ROF Rotherwas

ROF Rotherwas was a Royal Ordnance Factory filling factory, No 4, located in Lower Bullingham, Herefordshire, England.

By the turn of the 20th century, the Lubienski-Bodenham family - descended from Mary Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VII - owned the Rotherwas estate, which combined of 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) on the south side of the River Wye. After the death of his wife in 1908, following the death of Count Louis Pomian Lubienski-Bodenham JP DL in 1909 (his great-grand daughter is actress Rula Lenska), having already demolished their country house, sold-off the estate in 1912. At the resultant auction, Herefordshire County Council bought 185 acres (75 ha) that was overlooked by Dinedor Hill and was bordered by the Wye meadows.

At the outbreak of World War I, the Ministry of Munitions were looking to create a number of munitions production facilities quickly and cheaply. A site of 100 hectares (250 acres) was acquired by the Ministry on 15 June 1916, located south of Hereford on the junction of the Welsh Marches Line and the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway. Laid out to a standard design, the site encompassed:

All components were produced elsewhere, with the facility responsible for final production: inserting explosive into shells, and fitting detonators. Shell filling began on 11 November 1916, with both Lyddite and Amatol explosives being used in production. From June 1918, alongside the main plant at Banbury and supporting site at Chittenden; all three were supplied with dichloroethyl sulphide by the National Smelting Company at Avonmouth Docks, to produce mustard gas shells. By the ed of WW1, the average output of shells from the facility was 70,000 per week.

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