Ruddington Ordnance & Supply Depot was a

Royal Ordnance Factory Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Ministr ...

filling and storage facility, commissioned in 1940 and built during

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 ...

by the United Kingdom

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 ...

(MoD). It was located to the south of

Ruddington Ruddington is a large village in the Borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England. The village is south of Nottingham and northwest of Loughborough. It had a population of 6,441 at the 2001 Census, increasing to 7,216 at the 2011 Censu ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, and took 18 months to build. In operation it consisted of over 200 buildings employing 4,000 workers at peak. It was decommissioned in 1945, became a storage area for ex-military vehicles which were then auctioned-off onsite, and was closed in 1985. Today the site is located in the

Rushcliffe Country Park Rushcliffe Country Park (Grid Reference SK577320) is an open park space covering approximately , located on Mere Way just south of Ruddington on the A60 in the borough of Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, England. The park has maintained the Gr ...

Construction

As World War II erupted, the MoD surveyed and purchased land for the construction of a national Royal Ordnance Factory. Sites were chosen that were (for safety reasons) remote from dense populations, but easily accessible via mainline railways from a number of towns and cities to allow the large number of workers access. This latter provision also sought a location close to key railway junctions, allowing easy access inwards for raw materials as well as quick distribution of the final product to the key seaports. Prior to 1940 the site was used as agricultural land, located on the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

between the major

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

cities of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. The proposed ROF at Ruddington was to be used as a filling factory for

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

, employing up to 6,000 people. After purchase of the land in summer 1940, in December 1940 ground works contractors levelled off the land. At peak, the site employed 100,000 labourers during the construction phase. As well as over 200 buildings, for railway goods traffic access a branch line was built to Ruddington railway station, for workers a new railway station, Ruddington Factory Halt railway station, was also constructed.

Operations

The site was built to produce twice as much ammunition as it eventually produced, with the initial site laid out to allow it to do so. However, eventually the unused second part of the site was developed as an armaments storage facility. The first part of the site was laid out as a filling factory, known as ROF Ruddington; Filling Factory No 14. Both gunpowder and shells were brought in via the branch line rail connection, into two different sets of sidings. The components were only brought together in the filling halls, some 20 wooden buildings in the centre of the complex, each with their own blast wall. Completed shells were then moved out to a small storage facility, before either being distributed directly via the railway, or taken to the separately fenced and laid out storage area. The storage area, operated as a completely separate facility by the MoD to the ROF filling factory, stored completed shells and munitions from both the filling factory, and some other ROF facilities. These were then distributed via the railway for onwards shipment, or via road top local

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

units. The complete facility was almost completely self-sufficient, equipped with: * Two underground

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s * A heating plant * A

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

plant * Several

generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...

s * A

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...

* Two

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s * A

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

* A

laundry Laundry refers to the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with t ...

* A

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who ...

* A

mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...

As a strategic war asset, the whole site was under tight security, with both on-site security staff and the

MoD Police The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is a civilian special police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The MDP's primary responsibilities are to provide armed security and counter terrorism services to designated high ...

providing round the clock protection.

1945-1985: auctions

After being decommissioned in 1945, the site was used by the MoD for auctioning-off redundant ex-military vehicles and equipment. Held every eight weeks, the auctions were publicly advertised in both local and national press. The site was finally closed in 1983 when operations moved to

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cherwell (district), Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an Eco-towns, eco town at North Wes ...

Present: Rushcliffe Country Park

From 1985, the site was proposed for redevelopment. It had been scheduled for housing, after objections from the county council, the site was redeveloped into three sections: *North: the residual railway infrastructure and sidings were redeveloped at the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre *East: redeveloped as a business park, the Ruddington Fields Business Park *South: the majority of the site was redeveloped at a cost of £3.5 million as a recreational area, known as Rushcliffe Country Park, which covers .

References

{{Reflist

External links

Google Maps Satellite Image Of The Site As It Is TodayRushcliffe Country ParkBombs to Butterflies online book
Buildings and structures in Nottinghamshire Royal Ordnance Factories in England Filling factories Military history of Nottinghamshire