THE ROTHERWAS PROJECT REVEALS THE PAST OF HEREFORD’S INDUSTRIAL ZONE
FESTIVE NEWS • DECEMBER 2014 • PAGE 45
It played host to a King, helped Britain win
two World Wars and could soon become a
unique heritage park ... George Thomas
explores the background to the project
Rotherwas was once one of Herefordshire’s great
estates, a grand mansion set in parkland on the banks
of the River Wye just three miles from Hereford city
centre, with Dinedor Hill, a onetime Iron Age fort
standing tall on the southern boundary. The red brick
mansion was built in 1722 on the site of a much
earlier house. The 2,500 acre estate had been in the
De la Barre family from Norman times, eventually
passing to the Bodenham family through marriage..
King James 1st was a frequent visitor and it was he
who knighted. Sir Roger Bodenham.
The estate was renowned for its abundance of food,
fruit and fish, especially a plentiful catch of salmon
from the River Wye, all much enjoyed by King
James, and a writer of the time compared it to Kent,
known then, as now, as the ‘Garden of England.’
The Bodenhams were a catholic family and in
1583 built a private chapel next to the mansion which
remains to this day. But the family, as Royalists, lost
their fortune in the Civil War of 1642-46, but luckily
recovered it when Charles 11 reclaimed the Throne.
Hereford, being close to the Welsh border, meant
there was always the threat of raiding parties crossing
the border. The estate survived intact and relatively
undisturbed until in 1855 thousands of Irish navies
descended on it to build a section of the Gloucester to
Hereford railway.
The house was remodeled in 1865, but in the early
years of the 20th Century the last of the Bodenhams
died with no heirs and when his wife died a few years
later the estate passed to her cousin, a Polish Count.
He would die in 1909, virtually bankrupt. The
mansion and estate was auctioned in 1912 – the house
being bought by an American who shipped most of
the fine interior fittings to the US. The land was sold
in blocks. Herefordshire Council bought 200 acres.
The tranquil lifestyle of country gentry with lots
of servants to do their bidding was broken up after
surviving for more than 800 years. But the peace of
this fertile land was to be even more cruelly shattered
when the First World War started in 1914 and Britain
was at war with Germany. Lloyd George, as Minister
for Munitions ordered a dozen munitions factories to
be built in remote areas of the country which had a
railway, power and plenty of workers. Rotherwas was
chosen as one of those sites and the council owned
200 acres was requisitioned. Lying in the lee of the
Dinedor Hill would help protect it from German air
attack. The abandoned mansion was used as a
barracks for the soldiers guarding the site.
Building work started in July, 1915 and was
completed by November, 1916. With the men away
fighting - and dying – in Europe women were
recruited to fill the shells with explosives. Highly
dangerous work.. They became know as ‘The
Canaries’ because a particular substance in the
explosives turned their skin yellow. The workers
came from as far afield as Birmingham and the Forest
of Dean and tents and sheds were quickly built to
house them. A bit like the days of the American
A rare surviving photograph of Rotherwas Mansion. Courtesy of the Derek Foxton Collection
goldrush. Vast sheds were built in which the women
would filling the meta shells. By 1917, 6000 were
employed making 70,000 shells a week – 4000 of
them were women. .
At the end of World War 1 the vast munitions
factory, whose output had slaughtered millions of
the enemy, was closed down, but continued to be
used as an army storage depot. The rise of Hitler and
the Nazi in Germany in the 30’s prompted the
British Government to prepare for another war. In
1932 Rotherwas was re-activated and 26 new
explosives filling sheds were built and by 1937 it
was once again ready to turn out munitions. World
War 11 started on September 1, 1939. The call went
out for women to sign up yet again to risk their lives.
At its peak Rotherwas employed 5,000 workers,
mostly women, .filling shells and 2000 pound
bombs for the princely sum of £1. 60 for a 47 hour
week.
On September 12, 1941 an explosion in the
factory killed three men; an air raid on July 27, 1942
killed 19, many of them women, and on May 30,
1944 a massive explosion rocked the city three miles
away but luckily only two men were killed. There
were acts of great heroism by the fire fighters
resulting in King George V presenting five George
Medals, nine BEMs, one OBE and one MBE.
The War ended in 1945 and for a while the site
was used to disarm unused bombs. It finally closed
in 1967, remaining empty for a decade until
Herefordshire Council bought the site back from the
Ministry of Defence and began developing it as an
industrial park. Today, a multitude of firms make a
huge range of products at Rotherwas, employing
2,500.
King James I
The Government recently granted part of
Rotherwas Enterprise Zone status to attract new
technology businesses, and this could set off yet
another ‘explosion’ but this time of new jobs to
boost the region’s economy. Hereford is the
headquarters of the Special Air Services Regiment,
one of the best trained military forces in the world
and the Enterprise Zone is targeting firms involved
in the modern defence industries who could benefit
from the skills and experience of the SAS.
More importantly, the directors of the Enterprise
Zone, which lies close to the existing industrial
estate, are designing a complex of modern factories
set within woodland glades and creating a series of
wildlife corridors.
But the most exciting plan is to convert one of
the few remaining original sheds as a ‘living
museum’ of the dangerous work undertaken by
thousands of women in two world wars to make the
munitions which would eventually give Victory to
Britain. It will be a fitting memorial to their bravery;
a reminder of the past and a vi