The buildings at Barnbow have been demolished to make way for new housing, but the names of the streets there come from a dark period in the munition factory’s history.
The factory was built during the Autumn of 1915 to supply shells to the front. Shells manufactured by the Leeds Forge Company in Armley were transferred to Barnbow via specially laid railway tracks, and the platforms at Crossgates station were extended by 800 feet to accommodate the workers being ferried to the factory from places like Castleford, Wakefield, Harrogate and York, as well as all areas of Leeds. By December 1915 production was underway.
Continue reading “Barnbow Lasses: Shells, shells and still more shells”