Monument record 4122 - Royal Ordnance Factory at Radway Green/Alsager

<1> Cheshire County Council, 1995, Wartime Cheshire 1939-1945 (Book). SCH4444.

This installation was mentioned in (1) however it did not appear on Ordnance survey maps until later in the Cold War. Even then its magazines are not shown. It seems likely that the factory was kept off the maps for security reasons during the height of the Cold War. On the 1946 aerial photographs from the RAF the area is noted as restricted. The boundary for the site is present on the old maps, as well as the associated water works, vehicle parks and railway sidings; however the outline is filled in with the field boundaries from the third edition Ordnance Survey map. (See also sources 2 and 3)

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1911-1914, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 6 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH3843.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1995-2017, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 Scale Map (Maps and Plans). SCH2427.

<4> W D Cocroft, 2000, Dangerous Energy - The Archaeology of Gunpowder and Military Explosives Manufacture, 275 (Book). SCH4464.

Listed in gazeteer: Radway Green, ROF, SJ 783 543, WW2 - present, explosives factory - small arms ammunition.

<5> Headland Archaeology UK Ltd (Midlands & West), 2018, Radway Green, Crewe: Archaeological Desk-based Assessment, R4191 (Client Report). SCH8509.

A desk based assessment was undertaken in 2018 in support of a planning application for redevelopment of part of the former Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) at Radway Green. Some of the ROF buildings were demolished in 2017. Remaining features that may warrant consideration as non-designated heritage assets are a 1970s commemorative clock tower, two groups of entrance gateway buildings and the remains of a railway siding as well as the remains of perimeter fencing with signage and the floor slabs of the former factory buildings. The clock tower could be relocated to a more visible location as part of the development, but the other features will be lost as part of the development.

The ROF at Radway Green was constructed in 1940 and the buildings are visible on 1940s aerial photographs. These show a very similar layout to that shown on current mapping with three large sheds in the west of the site (including two within the proposed development area) all with “north-light” roofs indicating a large factory floor plan, smaller buildings to the west of these and a third large building to the southeast. East of this, across the township boundary, several smaller buildings are visible including a row of rectangular sheds and, south of these, an area of structures surrounded by large earth embankments creating bunkers.

The complex of buildings at Radway Green is not shown on maps until later in the 20th century. The associated waterworks, vehicle park to the north of the railway and the railway sidings are shown but the remainder of the ROF site is still shown as fields. The railway was used to deliver coal and raw materials and to transfer finished products out of the factory. During a site visit, parts of the former sidings were visible, although the wooden railway sleepers are in a poor condition and concrete abutments against the north edge of the eastern shed floor level cross the tracks suggesting that a phase of structural alterations occurred to this building after the siding ceased to be used. The 1963 1:2500 map continues to show only fields in this location and the 1:10560 map shows only blank space; this is probably due to sensitivities about military and related sites during the Cold War. The buildings are shown on the 1991 1:2500 map and on the 1992 1:10,000 map.

Post-war aerial photographs show little change to the layout of Radway Green, apart from the addition of a sports field. Photographs dating to 2003 show that the large shed south of the proposed development area had been re-roofed (the site visit confirmed that the walls had also been re-clad in new corrugated metal sheet panels and it is possible that further rebuilding work had also taken place). Parts of the site were sold off in the 1990s and the western part of the former ROF factory is now the Radway Green Business Park. The eastern part of Radway Green is still occupied by BAE Systems and a new building was constructed here in 2011 although at least some of the original bunkered structures in the southeast of the site are still present and were observed from a distance during the site visit.

Alsager grew rapidly after the creation of the factory, with 400 houses and three hostels built to accommodate the, mostly female, workers brought here by “war work”. After the war one of these hostels became HMS Excalibur – an on-shore training base for the Royal Navy. Another ‘Heathside Hostel’ (CHER 7971) became an Emergency Teacher Training College in 1947. In the 1960s the site was re-developed as part of the Liverpool Institute of Education and was re-opened in 1969, at this time several original 1940s buildings were still in place, including the central brick built communal block and some of the original timber Laing huts. In 1992 it was incorporated into the Manchester Metropolitan University, the central communal building and one other 1940s building ('Hollinshead Building') were extant at this point, but all of the Laing huts had been demolished. The remainder of the buildings have since been demolished for a residential and sports complex.

<6> Matrix Archaeology, 2019, Radway Green, Crewe, Cheshire: Archaeological Desk-based Assessment (Revised Report v4), R4450 (Client Report). SCH8912.

A further archaeological desk-based assessment, also a field visit, was undertaken in 2019 at Radway Green for what remains of the Radway Green Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF). Although parts of this have been demolished, buildings survive within the Radway Green Business Centre which should be considered of local significance.