Explosives magazine — Glentress Camp
Image courtesy of Ruth Robertson which shows one of the two remaining buildings from the original camp site. The camp was built around 1934 as an employment training facility for the unemployed by the then Ministry of Labour and also served as a army training camp, possible Displaced Person camp, and as a Forester Training Camp from 1946. After 1953 the buildings were used as Glentress Forest buildings, the old huts being pulled down and replaced in most cases.
This magazine may have been used to house the explosives used by the training personnel in the mid 1930s when the unemployed ‘trainees’ were working on building the forest roads in Glentress Forest. It could have been built a little later but certainly visible in the 1947 aerial photographs. See attached PDF for more images.
Can anyone remember it being there before the war and when it was used last?
The building has two compartments, the large one for the gelignite and the smaller one for the detonators. The wood lining was possibly a belt and braces approach to limiting any potential sparks.
The rubbish was removed shortly after this photograph was taken and the openings sealed off.
Groups: Buildings in Forests, Forestry Areas