Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath

The Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath (RNCF) was set up at

Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent. After the end of World War II, the explosive manufacturing areas of the site were closed down and some areas of the site reopened as the Admiralty Materials Laboratory. A major part of the explosives site became a nature reserve^[1]

in 1981. Other parts of the site were converted into an industrial estate; and some may be used for housing.

The Admiralty Materials Laboratory was later merged with other departments to become the Admiralty Research Establishment which later became part of Defence Research Agency (DRA) and DRA Holton Heath finally closed in the late 1990s. None of the site is now owned by the Ministry of Defence.

The site

A site was needed because

A351 Wareham to Poole road.^{[citation needed}

]

During construction and during World War I, it was guarded by a detachment of armed

Nazi Germany and memories of World War I.^[2]

The main site was bounded by the A351, Station Road and the London and South Western Railway.

Somerset and Dorset Railway, which passed nearby, it was linked to a 3.5 million gallon reservoir inside the RNCF by a 16-inch water main.^[3]

A jetty, Rockley Jetty, was also constructed in

standard gauge track. This private track ran parallel to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) for some distance. It crossed over the top of the LSWR by means of a bridge.^{[citation needed]} As of 2023 the bridge was still visible on Google Maps

.

World War I

Chaim Weizmann and Acetone

Production of Cordite required large volumes of the solvent

fermentation, using Clostridium acetobutylicum, in 1912 but it did not appear to have any commercial value.^{[citation needed}

]

Chaim Weizmann was introduced to

Lister Institute in London and industrial plant at Nicholson's Gin Distillery in Bow (Three Mills) to perfect it.^{[citation needed}

]

A full-scale acetone plant was set up at the RNCF using bacterial fermentation of

Air-raid shelters; the silos being filled with earth to provide protection. They survived beyond the closure of the Holton Heath site.^{[citation needed}

]

World War II

During the Second World War, the site was a target for German bombers and so a plan to protect it was instigated. This consisted of creating several "Starfish" decoy sites in the village of Arne, three miles to the south east, containing flammable material that would be ignited to give the appearance of a burning building. This was put to the test on the night of 3–4 June 1942 when bombers dropped hundreds of bombs on the decoy site, practically destroying the village of Arne, but leaving the Cordite Factory unscathed.^[4]

Note: The Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, like the Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent, was never part of the

Ministry of Supply / Royal Ordnance Factory management chain; both factories were controlled by the Admiralty. However, they were functionally very similar to the Explosive ROFs

.

Post-war use

After the end of World War II, propellant manufacture ceased at Holton Heath, although Caerwent continued to produce Cordite.^[citation needed]

The camp was also used as the fictitious "Sandford Army Camp" in the UK television series Bad Lads Army: Extreme in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Secrecy of the installation

The site was to the north north east of Holton Heath station, which was opened during the First World War to allow staff to reach the works. However the site's location was omitted from WW2 Ordnance Survey maps as can be seen on this side-by-side comparison of the 1940s New Popular Edition 1 inch map with the same area from the 7th Series from a decade or so later.^{[citation needed]}

Accidents

On 10 September 1927 an explosion killed three men working in an acetone recovery building. Acetone, used as a solvent in the cordite manufacturing process, was piped in vapour form from stoves to the store where it would be recovered for re-use. It was accidentally ignited in the pipe, causing the explosion.^[5]

In November 1929 an explosion at the factory killed one worker and seriously injured three others.^{[citation needed]}

On 23 June 1931 an explosion occurred in a nitroglycerin preparation chamber, killing 10 and injuring 19. Three buildings were destroyed and a storage tank was ruptured, spilling sulphuric acid into the area. The explosion, which occurred at 10.45 am, was heard 20 miles away and people working outdoors 2 miles away were knocked over by the blast wave. Houses situated on the main road approximately 1 mile from the blast suffered extensive damage.^[6]

Memorial

On 23 June 2015 – marking the 84th anniversary of the major explosion of 1931 – a memorial stone was unveiled and dedicated by Rod Hughes, Jill Charman and Geoff Charman of the Holton Heath Memorial Group. The dedication service was taken by the Revd. Jean de Garis of Lytchett Minster and was attended by relatives of the deceased and ex-employees. The stone was unveiled by Jill Charman, whose grandfather Robert Rubie Taylor was one of the 10 men killed in the 1931 disaster. Hughes said: "The Royal Navy Cordite Factory was not simply a place, or merely a factory of stone and wood, but a community. Close knit by common goals and purpose. Embodied in this stone is the story of that community."^[7]^[8]