TONDU - South Wales - Observation Bunker

I have a reference that Tondu House (demolished in 1963) near Bridgend, Glamorgan was commandeered in 1940 by the Ministry of Supply for the Pyrotechnic Research Department (PRD) evacuated from Woolwich, London.

The PRD were involved in trialling various air-dropped pyrotechnics such as Flares used for 'pathfinding' but more importantly tested the effectiveness of air-dropped Incendiary Bombs of various weights.

The test area was in open fields adjacent to Tondu House Farm here:

A 'bunker' was used as an observation post and bombs were fired from a mortar to plunge down onto purpose built structures including houses to simulate German and Japanese dwellings.

This, as far as I can ascertain, is the 'bunker':

wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm?lat=5...7327&gz=20&oz=8>=1

Hello there,

I lived in Coytrahen for 27 years, which is around half a mile from the farm that now sits on the site of the demolished Tondu House, and I spent much of my childhood playing in Cildaudy woods around there. In the woods 100 yards to the north of the farm there is a concrete shelter with observation "slits" cut into iron shields, facing north west. As kids we never understood what the shelter was, it looks like a concrete bus shelter to be honest. Only in recent years have I found out what the shelter was, and the significance of Tondu House to the war effort. I was amazed to find out about it's WW2 history. I now live in Bryncethin and I may take a walk up there maybe tomorrow (weather permitting) and take a load of photographs, and post them on here. There are other WW2 buildings around there so I will take some photos of them also. If I remember correctly all that remained of Tondu House were the 2 main gate hinge pillars standing alone, I hope they still stand there.

regards
Chris

Thanks Martin and Chrisj; I look forward to your photographs.

I managed to get up to there today and took the following photographs:

1. Observation shelter in wooded area not far from fields:



2.



3. There used to be the framework for a steel bench inside but it's long gone:



4.



5.



6.



7. All that remains of Tondu House, the main gate hinge pillars:



8.



9. Some sort of underground bunker that the local kids have turned into a camp



Chris

Some more:

10. This is the "bunker" that PETERTHEEATER is referring to:



11.



12.



13.



14.



15.



Chris

Nice cover Chris, thanks. Is the 'line' of buildings -now in the wood - to the west of the OP?

The line of buildings is about 100 yards or so to the south-west of the concrete OP. The following image shows where each building is.

Red - OP
Blue - line of buildings
Orange - the bunker you were referring to
Brown - bunker of some sort as per photo 9 above
Yellow - the main gate pillars



Chris

Thanks for filling out a family history. My father worked at Tondu during the war, though never mentioned details. Strange family story now makes sense - he drove a lorry of 'explosives' to a testing area, only to be told that it was lucky he hadn't hit any bumps because they were all armed. Also explains his unusual knowledge of soild fuel rocketry - controlled combustion.