ROF Rotherwas facts for kids
ROF Rotherwas was a special factory in Herefordshire, England. It was a 'filling factory' where explosives were put into bombs and shells for the military.
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A Look Back: The Rotherwas Estate
In the early 1900s, a family called Lubienski-Bodenham owned the large Rotherwas estate. This estate included a big house called Rotherwas Court and about 2,500 acres of land near the River Wye. The family line ended when Count Louis Pomian Lubienski Bodenham passed away in 1912.
The Rotherwas estate was then broken up and sold in 1913. Many of the beautiful wooden rooms from the mansion were sent to America. Today, one of these rooms, called the Rotherwas Room, can still be seen at Amherst College. Herefordshire County Council bought 185 acres of this land. It was a good spot, near Dinedor Hill and the Wye meadows.
World War I: Building a Factory
When World War I started, the government needed to make a lot of weapons quickly and cheaply. So, on June 15, 1916, the Ministry of Munitions bought 100 hectares of land south of Hereford. This land was perfect because it was close to two railway lines.
The factory was built with a standard design and included:
- 27 miles of railway tracks
- 3 miles of roads
- 9 miles of guard fences
- 10 miles of footpaths for guards
- 370 buildings of different sizes
The buildings were spread out far apart. This was a safety measure to stop the whole factory from being destroyed if there was an explosion. A separate storage area for munitions was set up at Credenhill, connected by rail.
The Rotherwas factory didn't make all the parts for the shells. Instead, it was responsible for the final steps: putting explosives into the shells and adding the detonators. Shell filling started on November 11, 1916. They used explosives like Lyddite and Amatol. By the end of World War I, the factory was making about 70,000 shells every week!
At its busiest, the factory had 6,000 employees. By October 1918, there were 5,943 workers, and 3,977 of them were women. Workers traveled from nearby towns like Hereford, Leominster, and Ross on Wye. Special trains ran from Hereford Barrs Court railway station directly to the factory's own station, and workers got free tickets.
Between the Wars
After World War I, most of the 25 Royal Ordnance Factories closed down. But Rotherwas was one of the few that stayed open, though it was mostly kept ready for use from 1920. From 1926, it started filling gas shells again, with about 400 men working there. By the late 1930s, the Royal Navy used it to fill sea mines.
World War II: A Busy Time
During World War II, the factory was very busy making shells and bombs for the Royal Air Force. Over 8,000 people worked there, mostly women. The site had three serious accidents:
- September 12, 1941: A machine got too hot, causing explosions that killed three people.
- July 27, 1942: A single German bomber dropped two bombs, killing 22 people.
- May 30, 1944: A 2,000-pound bomb exploded during filling operations.
The 1944 Explosion
On May 30, 1944, a large naval bomb being prepared at Rotherwas started smoking. Three brave workers, JW Little, FJ Tyler, and A Morris, immediately began dousing the bomb with water. Six firefighters from the factory also helped cool the bomb down. About 800 other workers were quickly moved to safety from that part of the factory.
The bomb then split open and exploded, killing A Morris. Assistant Fire Officer FA Lewis and Leading Fireman WJ Davies were thrown 30 feet out of the building. A second, more powerful explosion followed, causing the building to collapse on the firefighters. Firefighter Vincent Carey was killed. Another worker, who knew first aid, was helping injured colleagues and also died.
Firefighters from Hereford and military personnel from British, Canadian, and American bases in Herefordshire rushed to help control the fire. In total, 31 bombs and mines exploded. The explosions damaged homes and businesses all over the city. Nine hundred tons of live ammunition lay under the rubble. It took a special team a whole month to make the area safe. One person, WL Fitzmaurice, bravely defused 1,500 pounds of explosives by himself to protect his co-workers.
For their bravery, King George V awarded five George Medals, nine British Empire Medals, an OBE, an MBE, and 34 other special commendations to the workers. Miss Mona Cawthorne, who was part of the Mechanised Transport Corps at Rotherwas, also received a special letter for her courage in taking injured people to the hospital, even though she was hurt herself.
In 2003, volunteers found an old fire engine at Rotherwas. It has been fully restored and is now part of a special display at the Waterworks Museum in the Rotherwas Building. A painting by Ruskin Spear, called A Royal Ordnance Factory Explosion, Hereford, shows the damage to the site. It is now at the Imperial War Museum.
Rotherwas Today
After World War II, the factory made much less. The local council worked to bring new businesses to the site. As the factory got smaller, parts of the land were used for different commercial and industrial businesses.
The ROF factory finally closed in 1967. In 1975, Herefordshire County Council bought 93 hectares of the land to turn it into an industrial estate. Some of the original buildings from World War I are still there. Also, a group of World War II "Romney huts" (a type of curved building) are still used as small business units.
In September 2020, the newly renovated Shell Store building opened at Rotherwas. This was a £7.3 million project that built a new shell around the original steel frame from 1916. It now has space for up to 25 businesses, conference rooms, and a cafe. You can even see part of the original floor, showing the marks left by the shells that were once there.
