ROF Thorp Arch was one of sixteen

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

-owned Royal Ordnance Factory, which produced munitions by "filling" them. It was a medium-sized

filling factory A filling factory was a manufacturing plant that specialised in filling various munitions, such as bombs, shells, cartridges, pyrotechnics, and screening smokes. In the United Kingdom, during both world wars of the 20th century, the majority of ...

(Filling Factory No. 9). It was located on the banks of the

River Wharfe The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale. ...

, north-east of the two villages of

Boston Spa Boston Spa is a Village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Situated south of Wetherby, Boston Spa is on the south bank of the River Wharfe which separates it from Thorp Arch. According to ...

and Thorp Arch; and four miles south-east of the town of

Wetherby Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Design and production

War time

The Royal Ordnance Factory was constructed for the Ministry of Supply, with the Ministry of Works acting as agents. The site was connected to the London & North Eastern Railway line, which was used in its construction and then for supplying raw materials to the factory and for transporting away filled munitions. Construction work on Thorp Arch began on 18 May 1940 and the completion date was scheduled for the end of July 1941. The site was divided into a number of separate Filling Groups which occupied different areas of the site and were devoted to filling specific type of ammunition. It produced munitions for both the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. It is believed to have had 619 buildings. In the Second World War it produced light gun ammunition, medium gun ammunition, heavy ammunition,

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

s and trench mortar ammunition for the Army; medium and large bombs for the RAF; and, 20 mm and other small arms ammunition for all three services. Some of these were produced in quantities measured in millions and hundreds of millions of items.

Post-war

ROF Thorp Arch closed down twice: firstly, after the end of the Second World War; and then finally, in April 1958 four years after the end of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, as a result of planned cuts in the British Army published in the

1957 Defence White Paper The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd. 124) was a British white paper issued in March 1957 setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected w ...

Current use

Part of the site is now in use as the

Thorp Arch Trading Estate Thorp Arch Trading Estate is a trading estate, with both industrial and retail space, south-east of Wetherby in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. The estate occupies the major part of the site of a former Ro ...

. Other parts are used to house the Northern Reading Room, Northern Listening Service and Document Supply Centre of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. Another part is a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

, originally HMP Thorp Arch, now

HMP Wealstun HM Prison Wealstun is a Category C men's prison, located near the village of Thorp Arch in West Yorkshire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History Wealstun Prison was formed from the almagamation of HMP Thorp ...

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

* The ROF site has been described in detail in two articles by Mike Christensen, illustrated with official photographs taken whilst it was still open.
Location MapAerial viewThorp Arch Trading Estate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorp Arch Filling factories Royal Ordnance Factories in England