ROF Swynnerton was a Royal Ordnance Factory, more specifically a

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 ...

, located south of the village of Swynnerton in Staffordshire,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Built between 1939 and 1941, it remained operational until 1958. It is now operated by the

Defence Training Estate Defence Training Estates is an organisation within the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence. It is the operating division of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and is responsible for the management of the 78% of the defence estate allocated ...

, as Swynnerton Training Camp.

Construction

Around were requisitioned, principally from the Swynnerton and Cotes estates.

Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was a British firm of consulting civil engineers, based at Queen Anne's Lodge, Queen Anne's Gate and subsequently Telford House, Tothill Street, Westminster, London, until 1974, when it relocated to Earley House, 427 ...

, Consultant Engineers to the Ministry of Supply, were appointed to supervise construction. Plans were drawn up by A.P.I.Cotterell & Son, Chartered Engineers, on behalf of Gibb. The Royal Arsenal,

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

, as the long-established principal Royal Ordnance Factory, designed the various processes and layout of buildings. The Engineer-in-Chief, appointed to oversee the construction was Wilfrid Cracroft Ash. Site work was divided into areas under divisional superintendents who were directly responsible to Ash. ROF Swynnerton, being a 'filling' factory was the most dangerous of the various types of munitions factories; bomb and shell-casings were filled with highly combustible explosive materials. It was planned that the factory should provide at least some production while construction continued. Swynnerton became operational in stages, from the middle of 1940. The factory was completed in two years, a task which, in peace-time, would have taken five years. It consisted of over 1,700 small buildings, each surrounded by earth banks to contain accidental blasts; if one building was destroyed the adjacent buildings would be unaffected. Five large boiler-houses were built strategically around the perimeter of the site so that, if one or two were bombed, production could still be maintained. Roadways between buildings were of smooth, grit-free asphalt and were called ‘cleanways’ because they had to be kept clean at all times, to avoid any possibility of sparks. In addition to the factory itself, seven residential hostels were built, along with houses and flats, for munitions workers and almost 500 families of specialist staff.

Railway connections

By mid 1942, ROF Swynnerton had become fully operational and the number of people working at the site had grown to approximately 18,500. To meet the need of getting the factory workers to and from the factory the Ministry of Supply asked the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) to construct a station. The site already had an extensive rail network served from the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

between and but the LMS chose to build a new branch line running to the site from the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based ...

line between and . The branch line, which was double track throughout, ran for just under from Swynnerton Junction to

Cold Meece railway station Cold Meece railway station was a short-lived railway station built during the Second World War by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) to serve ROF Swynnerton. History ROF Swynnerton was a Royal Ordnance filling factory built in 19 ...

. The station was for passenger traffic only and no goods facilities were ever provided, all freight movements for the factory were dealt with via the link to the Crewe branch of the West Coast Main Line at Badnall Wharf. After the war ended the factory and station both continued in use until 1958. The factory closed in May 1958 and although the last scheduled train ran in June 1958, the station did not officially close until August 1959. The branch had been lifted by September 1963. During the war the factory worked 24 hours a day and the passenger service to Cold Meece reflected this with nineteen trains a day, Monday to Saturday, serving the station in time for the shift changes at 5:35 am, 1:35 pm and 8:35 pm. Services ran to and from three main destinations; , Silverdale and picking up at all stations en route except those between and . In addition there was one service each way classed as a recreational service for people who lived on the site to get into Stoke. Sunday services comprised two trains each way to Silverdale and Blythe Bridge and three each way to Newchapel and Goldenhill.

Post-war use

After the war the site was converted for military training use and became known as Swynnerton Training Camp. In 2019, proposals were revealed for a 'Garden village' on a small part of the site, to complement the nearby

HS2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

development.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{coord, 52.893, -2.218, region:GB, display=title Royal Ordnance Factories in England Buildings and structures in Staffordshire