to film the explosions in slow motion.
Test mortar pendulum.
Continued..
First up is the safety fuse testing building.
Lots of the original lights still ha g up which is nice.
A small block a short walk away from the fuse testing building.
The fertilizer works. The fertilizer was a big ingredient in explosives.
The testing labs. These are the most heavily trashed as easy to get too along with the power station.
Here the testing and development of explosives took place. With rooms with viewing slits for observation. And high speed cameras were used in here to film the explosions in slow motion.
Test mortar pendulum.
Continued..
