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Archaeological Evaluation
Date 25 November 1996 - 9 December 1996
Event ID 1001411
Category Recording
Type Archaeological Evaluation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1001411
NS 466 349 A field and desk study of the WWII munitions factory at Bowhouse (constructed 1939) produced a wealth of information on the site and its workings.
The desk study, using both written and oral sources, allowed a detailed history of the site to be compiled. Particular emphasis was given to the incendiary bomb production phase, as Bowhouse was one of only two such production centres in the British Isles during WWII.
Site description
The factory covers an area of c.1km by 400m. The W part of the site contains the administration buildings, incorporating an 18th-century farmhouse. Skirting the N perimeter are the loading and unloading warehouses. The bulk of the site contains heavily fortified production buildings and packing houses, turfed over for camouflage purposes, each with its own blast bank and air-raid shelters. The whole complex was served by an internal railway system, linking to the main Kilmarnock to Carlisle railway line, which passes close by the site.
Site phasing
1 The period of bomb construction, 1939-45.
1a The addition of buildings to the E end of the site, c 1941.
2 Use of the site as a bomb dismantling site, 1950s.
3 Use of the site as a depot, 1950s-1968.
4 Subsequent non-military uses (horse and greyhound stables, small workshops), 1969-present.
Fuller report lodged with the NMRS (MS/725/146)
Sponsor: Scottish Prison Services.
K Speller and C French 1997
