National Filling Factory, Banbury facts for kids
The National Filling Factory, Banbury, also known as National Filling Factory No. 9, was a special factory built in Banbury, Oxfordshire, during World War I. It was part of the British Ministry of Munitions and its main job was to fill artillery shells with explosives. The factory started making filled shells in April 1916 and closed down in 1924.
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Why the Factory Was Needed
When World War I began, Britain didn't have many places to make explosives or fill shells. Most of this work happened at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich and a few other places. But the British Army on the Western Front quickly ran out of shells and bullets.
To fix this, a new government department called the Ministry of Munitions (MoM) was created. David Lloyd George became its leader. Their big task was to build many new factories, called National Filling Factories (NFFs), all over the country to supply the army with enough ammunition.
How the Factories Were Designed and Run
The Ministry of Munitions wanted to build these new factories quickly and cheaply. They looked for large, flat areas in the countryside that were close to railway lines. Railways were important for bringing in materials and workers, and for sending out the finished shells.
Even though each factory wasn't exactly the same, the MoM had clear rules for how they should be laid out. These rules were based on safety and making sure the work flowed smoothly. They learned a lot from the Royal Arsenal about how to design these places.
The Banbury factory, like some others, was designed and managed by its own director. The Ministry of Works helped build the Banbury factory.
Inside the factories, a system called "scientific management" was used. This meant that complicated jobs were broken down into many small, simple tasks. This allowed people who weren't highly skilled to do the work. Because of this, up to 90% of the workers in many NFFs were women. Their smaller hands were also helpful for filling shells. Sometimes, even children worked there for the same reason, helping with smaller shells.
Building the Factory
In the summer of 1915, the Ministry of Munitions bought a large piece of land, about 100 hectares (which is like 250 football fields), east of Banbury. It was a good spot because it was near the London and North Western Railway line, which could transport goods and people.
Construction of National Filling Factory No. 9 started in November 1915. It was built to a standard design and included:
- 27 mi of railway tracks. These tracks went all over the site, keeping raw explosives and finished shells separate.
- 3 mi of roads.
- 9 mi of guard fences.
- 10 mi of footpaths for workers and guards.
- 370 different buildings. These buildings were spread far apart for safety. This was to prevent a single explosion from destroying the whole factory.
- The main areas where filling happened, like the melting rooms and explosive stores, were surrounded by earth mounds and strong walls to contain any blasts.
Most buildings were made with wood frames on brick or concrete bases, covered with weatherboards or a material called uralite (which contained asbestos). Larger storage buildings were made of brick.
How the Factory Operated
The Banbury factory didn't make the shell parts or explosives itself. Instead, all the parts were brought in, mostly by train. The factory's job was to put the explosive into the shells and add the detonators.
Shell filling started on April 25, 1916. At first, the factory only used an explosive called Lyddite.
The factory initially had one main section, called No. 1 unit. It was designed to fill 100 tonnes of shells each week and employed over 1,400 workers. Inside, special copper tramways and wooden carts with copper wheels were used to move shells and parts. This was important because copper doesn't create sparks, which could be very dangerous around explosives.
Empty shells were first checked, cleaned, and sometimes painted. Then they were moved to one side of the 22 "melt houses" where the filling happened. The explosive powder was kept on the other side, separated by a blast wall. Once filled, the shells were moved to small, safe storage areas and then quickly sent off to the Army.
A second section, No. 2 unit, was finished less than a year later. It had improvements for safety and efficiency. By May 1917, the British Army on the Italian Front even sent a message saying that they only wanted the "excellent quality shells from NFF No. 9," which helped motivate the workers.
As the army started using TNT explosive more, parts of the factory began to switch. By September 1917, they also started filling naval mines and shrapnel shells. From June 1918, the factory also produced mustard gas shells.
At its busiest, the factory produced about 70,000 shells per week. It employed 933 men and 548 women. Because they handled chemicals like cordite and sulphur, many workers, especially the women, got skin rashes and their skin sometimes turned yellow. This led locals to call the female workers "canaries".
After the War
After the war ended in December 1918, the factory was put into "mothballs," meaning it was kept ready but not used. From mid-1919, a company leased the site and used it to break down leftover war ammunition. This continued with fewer workers until 1924. The factory was officially closed in 1927.
There was even an idea that the factory could be used for other types of manufacturing after the war, similar to how a motor depot was used.
A smaller storage site on Middleton Road in Banbury was used in 1919 and again during World War II. In 2012, developers found and the army safely removed some old phosphorus grenades from both World War I and World War II at this site.
After the factory closed, the Ministry of Defence removed most of its machinery. This machinery was used to keep a similar factory in Rotherwas running. By the early 1930s, not much was left of the Banbury factory except the empty buildings and parts of the railway lines. The site then started to be used for military training. Training increased a lot before World War II, especially for the Home Guard. Because of this, the Nazi Luftwaffe (German air force) even dropped bombs near the site in 1940, thinking the factory was making shells again.
Today
Today, the site of the National Filling Factory is an important archaeological area. None of the original buildings are left, but you can still see where they were located because of the way the land is shaped. You can also see the earth mounds that were built around the explosive stores.
When the M40 motorway was extended south, excavations near Junction 11 for Banbury uncovered many parts of the old factory. It took a lot of work to remove them and clean up the area. About half of the No. 2 unit site and part of the No. 1 unit site are now covered by the M40 motorway and the growing town of Banbury.
An English Heritage monument stands there today to remember the factory's important role during World War I.
See also
