Branston Depot is a former ordnance facility at

Branston, Staffordshire Branston is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. At the 2001 census, the population was 6,540, increasing to 6,749 at the 2011 Census. History Branston was originally a small village beside the River Trent and lies to the sou ...

History

The site was originally conceived as the National Machine Gun Factory but by the time construction was completed in November 1918 the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was over and no machine guns were ever manufactured there.

Crosse & Blackwell Crosse & Blackwell is a British food brand. The original company was established in London in 1706, then was acquired by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell in 1830. It became independent until it was acquired by Swiss conglomerate Nestlé in 1960. ...

briefly used the factory for producing pickle (

Branston Pickle Branston is an English food brand best known for the original Branston Pickle, a jarred pickled chutney first made in 1922 in the village of Branston near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire by Crosse & Blackwell. The Branston factory proved to ...

) between 1920 and 1925 and the Branston Artificial Silk Company produced Rayon there between 1927 and 1930. In the late 1930s the site was again acquired by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

, purchased and converted at a cost of £500,000, to serve as the Army's main clothing depot. During the

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 ...

Branston Depot served as a major ordnance facility; the depot closed in 1961 when operations moved to

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loca ...

. Parts of the site were used for the storage of components for

Royal Ordnance Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories (abbreviated ROFs) which manufactured explosives, ammuniti ...

between 1964 and 1975 and more recently parts of the site have been developed for housing.

References

Installations of the British Army {{UK-mil-stub

History

See also

References