Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath facts for kids
The Royal Naval Cordite Factory (RNCF) was a special factory built in Holton Heath, Dorset, England. It was created during World War I to make a powerful explosive called cordite for the Royal Navy (Britain's navy).
The factory was used again in World War II to make more explosives for naval guns. Another factory, the Royal Navy Propellant Factory in Caerwent, also helped.
After World War II, the parts of the factory that made explosives were closed. Some areas became the Admiralty Materials Laboratory, which was a research center. A large part of the old factory became a nature reserve in 1981, a place where nature is protected. Other parts were turned into an industrial area, and some might even be used for homes.
The Admiralty Materials Laboratory later joined with other groups to become the Admiralty Research Establishment. This then became part of the Defence Research Agency (DRA). The DRA Holton Heath site finally closed in the late 1990s. Today, the Ministry of Defence no longer owns any part of the site.
Contents
Why Holton Heath Was Chosen
A new factory was needed because Winston Churchill, who was in charge of the Royal Navy at the time, wanted the Navy to have its own supply of cordite. The Army got its cordite from a different factory far away in Scotland.
Holton Heath was picked in 1914 for a few reasons:
- It was in a quiet, remote area, far from big towns.
- It had good transport links. It was near Poole Harbour, which meant supplies could arrive by boat.
- It was next to the London and South Western Railway, so trains could bring materials.
- It was also close to a main road, the A351, which connected Wareham to Poole.
During its construction and throughout World War I, the factory was guarded by armed police. Later, it was guarded by the Royal Marine Police and then the Ministry of Defence Police.
In 1935, when Britain was preparing for war again, a new machine to make nitroglycerin was bought from Germany. German engineers came to install it. The police had to guard these engineers because people were upset about the rise of Nazi Germany and still remembered World War I.
The main factory area was bordered by the A351 road, Station Road, and the railway line. A special train station, Holton Heath railway station, was opened just for the factory workers. The factory had its own railway line that connected to this station.
A water pumping station was built away from the main site at Corfe Mullen. It pumped water from the River Stour to a huge reservoir inside the factory. This pumping station had its own railway line to bring in coal.
A jetty (a pier for boats), called Rockley Jetty, was built in Poole Harbour. This jetty was used to load cordite onto boats. The boats then took the cordite to another naval site in Gosport. The factory's own railway system connected to this jetty. This private railway line even crossed over the main railway line using a bridge, which is no longer there.
Cordite Production in World War I
Making Acetone
To make cordite, a lot of a chemical called Acetone was needed. But acetone was in short supply. At that time, acetone was usually made by burning wood in a special way.
A scientist named Chaim Weizmann had found a new way to make acetone in 1912. He used tiny living things (bacteria) to turn other materials into acetone. This process is called fermentation. At first, it didn't seem useful for business.
In 1915, Chaim Weizmann met David Lloyd George, who was in charge of making weapons, and Winston Churchill. He was given a chance to develop his process. He worked in a lab in London and at a gin distillery to make his method perfect.
A large acetone plant was set up at the RNCF using Weizmann's method. It used bacteria to ferment grain. By 1917, there wasn't enough grain, so horse chestnuts were used instead. The government asked local schoolchildren to collect horse chestnuts. Six huge storage buildings, called silos, were built to hold them.
A bigger bacterial fermentation plant was also built in Canada because they had more Maize (corn) than the United Kingdom. After World War I, the acetone plant was taken down, but the silos stayed. In World War II, the basements of these silos were turned into air-raid shelters. The silos themselves were filled with earth for protection. They remained standing long after the Holton Heath factory closed.
Holton Heath in World War II
During World War II, the factory was a target for German bombers. So, a plan was made to protect it. This plan involved creating "Starfish" decoy sites in the village of Arne, about three miles away. These sites had flammable materials that could be set on fire. This would make it look like the factory was burning, tricking the bombers.
This trick worked on the night of June 3–4, 1942. Bombers dropped hundreds of bombs on the decoy site, almost destroying Arne village. But the Cordite Factory was left unharmed.
It's important to know that the Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, was always controlled by the Admiralty (the Navy's leadership). It was never part of the Ministry of Supply or the Royal Ordnance Factory system, even though it made explosives like those factories.
After the Wars
After World War II ended, the factory stopped making explosives at Holton Heath. However, the factory in Caerwent continued to produce cordite.
The old factory site was also used as a pretend army camp for a TV show called Bad Lads Army: Extreme in 2006.
Factory Secrecy
The factory was located north-north-east of Holton Heath station. This station was opened during World War I so that workers could get to the factory.
The factory's location was even left off maps during World War II to keep it a secret. You can see this if you compare old maps from the 1940s with newer ones.
Factory Accidents
Working with explosives was very dangerous, and there were several serious accidents at the factory.
- On September 10, 1927, an explosion killed three men. They were working in a building where acetone was recovered for reuse. The acetone caught fire in a pipe, causing the blast.
- In November 1929, another explosion killed one worker and badly injured three others.
- On June 23, 1931, a very large explosion happened in a room where nitroglycerin was prepared. This terrible accident killed 10 people and injured 19. Three buildings were destroyed, and a storage tank broke, spilling acid. The explosion happened at 10:45 AM and was heard 20 miles away. People working outdoors 2 miles away were even knocked over by the force of the blast. Houses about a mile from the explosion were badly damaged.
A Special Memorial
On June 23, 2015, a memorial stone was revealed and dedicated. This date marked 84 years since the big explosion of 1931. The memorial was organized by the Holton Heath Memorial Group.
Many relatives of those who died, and former factory workers, attended the service. Jill Charman, whose grandfather was one of the 10 men killed in the 1931 disaster, unveiled the stone.
Rod Hughes, from the memorial group, said: "The Royal Navy Cordite Factory was not simply a place, or merely a factory of stone and wood, but a community. Close knit by common goals and purpose. Embodied in this stone is the story of that community." This shows how important the factory and its workers were to the area.
