page_title: RNAD Trecwn
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: RNAD Trecwn / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Mysterious valley Pre-WW2 maps shows this as a deciduous wooded valley and the ruined dwelling from which this picture was taken must have had a beautiful view. However a Royal Naval Armaments Depot was established at Trecwn in 1938 since when the valley has been a no-go area, shrouded by dark conifer plantations and guarded with a high fence and other security devices. Tunnels were bored into the steep valley sides for ammunition storage and the depot was supplied by its own branch railway line. In the 1990's plans to store nuclear waste in the underground facilities were fiercely opposed by the local community but the valley remains closed and, to date, serves no useful purpose.
context_page_description: RNAD Trecwn is a decommissioned Royal Navy Armaments Depot, south of Fishguard in the village of Trecwn, Pembrokeshire, West Wales.
  Built in 1938 to store and supply naval mines and munitions ordance to the Royal Navy, at its height during the cold war 400 permanent workers were deployed at the site, housed in an MoD built town infrastructure. The site had an on-site, 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge railway, built using copper to reduce sparks. The weapons were both delivered to the site and then distributed using standard gauge rail to Fishguard, Neyland for Milford Haven, and latterly Pembroke Dock.
  Decommissioned in 1992, all 58 cavern storage bunkers and the extensive above ground network of storage sheds and other military buildings remain in place. Ownership of the site was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to Anglo-Irish consortium Omega Pacific in 1998, and then by court order to the Manhattan Loft Corporation in 2002. The site is being redeveloped as an industrial park.
context_section_description: Located on the former North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Fishguard, construction was commenced in 1938. Its location allowed supply of naval mines and munitions via rail from the West Wales Lines Fishguard branch, and distribution via a series of local deep sea ports, including Fishguard harbour and Neyland for Milford Haven.
  As with all munitions depots, safety and particularly planning for explosion prevention and firefighting was a major priority at the depot. The site used a specific design of 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge for on-site distribution to minimise manual handling. For fire fighting two reservoirs are built into the hillside on opposite sides of the valley to supply high-pressure water to the onsite fire hydrants, which are located both within each of the 58 storage chambers and alongside each surface building.
  Due to its scale and location, the MoD built a whole new infrastructure around the existing village to support the depot, with workers transported in, due to the remote location. This included three separate housing estates (still occupied today), and a waste water treatment plant. Nearby Barham Memorial School (built in 1877 with funding from the Barham family, and a Grade II listed building), closed in 2001 due to falling registers after the RNAD closed.
caption: View north towards the Trecwn valley, showing the highly protected nature of the site
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix F10", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix F10     Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2007:04:01 14:30:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "294", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1306", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8508", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:04:01 14:30:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:04:01 14:30:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "83/10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "889/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2848", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2136", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1158", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}