ROF Rotherwas

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.

Laid out to a standard design, the site encompassed:[2][3] All components were produced elsewhere, with the facility responsible for final production: inserting explosive into shells, and fitting detonators.

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.

Assistant Fire Officer FA Lewis and Leading Fireman WJ Davies were thrown 30 foot out of the building.

Nine hundred tons of live ammunition lay under the rubble and it took a month for a specialist team to make the site safe.

WL Fitzmaurice defused 1500 pounds of explosives on his own to protect his colleagues whilst being continuously soaked by hosepipe.

[3] In 2003, volunteers from the Hereford Waterworks Museum found a Blackstone 5-cylinder diesel engine, multi belt drive system and a Mather & Platt two stage centrifugal pump at Rotherwas.

The fire engine has been fully restored and is part of a special exhibition in the Rotherwas Building at the Waterworks Museum.

[10] With vastly reduced production after World War II, the city and county council lobbied for various business to relocate to the site.