ROF Bridgend - Background

Background

At the end of World War I, much of Britain's armaments manufacturing capacity was run down, as its capacity was no longer needed. In the period leading up to World War II, consideration was given to Britain's war capability. As shown in the Spanish Civil War, the Luftwaffe were more than capable of accurately bombing many of Britain's key installations, which were also undersized to meet forecast required volumes.

In 1935, it was therefore agreed to keep armaments research at the Woolwich Arsenal in south-east London, while production would be transferred to two new factories at ROF Chorley in Lancashire (Filling Factory No.1) and ROF Bridgend in Glamorgan (Filling Factory No.2). As war planning progressed, it would be realised that this plan was flawed in both sustainability and capacity, and additional facilities would have to be built. Staff from the Royal Arsenal helped design and, in some cases, managed the construction of many of the new Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) and ROF Filling Factories. Just over 40 ROFs were opened by the end of World War II, nearly half of them Filling Factories, together with a similar number of factories built and run by private companies, such as ICI's Nobel Explosives (although these explosive factories were not called ROFs).