ROF Bridgwater

Entrance to BAE Systems, Bridgwater

Royal Ordnance Factory(ROF)Bridgwaterwas a factory between the villages ofPuritonandWoolavingtonin theSedgemoordistrict ofSomerset,England that producedhigh explosivesformunitions.It was slightly abovesea level,between the 5-and-10-metre (16 and 33 ft)contour linesonOrdnance Surveymaps.BAE Systemsclosed it when decommissioning was completed in July 2008.

History

ROF Bridgwater on a target dossier of the GermanLuftwaffe,1942

It was constructed early inWorld War IIfor theMinistry of Supply,with theMinistry of WorksasAgents.It was designed as anExplosive ROFto produceRDX,a new experimentalhigh-explosivedeveloped at theRGPF Waltham Abbey.Construction work started in 1939 and it opened in 1941.

On 29 June 1951, an explosion killed six men. No cause was ever identified.

It was also known as "ROF 37",a name that was reflected in its sports and social association, the"37 Club",just outside the perimeter fence.

Infrastructure

As munitions production needed a guaranteed year-round clean water supply of several milliongallonsper day, the site was ideal, being able to obtain supplies from the water-loggedSomerset Levels:

• the artificialHuntspill River,dug during construction;
• theKing's Sedgemoor Drain,widened at the same time;
• water that accumulated due to the high water table in the "Borrow Pits", dug to produce traverses around the explosive magazines.

Both the waterways are now an integral part of the drainage system of the Somerset Levels.

The factory was essentially self-supporting other than for raw materials. It generated high-pressure steam for heating and production processes using its own coal-firedpower station;it could also produce electricity using asteam turbine.During World War II before theNational Gridwas fully developed, it was connected to two independent power stations,Portishead(now demolished) andShepton Mallet.

Between 1940 and 1941, housing for workers was built as "pre-fabs" in the adjacent village ofWoolavington.Hostelsfor single workers were built at nearbyDunball,by the King's Sedgemoor Drain.

The site was guarded until shortly after privatisation by theMoD Police,which had itsbarracksandcanteenopposite the main gates. These have long since been demolished. Three brick MoD Police houses are still in use on the Woolavington Road, but they are no longer occupied by the police.

The factory was connected to theGreat Western Railway(GWR) by a private,4 ft8+1⁄2in(1,435 mm)standard gaugebranch line and sidings with its own locomotive. This was used both for supplies, such as acid in tanker wagons from ICI and coal for the power station, and for distribution of the finished product.

A bridge was built in the early 1970s to carry the line over theM5 motorway,just north of junction 23, when the M5 was extended southwards from theM50.The line became disused after theprivatisationof the ROFs and thetrackhas been lifted. TheBritish Railsidings were known asHuntspill (Puriton).

Production

During the construction period it appears that the decision was made to fill munitions, including thebouncing bomb,with a mixture ofTNTand RDX rather than RDX alone. The factory manufactured RDX in two separate production units, then sent toFilling Factoriessuch asROF ChorleyandROF Glascoedfor filling into munitions. It also concentrated and re-cycled its ownsulphuric acid.

Like all ROFs at the time, the factory was a production factory: formulation ofexplosives,propellantsand munitions was carried out at separate government-owned research and development establishments such as the Research Department, initially at theRoyal Arsenal,Woolwichand thenFort Halstead;and at PERMEWaltham Abbey,later transferred to RARDE Fort Halstead. After privatisation Royal Ordnance PLC took over some of this capability, other parts being closed or becoming part ofQinetiQ.

Post World War II

During the slack period between 1945 and theKorean Warthe factory andROF ChorleyandROF Glascoedbuilt two-storey pre-fabricated concrete houses.

Post War concrete post and beam, factory-built Airey semi-detached House of the type made in the ROFs.

Additional capability

• Production of the new high explosiveHMXwas added in 1955.
• In the 1960s and 1970s, the factory started producing plasticrocket propellantwithammonium perchlorateand poly-isobutylenerubberas two of its main ingredients.
• Trinitrotoluene(TNT) manufacture was added in 1980.

Privatisation

Royal Ordnancefactories wereprivatisedon 2 January 1985 and became part of the Explosive Division ofRoyal OrdnancePlc,laterRO Defence.RO Defence was acquired byBAE Systemsin the 1990s and was subsumed intoBAE Systems Land Systems.The factory closed in July 2008.In 2017, it was bought by the merchant bank Salamanca Group in a multi-million pound deal to create Gravity - a 'low carbon smart campus'which is now a subsidiary of the Salamanca Group.

In February 2024,Tata Groupconfirmed it would invest £4 billion to create a battery factory, built by Agratas, on the Gravity site. Battery production is set to begin in 2026, with the creation of around 4,000 jobs.

Further reading

• Dunning, R.W. (2004).The Victoria History of the County of Somerset, Volume VIII, The Poldens and the Levels.Oxford: Oxford University Press.

External links

• 37 sports and social club
• Map sourcesfor ROF Bridgwater
• Gravity- ROF Bridgwater today