My gran and Britain's wartime secrets

Gran grew up in Billingham in the North East, and like most of the family there went to work for ICI, who operated a large chemical plant near the Tees river (they still do). During the war, we knew that quite suddenly she moved away and went to work as a cook and housemaid in a large house near Mold, North Wales.

She never talked much about what she was doing so far from home and family, why she'd moved what was for the time a considerable distance, or what made her change jobs so dramatically, and it was a mystery she kept to herself until she died. All we knew was that the house she worked in housed some scientists, who it seemed were working on a secret project at a weapons factory or store in a nearby village.

Perhaps Gran knew more but wouldn't (or couldn't?) say. Perhaps she simply didn't know at all.

She did once tell us the name of the house she worked in - 'Maes Alyn'. Several years ago my parents took her to Mold to try to find it, and even after 50 years Gran took them straight there. Not only did they see the house from the outside, but they got chatting to the present-day owner and were invited in to look around. Gran was even able to describe a marble floor which had since been covered over in one of the rooms. The picture shows Gran at the gates to Maes Alyn in the year 2000.

Searching on Google for Maes Alyn hasn't ever found nothing of note, until recently, when Google found a hit in a newly published book called "The X Site - Britain's Most Mysterious Government Facility" by Tim Jones. In the book, Jones described Maes Alyn and explains that scientists were brought there from ICI in Billingham to work in a munitions factory at nearby Rhydymwyn. Maes Alyn was also used for other scientists from Oxford and Cambridge and from the Ministry of Defence, and a team of housemaids and cooks were brought in from Billingham to run the house. The scientists were there to conduct research into chemical and atomic weapons, so it isn't surprising it was kept secret.

The BBC have recently published some information about Rhydymwyn, which contains a public information film shot at Rhydymwyn, though at the time it's location wasn't revealed - click this link for more details.

Having expressed an interest in seeing the area for myself, we headed down to Mold to find Maes Alyn and see what was left of Rhydymwyn for ourselves. Without intruding, we stopped briefly outside the house to take in the countryside, then found the nearby village of Rhosesmor, where Gran had told us they went to socialise at the weekends. The village hall Gran described was still there after all this time.

Heading back to the main road, we then continued to Rhydymwyn to find the site of the munitions factory. The site was built on land behind the Antelope pub, a pub that amazingly Carole and I had visited for a meal on the way back from Ireland just last year. The site is quite overgrown now and although there are guided tours, they are unfortunately only by appointment.

From speaking to the locals, they know there are still large quantities of chemicals stored underground in large canisters, but they are seeingly quite safe whilst they remain undisturbed, problems would only arise if an attempt is made to move them.

A fascinating story which is only starting to become unravelled as these wartime secrets are being revealed.