Royal Ordnance filling factory No 14, built 1942. Most of this factory has been levelled and lies beneath Rushcliffe Country Park. However 4 buildings along the N side, probably transit sheds, survive and are in use by a railway preservation society. A number of minor lineside buildings also survive. (1)

Royal Ordnance explosives Filling Factory No.14 Ruddington was one of the last six filling factories constructed during the Second World War. Construction of the factory began in December 1940 and production was underway by June 1942. In common with the other later factories it carried out a restricted range of activities and was primarily concerned with heavy bomb filling to meet the demands of the bomber campaign over Germany. This was reflected in the design of the factory and aerial photographs show many of the buildings surrounded by heavy traverses typical of Group 8 main charge filling shops.
After the end of the war the factory was held as war reserve capable of reactivation should the need arise. It was later redesignated as an Ordnance Storage and Disposal Depot dealing with government surplus. The specialist PSA collection at NMRC Swindon holds some views of the post-war reuse of the factory: P/G 00221 No date, P/G 05-JUL-1955, P/G 10359 09-SEP-1965 and P/G 11678 03-MAY-1967. The depot closed in 1984.
The site has recently been cleared and landscaped. Few traces of the factory remain except for transit sheds along its northern perimeter which are now occupied by a railway preservation society. The society also maintains a section of the spur which formerly led off the Great Central Railway mainline to the factory. A road crossings and odd linemen's huts associated with this line also survive. Most of the area formerly covered by the factory is a public open space Rushcliffe Country Park. (2-5)

Grid ref centred.

Data Held (Document). SNT2647.

Letter, Sutton Parish File

Historic England, 2021, National Record of Historic Environment (Digital archive). SNT5271.

<1> Cocroft W, 1995, Pers Comm (Personal comment). SNT566.

Other Refs: RCHM

<2> Wayne D. Cocroft, 1997, RCHME: Dangerous Energy Project (Unpublished document). SNT6253.

<3> Public Record Office, ?, Construction of the Filling Factories (CAB102/627) (Unpublished document). SNT6276.

<4> NLAP, 1978, 7533 MAL78023 Frame 69 (Photograph). SNT6277.

<5> Industrial Railway Society, 1992, Locomotives of the Ministry of Defence (Published document). SNT6278.