Barnbow

Katefleur · Post by **Katefleur** » Wed 07 Mar, 2007 2:35 pm

What can anyone tell me about the shell factory at Barnbow near Crossgates? I have had a look around the site while dog walking but not found much. Is there anywhere I should be looking?Have done abit of research into the workers but don't know much aboutt he actual factory, any help gratefully received!!

Katefleur · Post by **Katefleur** » Wed 07 Mar, 2007 4:36 pm

Here is a picture (I think)

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 07 Mar, 2007 4:42 pm

There's sure to be air raid shelters in that place somewhere still.

Leeds Lass · Post by **Leeds Lass** » Thu 08 Mar, 2007 2:09 am

My cousin worked there until it's closure. Don't know much about it, except that it made tanks for the MOD and had a test track. Not likely to find out anything more either, unfortunately, as I'm not in touch with my cousin now.

bigpants · Post by **bigpants** » Thu 08 Mar, 2007 2:52 pm

what you see at barnbow now is mostly modern and WW2. there was an earlier WW1 munitions factory slightly north and east of the current one. Im from Garforth so as kids we were always down that area on our bikes. The only definitive structure i know of from the old site is the water tank on the hill behind the old site. This is only visible if you know where to look as it is buried in the ground. It is a large concrete tank, recatangular and probably about 7 feet high in side, with columns supporting the roof. its years since ive been up there but from memory it is pretty big inside - maybe 30 or more metres square. supposedly the tank was designed for if the site either caught fire and has two big pipes exiting the tank and outletting somewhere in the site which is quite a way below. the idea being that if the valves were opened hundreds of thousands of gallons of water would flood the site at quite a rate. not sure how true this bit is but it would make sense as the tank would seem way too big to me for normal manufacturing requirements.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Thu 08 Mar, 2007 7:27 pm

MMM. Sounds interesting Big pants. I wonder if your talking about the same thing i've been looking at recently. Does the earth mound run from a farmers field & alongside 'Longs of Leeds' A bit of a distance away from Barnbow! I'll upload a google image when i get a bit more time! The place i'm thinking of is a good old size & looks promising! It's more in line with the old railway bridge on the old Wetherby line at Pendas field.

bigpants · Post by **bigpants** » Thu 08 Mar, 2007 8:24 pm

Phill_d wrote: MMM. Sounds interesting Big pants. I wonder if your talking about the same thing i've been looking at recently. Does the earth mound run from a farmers field & alongside 'Longs of Leeds' A bit of a distance away from Barnbow! I'll upload a google image when i get a bit more time! The place i'm thinking of is a good old size & looks promising! It's more in line with the old railway bridge on the old Wetherby line at Pendas field. not the same structure - the old water tank is quite a bit to the East of the current barnbow site and is in a farmers field. will have a skeg (good old word that!) on google earth and see if its visible.in the area where youre talking about - wasnt there some old earthworks - medieval type stuff???

bigpants · Post by **bigpants** » Thu 08 Mar, 2007 8:40 pm

OK, im not that good on google earth in terms of knowing how to give other people co-ordinates to a location so please let me know if ive done it wrong!barnbow water tank" lat=53.8135353971, lon=-1.41342325507ive browsed to the tank location, stuck a yellow pin in it and these are the co-ordinates as best i can tell. not much to see other than the uncultivated section of land over the square tank. i wouldnt want to drive a tractor over it either!I think the generally rough area of land to the south of the tank is the old barnbow site.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Fri 09 Mar, 2007 7:36 pm

Is it the strip of land running between Sandleas way & Chelsfield way?

bigpants · Post by **bigpants** » Fri 09 Mar, 2007 10:03 pm

Phill_d wrote: Is it the strip of land running between Sandleas way & Chelsfield way? nope, its right below the north point in the image you posted. is there a way i can get its location from google earth and post some sort of a link to the co-ordinates?