Defence Munitions (DM) Kineton occupies the site officially known as MOD Kineton, and is a

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 ...

property located close to the village of

Kineton Kineton is a village and civil parish on the River Dene in south-east Warwickshire, England. The village is part of Stratford-on-Avon district, and in the 2001 census it had a population of 2,278, increasing to 2,337 at the 2011 Census. Kine ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

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

Developed from 1941 onwards on land neighbouring the village of

Burton Dassett Burton Dassett is a parish and shrunken medieval village in the Stratford-upon-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The population (including the village of Knightcote) of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,322. Much of the area is ...

, the site is approximately from both

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

and

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

. Developed as a Central Ammunition Depot, it also served 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 opposin ...

as a

Royal Pioneer Corps The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combatant corps used for light engineering tasks. It was formed in 1939, and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Pioneer units performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war, inc ...

camp. Defence Munitions Kineton is now the largest ammunition depot in western Europe. The base stores more than 60% of the entire Ministry of Defence’s munitions.

Rail links

Defence Munitions Kineton extends to 2200 acres. It is linked to the

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

mainline system by a branch line consisting of part of the former mainline of the

Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-wes ...

, from . The building of the

M40 motorway The M40 motorway links London, Oxford and Birmingham in England, a distance of approximately . The motorway is dual three lanes except for junction 1A to junction 3 (which is dual four lanes) a short section in-between the exit and entry slip-r ...

cut the line for a time, but after a new bridge was built, the line was rebuilt in its entirety with deep ballast and fully welded joints.

Based units

The site also houses the

Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search Training Regiment The Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search Training Regiment (DEMS Training Regiment) is an element of the Royal School of Military Engineering responsible for the delivery of training to British Army Ammunition Technicians, ...

, and there is an extensive military family married quarters patch at

Temple Herdewyke Temple Herdewyke is a village in Warwickshire, England, that was built to house staff at Defence Munitions (DM) Kineton. It forms part of the parish of Burton Dassett Burton Dassett is a parish and shrunken medieval village in the Stratfor ...

, along with its associated information centre, Kineton HIVE.

References

External links

Kineton HIVE
��archived link at the UK National Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Mod Kineton Buildings and structures in Warwickshire Ammunition dumps in England Military railways in the United Kingdom Installations of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)