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Ranskill
Royal Ordnance Factory
ROF 37
1940 -1945
A brief impression of a wartime Cordite Factory
By David Broome
June 2008
Taken from an original 1940’s photographic copy of a
1940 plan for the factory.
What is Written Below is work in
progress
It’s what I feel is probably the
best way to describe life whilst
Working in a Cordite Factory
Any constructive opinions please,
to David Broome
At- rof37@btinternet.com
Introduction
During the preliminary research
into the ROF it became apparent that very little had been written about
the workers wartime experiences in munitions
factories, how they came to be working there and what experiences they
had while there. I am using the basic research for this work and the
quotes from some original recordings I did for the Nottinghamshire
Living History Archive. This makes more material available to work with
and access to more sources of information. It also means that where
human memories are fallible it is possible to correct some facts by
using more than one source.
The quotes used are an edited and corrected
version of the originals where there is doubt about the information
originally supplied. Documentary information is difficult to find due to
the requirements of wartime secrecy, as are photographs taken at the
time due to wartime restrictions.
This work attempts to tell some of the history
of ROF RANSKILL from 1940 to its closure on 21st July 1945.
From the choice of the site to the construction and operation to the
closure of the factory.
Mr Watkins. "I left Boots of Nottingham in
September 1939 to join the War Department in the Propellant Planning
Department (P.P.D.)working on the provision of four R.O.F’s for making
Cordite. There were two at Bishopton near Glasgow, one at Wrexham (these
were at existing R.O.F’s) and one at Ranskill. This site was of 450
acres, 275 acres South and 175 acres North, (off Daneshill road.)
it was chosen because of the Daneshill Road site conditions and the
availability of the largely female work force".
R.O.F. Ranskill (or R.O.F.37 as it was at the
time) was designed as a solvent less Cordite unit of 250 tons output
(later increased to 300 tons and a maximum of 350 tons). It occupied a
total area of 883 acres (450 acres inside the security fence ), (517
acres south of the road, 361 acres on the north) with outlying areas of
6 ¾ acres at Bell Moor (River Idle site), 13 acres at Ranskill Hostel
site, and 40 acres at Mattersey Thorpe, 12 acres at Lound.
Geographical features such as suitable ground
levels, available raw water supplies and importantly available labour in
the area. The Daneshill area met the need, with Ranskill station nearby
for the transport of materials.
A supply of raw (river) water at 3 million
gallons per day was needed; for this a pumping station with settling
lagoon was constructed on the bank of the River Idle at Bell Moor, (near
Doughty’s farm ) and connected by two 15" mains to two overhead tanks of
30,000 gallons capacity at a high point of the site.
The main contractor
building the factory was Cubitt and Paulin with Woodhall Duckham
constructing the Nitroglycerine plant, building supplies and equipment
were brought in by rail initially to Ranskill Station with sand and
gravel from Bellmoor quarry.
Mollie Harmsworth. "My
husband worked for a company called Woodhall Duckham who had got a
contract for building the Nitroglycerine plant .
I got a job with the Ministry of Works working in
an office at Daneshill Farm, on the clerical side, setting up the
original issue of passes, everyone that was employed on the site had to
have a ministry pass, this went right down to the fact that the man who
swept up the yard had to have a pass".
"We were billeted with people up in Welham Road
and every day, I think in all the time we were here we had two Sundays
off, we both told various seniors that, it was time we had time off, so
we worked it so that we both had the same Sunday off and we went for a
bicycle ride, that was about all that you could do, but it was seven
days a week, well we both cycled into the site from Welham Road and back
every day, it was pretty breezy going along that North Road on a
bicycle. Our greatest treat was, it shows you what a wonderful treat it
was, about once a month on a Saturday we used to finish at five o’clock
and we would cycle into Retford the two of us and we would go to
Howard’s Café on Grove Street, off the market. Howard’s Cake Shop and
restaurant, they had a restaurant over the top and you could go there
and get a meal un-rationed, and we would actually get fish and chips if
we were lucky, that was a great treat for war-time food".
Mrs. Green. "I
first worked for Cubitt and Paulin on the receiving and recording of
bricks, then later transferred to Production in the NG Hills rolling out
Cordite"
Mr. Marshall. "My
father had a contractors business
hiring horses and carts to farmers, so my two brothers and me and five
hired lads each took a horse and cart to the works and moved bricks,
concrete and other materials around the site every day. Since I was the
youngest (aged 14) and worked with a good foreman he used to let me off
early so I got home first".
The buildings were designed to resist incendiary
bombs and blast, with thick walls, with no windows only small shuttered
openings and reinforced roofs. Then surrounded with earth banks both to
deflect blast and to direct any explosion from within buildings upwards,
some were designed with weak end wall joints for this purpose.
The following is just a sample of information
available.
Other areas == NG hills – Roller houses –
Cutting rooms – Press houses – Finish cutting rooms – C.I.A. –
First Aid Centre - Motor Transport Corps –
Ranskill Hostel – Mattersey Thorpe (Bandit Island) - Etc
Nitrocellulose plant
Buildings numbered 30/?? All refer to
nitrocellulose.
Buildings numbered 22/?? All refer to acid
production and disposal.
The Factory was designed to produce U/P Cordite,
(Unguided Projectile Cordite)
Dark shaded areas were needed for U/Ton Cordite
(Cannon Cordite) if Needed
Rose Harrison.
Quite a few people got Acid burns there.
"Oh, I’ve got one or two little scars now,
there’s one look with drops on it, I’ve one or two up me arms, but
further up. If you got a spot on you, you see it burned you straight
away, under water straight away, we had long baths in Nitrating House in
case anybody got a lot on em they had to shove em in there. They were
all filled with water all the time. Although nobody did not in there,
but we all got splashes, but cos you got one splash on your trousers
there were a hole through straight away. That’s why we had to wear
everything wool, it was made woollen. Trousers and blouses and jackets".
Something slightly different, back to the
factory and working in the Canteen Kitchen; the notes below are a
slightly edited version taken from the original recording.
Mrs Hunter. "
I worked at a little
confectionary shop, I was only fourteen when I started there and then
after that when I finished there I, lived with me sister and I said I
wonder if I could get a job at the factory. So I went for an interview,
told them what I did, and just put me in this canteen, the
administration, dry canteen as a waitress and I didn’t like it, so asked
the Manager, you know if he could move me to the central canteen. I told
him what I could do, so he said Oh, I’ll let you know and the next day
he came and he says, Oh, I’m going to move your down there I am going to
put you in the pastry room, but we did everything, not just pastry.".
"It was a small room where we had all our own
equipment in and we worked three shifts, and we used to have to get, I
think it was about 1000 different cakes out (during each shift). And
during the night and if you was on nights, we used to work really fast
so we could just have a break, you know, sit down. Yes, it was quite
interesting and I enjoyed it. If we worked at a weekend, we’ll say
Saturday and Sunday, we got double time for it and we’d get a day off in
the week. That’s how it worked. We worked different shifts to the
factory workers, we worked the opposite way round.
(the shifts started at a different
time)
We used to make split creams, there was
bakewells, jam tarts, scones, shortbread, we used to try and make a
selection of all different kinds so there was a variety, for when the
factory workers came in, it was a very big canteen."
Each worker was allowed to buy just one cake,
this was in addition to their main meal.
"They used to go and get the tickets from the
cash desks and come with the tickets and get, probably a cake or they
could buy them and take them home and things like that."
Cigarettes were available only in the canteen,
but that’s another story.
To Be Continued
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