RNAD Broughton Moor is a decommissioned

Royal Naval Armaments Depot A Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) is an armament depot (or a group of depots) dedicated to supplying the Royal Navy (as well as, at various times, the Royal Air Force, the British Army and foreign and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth for ...

located between Great Broughton and

Broughton Moor Broughton Moor is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England. It is situated on an extensive moor about north of Broughton, north west of Cockermouth, south of Maryport and north of Workington. According to the 2001 census it had a p ...

in the County of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

The depot was opened in 1939 on the site of Buckhill Colliery (opened 1873, closed 1932; the colliery's

spoil heap A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quan ...

remains a prominent feature of the site to this day). In 1944 the site was expanded from 800 to 1050 acres. The depot continued to be used by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

until 1963, at which point it was leased to the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

. From 1977 it was used by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for storage of armaments for its

North Atlantic Squadron The North Atlantic Squadron was a section of the United States Navy operating in the North Atlantic. It was renamed as the North Atlantic Fleet in 1902. In 1905 the European and South Atlantic squadrons were abolished and absorbed into the Nort ...

(the weapons were flown out of the site by helicopters shuttling back and forth over a number of days to a USN Cargo Ship lying offshore and away from the town's harbour of

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

); and from 1981 Broughton Moor was formally adopted as a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

storage site. The site was decommissioned at the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, finally closing on 31 December 1992.

Railway

The site had a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railway. Locomotives from this railway are preserved on the Almond Valley and

Whipsnade Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 4.2 km south-south-west of Dunstable on the top of the Dunstable Downs which drop away steepl ...

railways. In 1970 the locomotives in use at Broughton Moor consisted of: * Navy Department standard gauge diesel locomotives:
1 x Hunslet
1 x Ruston & Hornsby Class 165DS. * Navy Department

locomotives:
2 x Hunslet 25HP
4 x Hunslet 50HP
2 x Ruston & Hornsby Class 20DL, (Nos. R1/2)
6 x Ruston & Hornsby Class 48DL, (Nos. R4/6/7/8/10/12). * Ministry of Public Buildings & Works

locomotives:
2 x Motor Rail
2 x Hunslet The site was connected to the main line via a branch line to Siddick Junction, north of

Workington railway station Workington is a railway station on the Cumbrian Coast Line, which runs between and . The station, situated south-west of Carlisle, serves the town of Workington in Cumbria. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. History ...

and utilised a headshunt at Northside to change direction northbound on to the

Cumbrian Coast Line The Cumbrian Coast line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues (as the Furness line) via Ulverston an ...

. The branch closed on 4 June 1992, being the last part of the

Cleator and Workington Junction Railway The Cleator & Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) was located in West Cumberland in Northern England, serving the towns of Cleator Moor and Workington and intermediate villages. It was mainly used for coal, limestone and iron ore traffic for the ...

in operation. The railway equipment at RNAD Broughton Moor was sold by tender in April and July 1992 and consisted of approximately 3 miles of standard gauge track and 25 miles of narrow gauge (2 ft 6in) track. The sale also included 4 standard gauge locomotives built by Ruston & Hornsby and Hunslet, 27 narrow gauge locomotives by the same builders and 127 wagons, including 6 box vans, 4 brake vans (2 x 4tons & 2 x 6 tons) and 99 flat wagons.

Accidents

An explosion occurred at RNAD Broughton Moor on 18 January 1944 which resulted in the death of 11 people and left 70 people injured. The coroners hearing was reported in the Cumberland Evening Star in February 1944. The explosion appears to have occurred in one of the traverse laboratories, photos showing the aftermath include a gauge box van No. 267.

Present day

The large majority of the buildings and bunkers remain along with underground storage and an extensive network of storage sheds and other military buildings. Ownership of the site was transferred from the

Allerdale Allerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 96,422 at the 2011 Census. The Bor ...

Borough Council in 2008 who have yet to decide what to do with the site. The site was purchased by the Borough Council for £1. In October 2008 Cumbria County Council called for interest in the redevelopment of the site rebranded as Derwent Forest. As yet there has been little interest due to the huge cost involved with cleaning up the site. There are unexploded ordnance and large amounts of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

as well as unmarked mine shafts when it was a colliery prior to

World War II 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 opposin ...

. Furthermore, having previously ruled out allowing the site to be used for coal mining,

council later agreed to allow mining by any prospective future owners as a way to raise funding for any potential tourism development. It was announced on 13 January 2011 that the two shortlisted developers for the site would not mine the site, allaying fears about the environmental impact of the development of the site. A decision is due by the end of February 2011. On 31 August 2018 the Derwent Forest Development Consortium and revealed a masterplan to develop the site including 1200-2000 houses, a hotel, lodges, and other facilities. Work was due to begin in 2020.Planning permission for building houses on the site was rejected by the local council in 2022.

References

External links

* . Shows up well on aerial photographs. {{DEFAULTSORT:Broughton Moor Buildings and structures in Cumbria Royal Navy shore establishments Military railways in the United Kingdom 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in England Military installations closed in 1992 Ammunition dumps in England