The Adam Park Project

Item Information:

Catalogue Number: 15/10/14 Source: TAPP Archaeology Surveys Location: No15 Adam Park Report No: Report No.14 Artifact Type: Shell Fragment Production Date: 2012-07-11 00:00:00 Dimensions of Item: 75mm x 45mm Copyright with The Adam Park Project

Other Description:

Item 15/10/14 found in the back garden of No. 15 Adam Park during the prospecting survey was the largest piece to be found on site. Meausuring 75mm in length and 45mm in width it weighed in at 197g. Distinctive markings and machining were noted. Along the top edge there was a series of vertical ridges 11mm wide. A second band of machined cross hatching, 10.5mm thick, started 26.5mm further down the body. An indentation just below the second band appeared to be the aperture that would take the prongs of a locking key. A second indentation along the edge of the piece went all the way through the piece some 15.8mm. This is most likely an exhaust hole for the fuse. The external bottom edge of the piece was inscribed with a number of characters 3.5mm in height. They read from left to right ‘RC’, ‘40’ and ‘GY3.4’. The latter inscription was offline and somewhat raised in comparison to the proceeding two inscriptions

Historic Context:

Most likely the number ‘40’ refers to the date of manufacture. This would also infer the ‘RC’ is reference to the place of manufacture, possibly the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) at Chorley, Lancashire. This new factory employed over 1,000 production workers by the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939. By June 1940, the numbers employed there had risen to nearly 15,000. At its war-time peak, ROF Chorley had over 28,000 employees – a staggering figure at a time when there were only around a dozen factories in the whole of Britain with a workforce each of more than 19,000 people (four of these being the Royal Arsenal, ROF Bishopton, ROF Chorley and ROF Bridgend). ROF Chorley was the site where the bouncing bombs, designed by Barnes Wallis and famed for the Dambusters Raid, were filled. The GY3.4 annotation is yet to be deciphered but may be reference to the type or amount of explosives in the shell.