Friday Facts & Fotos 5 26 August ’22
Boat building
During WW2 Newport workshops staff increased to around 7000 (of which 35% were women). From 1939 to 1945 the workshops produced 1,500 Bren gun carriers, Beaufort bomber fuselages, ambulances, surgical tools, munitions, 3’6″ gauge rolling stock, and ship hulls. After the war, the focus was on catching up on the huge backlog of deferred maintenance and new rolling stock and locomotive production.
Little evidence remains of this wartime activity as the workshops reverted to peacetime activity. However, the doorway on 4 road in west block is clear evidence of the ship building that went on there. Early photos of the front of west block, show the arched doorways identical right across the front. The construction of ship hulls required the whole front of 4 road to be reconstructed to allow the completed hulls to be removed from the building. The windows each side were narrowed and bricked up, and the round window above the door removed.
The photos show hulls under construction in 4 road, and the delicate job of removing them out the front door. (photos PROV) Compare the difference between 4 & 5 roads in the recent photo below.
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