Inside Chorley England: 28,000 Workers Filled 210 Truckloads Weekly — Armed 25-Pounder Guns

Описание: Step inside Royal Ordnance Factory Chorley—Britain’s vast, secret WWII filling factory hidden across 928 acres of Lancashire countryside. At its wartime peak, more than 28,000 workers—most of them women—arrived by train, bus, bicycle, and on foot to do one job that kept the front alive: fill shells with explosives and send them out in relentless waves.

This story follows the rhythm of the factory floor in March 1942: guarded gates, cotton anti-static overalls, wooden tools, earth-banked blast walls, and the constant fear that a single spark could erase an entire shed. ROF Chorley (Filling Factory No. 1) handled staggering weekly tonnage—TNT, ammonium nitrate, and cordite—turning raw chemicals into artillery power. In a single week, records point to 210 truckloads of 25-pounder ammunition leaving the site, plus heavy howitzer shells, bound for every theater where British and Commonwealth forces fought.

You’ll hear about the “munitionettes” and the “Canary Girls,” whose skin turned yellow from TNT exposure, the health risks that followed, and the silence that surrounded their work for decades—so secret that maps stayed blank until the 1990s. You’ll also see how Chorley’s output reached far beyond routine shells, including explosive filling linked to the Dambusters’ bouncing bombs and Operation Chastise—an operation remembered for aircrews and aircraft, but made possible by unseen hands on the home front.

Today, the factory is gone—reborn as Buckshaw Village—yet traces remain in earthworks, surviving structures, and the memories families only uncovered years later. This is WWII history from the inside: industrial danger, relentless production, and the quiet workforce that helped decide battles without ever seeing the battlefield.

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HISTORICAL SOURCES:
Primary Documentation:

Imperial War Museums (IWM) - Collections and oral histories on ROF Chorley
UK National Archives - Records of Royal Ordnance Factories
UK Parliament Hansard - Munitions Workers debates (2013)

Academic & Historical Databases:

World War II Database (ww2db.com) - Royal Ordnance Factory Chorley facility records
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History - Royal Ordnance documentation

Verified Encyclopedia Sources:

Wikipedia: "ROF Chorley" (verified July 2024)
Wikipedia: "Ordnance QF 25-pounder" (verified December 2024)
Wikipedia: "Royal Ordnance Factory" (verified December 2024)
Wikipedia: "Canary Girls" (verified January 2026)

Published Works:

Nevell, M., Roberts, J. and Smith, J. (1999) "A History of Royal Ordnance Factory Chorley", Lancaster: Carnegie Publishing

Community & Archival Records:

Buckshaw Village historical documentation
Chorley Remembers Project
ROF Chorley Facebook Group (family testimonials)


⚠️ Disclaimer: This video is an entertainment-focused story based on information about british war factories gathered from online sources. While we strive to present engaging and faithful narratives, some details may be inaccurate or simplified. This content is not an academic source. For verified historical information, please consult professional historians and official archival records. Watch with critical awareness.

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